ADHESIVES AND GLUE - Ancient Greeks developed adhesives for use in carpentry, and created recipes for glue that included the following items as ingredients: egg whites, blood, bones, milk, cheese, vegetables, and grains. Tar and beeswax were used by the Romans for glue. Around 1750, the first glue or adhesive patent was issued in Britain. The glue was made from fish. Superglue or Krazy Glue is a substance called cyanoacrylate that was discovered by Dr. Harry Coover while working for Kodak Research Laboratories in 1942. Hot glue or hot melt adhesives are thermoplastics that are applied hot and then harden as they cool. Hot glue and glue guns are commonly used for arts and crafts because of the wide range of materials that hot glue can stick together. Procter & Gamble chemical and packaging engineer, Paul Cope invented thermoplastic glue around 1940 as an improvement to water-based adhesives that were failing in humid climates.

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Adhesives and Glue

The History of Adhesives and Glue

Adhesives and Glue - What Sticks?

by Mary Bellis

Archeologists excavating burial sites from 4000 BC have discovered clay pots repaired with glue made from tree sap.

We know that the ancient Greeks developed adhesives for use in carpentry, and created recipes for glue that included the following items as ingredients: egg whites, blood, bones, milk, cheese, vegetables, and grains. Tar and beeswax were used by the Romans for glue.

Around 1750, the first glue or adhesive patent was issued in Britain. The glue was made from fish.

Patents were then rapidly issued for adhesives using natural rubber, animal bones, fish, starch, milk protein or casein.

Superglue - Synthetic Glue

Superglue or Krazy Glue is a substance called cyanoacrylate that was discovered by Dr. Harry Coover while working for Kodak Research Laboratories to develop an optically clear plastic for gunsights in 1942.

Coover rejected cyanoacrylate because it was too sticky.

In 1951, cyanoacrylate was rediscovered by Coover and Dr. Fred Joyner.

Coover was now supervising research at the Eastman Company in Tennessee.

Coover and Joyner were researching a heat-resistant acrylate polymer for jet canopies when Joyner spread a film of ethyl cyanoacrylate between refractometer prisms and discovered that the prisms were glued together.

Coover finally realized that cyanoacrylate was a useful product and in 1958 the Eastman compound #910 was marketed and later packaged as superglue.

Hot Glue - Thermoplastic Glue

Hot glue or hot melt adhesives are thermoplastics that are applied hot (often using glue guns) and then harden as they cool.

Hot glue and glue guns are commonly used for arts and crafts because of the wide range of materials that hot glue can stick together.

Procter & Gamble chemical and packaging engineer, Paul Cope invented thermoplastic glue around 1940 as an improvement to water-based adhesives that were failing in humid climates.

This to That

A nifty site that tells you what to use to glue anything to anything else. Read the trivia section for historical information.

According to the “This to That” website, the famous cow used as the trademark on all Elmer’s glue products is actually named Elsie, and she is the spouse of Elmer, the bull (male cow) who the company is named after.

Mary Bellis

Introduction

New York-based film producer and director

Singled out by Forbes magazine for her writing on inventors. 

Known in art and independent film circles by the name CalmX

Creator of computer-generated art

Experience

Mary Bellis was a former writer for ThoughtCo, where she covered inventors for 18 years. She was a freelance writer, film producer, and director.  In addition, Forbes Best of the Web credited her for creating the number one online destination for information about inventors and inventions. Her writing has been reprinted and referenced in numerous educational books and articles. She was known for her short independent  films and documentaries, including one on Alexander Graham Bell. She specialized in making and exhibiting computer-generated art, while working as an animator, journalist and an independent video game developer. She died on March 28, 2015. 

Education

Mary Bellis held a Master of Fine Arts in film and animation from the San Francisco Art Institute.

ThoughtCo and Dotdash

ThoughtCo is a premier reference site focusing on expert-created education content. We are one of the top-10 information sites in the world as rated by comScore, a leading Internet measurement company. Every month, more than 13 million readers seek answers to their questions on ThoughtCo.

For more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content publishers on the Internet according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of the U.S. population monthly. Our brands collectively have won more than 20 industry awards in the last year alone, and recently Dotdash was named Publisher of the Year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.

https://www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-adhesives-and-glue-1991850