Scotchguard 1952
It may seem like something a woman would think to invent, after all who in the 1950s did more cleaning (and would therefore want a way to reduce cleaning) than women? But even though Scotchguard was created by a woman, she never intended to and she did it when she was working as a research chemist. Patsy Sherman was born in 1930 in Minneapolis. She went to college and became one of the few female chemists in her field in the 1950s. In 1952 she was hired by the 3M company and was put to work fluoruchemicals. The goal was to develop a new kind of rubber for jet aircraft fuel lines.
It was due to a lab mishap in 1953 that her direction would change. She was working with her colleague Sam Smith when an assistant dropped a bottle of synthetic latex that Patsy Sherman had developed. The compound splashed all over the assistant’s tennis shoes. Both Patsy Sherman and Sam Smith attempted to clean the stain off the shoes of the assistant. While the compound did not change the look of the shoes, neither Sam Smith nor Patsy Sherman could figure out how to get the compound off. Patsy then realized that the compound not only didn’t come off but it also resisted other chemicals that caused stains.
Patsy Sherman and Sam Smith went to work turning the fluorochemical in a successful stain repellent. They spent a few years in development and then in 1956, Scotchguard was created as a versatile fabric stain repellent. They continued their research to improve and expand the Scotchguard line of products throughout the 1960s.