Inventions Created Due to the War (4 of 4)

16. Superglue

Superglue is used for almost everything – from broken plates to statues that are easily bound together by the sticky substance. However, what many people may not know is that the superglue wasn’t created on purpose.

At the beginning of the 1940s, Harry Wesley Cooper Jr., an investor was working to great the ideal gun sight. World War II was in its beginning stages and he knew that the demand for a more precise gun was vital. While he was working, he noticed that there was a substance which stuck to anything that it was rested against and couldn’t be removed easily. During the time, it was dismissed as something cool but useless. Over ten years later, it was released as superglue on the market.

17. Daylight Savings Time

This wasn’t created purely due to the war. Benjamin Franklin had suggested the concept in a manner to utilize the natural daylight and help the use of candles. However, the need for it became more apparent in World War I.

German officials soon realized in 1916 that across the nation, they were using up a lot of coal. It was then suggested that the clocks were to be moved forward by an hour to allow more daylight during hours when people were awake. Because of this, the demand for heating and lighting decreased. This was an idea that spread across Europe and now Daylight Savings is a consistent part of the year.

18. Vegetarian Sausages

Meatless sausages were something that wasn’t so often in circulation. The first vegetarian sausages were invented by the German chancellor, Konrad Adenauer and were made from soy when famine was at a high during the war due to lack of access to meat.

The fake meat had a warm taste and texture that made it close to being the real thing while also providing the same amount of nutrition. He also experimented with ingredients other than soy such as barley and rice flour. They were also called ‘peace sausages.’

19. Twinkies

Twinkies are the sort of snack that you can easily take with you when you’re on the move or you need a quick boost of sugar. However, you may not know their full history.

During the 1930s, James A. Dewar, a baker, wanted to create the ideal cake. His first draft so to speak was a sponge cake with a strawberry center. However, this didn’t present a long term prospect as strawberries couldn’t be used all year round cheaply due to being a seasonal fruit. Because of this, he created the banana filling instead. However, that also didn’t last long when World War II began as bananas were rationed. So, Dewar finally gave in to a cream filling.

20. Synchronization Gear

While the flight of battle machines may have been sensationalized in Hollywood movies, it’s not as simple as bullets raining from the sky haphazardly as this creates a risk to the plane’s blades.

Thus, the need for synchronization gear which makes an allowance for the plane to rain gunfire via the propeller, negating the need for a co-pilot to be on the guns. The gear prepares for an acute accuracy due to the line of fire being adjusted for precise aim.