How 10 Common Products Came to Be

Viagra

The saga began in Sandwich, England, where a team of Pfizer scientists were working to develop a treatment for angina. In clinical trials, the drug -- sildenafil citrate -- did breathtakingly little to alleviate the symptoms of coronary heart disease. The pill did, however, have one small, noticeable side effect: Some men in the study (even those who had previously been impotent) reported having erections while taking the drug.
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Next: The ATM

The ATM

John Shepherd-Barron, a former executive with British printing firm De La Rue, is credited with being the father of the automated teller machine or ATM. He says the inspiration for the ATM came to him while taking a bath in 1967. He hit upon the idea of a chocolate bar dispenser, but replacing chocolate with cash. Shepherd-Barron's wife played a pivotal role in standardizing PINs to 4 numbers. Over the kitchen table, she said she could only remember 4 figures, so because of her, 4 figures became the world standard.
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Next: Jell-O

Jell-O Gelatin

Take animal remains -- mostly bones, cartilage and tendons -- and boil them for several hours. Once complete, strain the liquid and discard the remains. Let the liquid set for 24 hours, then skim the fat from the top. You have a totally "odorless, tasteless, colorless thickening agent." The process dates back as far as the Middle Ages. During the Victorian era, "jelly moulds" were a dinner-party status symbol, mostly because the long, laborious process behind it required ever-loyal servants. But that would all change when a group of Americans got their mitts on gelatin.
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Next: Post-It Notes

Post-It Notes

In 1968, a 3M chemist discovered a glue that was strong enough to bind to a surface, but weak enough to be removed and reused many times. It was, essentially, faulty glue. Flash forward six years to a church in Minnesota, where a 3M engineer was singing in the choir, frustrated that the bookmarks in his hymnal keep falling out. Suddenly, a light bulb goes off: What if he applied the "faulty glue"? They would stick easily, but not permanently. An idea was born: He began handing out his sticky-but-not-too-sticky bookmarks to employees at 3M. They were a complete success.
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Next: Slinky

Slinky

Slinky inventor Richard James was a US Naval engineer. In 1943, while stationed at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia, James was working on a horsepower detection meter for naval battleships. A large torsion spring involved in the design fell from his worktable and toppled to the ground in the classic, end-over-end, slinkity manner. James told his wife: "I think I can make a toy out of this." The couple spent the next 2 years perfecting the product. James took out a $500 loan and made 400 units. When unveiled at Gimbel's Department Store, all 400 units sold out within 90 minutes.
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Next: Tampons

Tampons

Ancient Egyptians fashioned rudimentary disposable tampons out of papyrus. Roman subjects assembled tampons from cotton. But the contemporary version of the tampon was invented in 1929 by Dr. Earle Haas. Its applicator and removal string made it a game-changer. According to the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health, "Haas was inspired by a friend in California who used a sponge to absorb menstrual flow." The good doctor set about creating an applicator from cardboard, which facilitated insertion and revolutionized feminine hygiene.
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Next: Velcro

Velcro

In 1941, Swiss engineer George de Mestral was returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps when he noticed several burrs clinging to his wool trousers and the dog's matted fur. He examined the burrs under a microscope and discovered their needles didn't come to points, but rather ended in tiny hooks which perfectly grasped fabrics, hair and fur. De Mestral concluded that this process could be replicated if the hooks and loops could be easily manufactured. Though seemingly simple, Velcro's development from idea to patent would take de Mestral roughly 14 years.
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Next: Superglue

Superglue

A Kodak scientist named Harry Coover came up with the formulation during World War II while searching for a way to make plastic gun-sight lenses. Coover rejected it out of hand because it was, well, "too sticky." In 1959, the new glue became a sensation after being demonstrated on the TV show 'I've Got a Secret': Host Garry Moore was lifted into the air by 2 massive steel plates held together with a single drop of the "miraculous" Eastman 910.
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Next: Frisbee

Frisbee

The Frisbie Baking Company of Bridgeport, Conn., was known for one thing: Its delicious pies. College students would toss the empty pie tins back and forth after devouring the pies. But there was a problem with the tins -- one that prevented them from really taking off: They were, well, tin. Besides hurting people's hands, metal pie tins were extremely loud when they hit the ground. Fred Morrison had the foresight to build them out of soft plastic. In 1948, Morrison and Warren Franscioni developed the first plastic disc. They called it the Whirlo-Way.
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Next: The Microwave

Microwave

In 1946, an engineer with the Raytheon Corp., was testing vacuum tubes for a research project. After stopping in front of a radar set, he noticed that a chocolate bar in his pocket had melted. Voila: The microwave oven was born. The first commercial microwave weighed 670 pounds and was almost 6 feet tall. The price? About $2,000 -- the equivalent of roughly $20,000 today.
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More: Cheapest People I Know

More on WalletPop.com:
Cheapest Person I Know

Now that you've seen the uncommon inceptions of 10 common products, see our roundup of uncommon (outrageous?) ways people pinch pennies. AOL users spilled the beans on the cheapest people in their lives. See what crazy things they do to save some coin.

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