This casual invention was what is commonly known as a "Serendipity." You know, those unexpected discoveries where the scientist, without knowing very well how, finds a finding when in fact he intended something very different.This was what it happened to Edouard Benedictus, a French chemist who in 1903 brought us something essential in our day to day: laminated glass .
Do you want to discover with us as he did? Excellent, but first we will put on the seat belt...
The glass that fell to the ground and did not break
Edouard Benedictus , was, as every day, working in his laboratory.He was a chemist and inventor, a French inventor who was doing experiments with cellulose nitrate that morning.The fact that a glass flask fell on the floor was nothing new or unusual, but our French chemist ran out of breath to see that despite if it had broken, the flask had not become anis .That is, not a single piece of glass had been detached from the original shape of the container.It was perfectly attached.
How could it be? that was simply fascinating, so much so that the inventor's mind began to set in motion the gears of ingenuity in search of some kind of practical applicability to that event.Although, of course, the first thing was to understand how it had happened.He made a small setback.mentally and I remember that the flask was covered inside by a nitrocellulose solution. A material that within a few seconds had evaporated without a trace, but nevertheless, it had been enough to apply a layer of protection to the glass preventing it from fragmenting.Wonderful, no doubt…
The application of laminated glass
It may surprise you, but it was many years before Edouard Benedictus gave his glass the applicability that we all know.Soon the First burst World War , and his invention was infinitely practical in the eye glasses of gas masks.Thus, serious injuries were avoided in that sensitive part of the face.
The truth is that It was not until the French inventor witnessed a serious traffic accident , when the light was turned on and he understood how he could use his unbreakable crystal.In that accident a girl had suffered serious facial injuries after the car's front glass exploded against it, disfiguring it.It should do something, something useful with its unbreakable glass...
His subsequent invention was to join two sheets glass with the same nitrocellulose solution as usual, in this way, the automotive world would avoid one of the most frequent risks at that time.In the first part of the 20th century , half of people who died in traffic accidents were precisely because of the impact of the frontal crystals on their bodies.Something really tragic.
In 1939 laminated glass was already widely used.They called it" the indestructible safety glass ", and it was the Dagenham Ford Motor Company , in England, the first to market it.So if you know, every time you get in the car, remember that French chemist, Mr.Edouard Benedictus, that one day and accidentally, he brought us an essential resource that protects thousands of people in their traffic accidents every day.
If you liked this article, you would surely be interested in knowing "the woman who invented the turn signal and the brake light." or "The father that unintentionally invented the tire »
Image: Kyle May, F Mira, Cedric Lange
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