How These Everyday Things Were Invented

[Music] this great big story is made possible by Lexus experience amazing cotton candy her new sugar and air could taste so sweet well a guy named James Marcin an amateur inventor whose occupation and taste buds didn't exactly aligned he was a dentist and during his lifetime James even became the president of the Tennessee Dental Association don't forget to floss but he was also a confectionary enthusiast with a passion for culinary advancement he paired with John C Walton an old friend and fellow confectioner together the two designed incur patented what they called the electronic candy machine the device rapidly spun and melted sugar through small holes until it was fluffy at nearly 70% air they called the Nutri fairy floss they introduced their product at the 1904 World's Fair selling it in small wooden boxes for 25 cents each that's about six dollars today fairy floss was a huge success in six months they sold over 68,000 boxes grossing in today's money around four hundred and forty thousand dollars but despite the success of the Sugar spun business Marcin returned to his day job as a dentist so next time the dentist tells you you're eating too many sugary treats well blame him there's this amazing picture of my coworker it's him reading a Ninja Turtles book lying next to a super soaker when the super soaker came out it was a game changer the slogan wetter is better was essentially a mantra for kids during summer break so when I went to Atlanta to interview the guy responsible for all of that I had to show him the photo Lonnie Johnson invented the super soaker back in 1982 but that is not his only invention I have over a hundred patents everything from the nerf gun to a thermoelectric energy converter he also worked on NASA's Galileo mission to Jupiter and alongside the US military the first Super Soaker actually I made in my shop in my basement in the evenings when I would come home from work and at the time I was actually working with a stealth bomber program back when it was highly classified and I actually couldn't even tell my wife what I was working on during the daytime it was that that top-secret the original name for the Super Soaker was the drench er we ran into a challenge regarding the name because another inventor claimed until we changed the name that Super Soaker just to avoid having to deal with that Super Soaker is definitely a way better name when he started Lani wasn't trying to create a toy for kids I was working on a new type of heat pump that would use water as a working fluid instead of freon and I was experimenting with signals that I had machined and I shot a stream of water across the bathroom and I thought geez maybe I should put this hard science stuff aside and work on something fun like a water gun this deal works and this brings me back to a previous point Lonnie Johnson is a super genius scientist this is his lab and this is what he's working on now yeah right now I'm working on a fast fabric technology my goal is to develop a battery that will store about 3 times the energy of a lithium-ion battery in comparison the Super Soaker might not seem as hard science but it was still a really really important invention [Music] they dance they flail they're a big wacky and awkward way to get your attention but did you know these tall boys debuted at the 1996 Olympics as part meat Peterman Shaw a prominent Caribbean artist known in Trinidad as the creator of larger than life dancing puppets created for Carnival his work made its way to a book called Caribbean festival arts and that book made its way to a man a man on the steering committee of the Olympics Peter was commissioned to help create an unforgettable opening for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in a moment nothing short of pure genius Peter returned to his roots by sketching a puppet like structure but this time he turned it into an inflatable air man that would move and dance just like his mand puppets for this he had to call in another artist der own cos eat an engineer who happened to be obsessed with anything inflatable between both men they were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible 60 foot inflatable two-legged dancing men the tall boys were nothing short of a success after they graced the Olympics Kazee got a patent and license the design to various advertisers now they're everywhere used-car Lots crop field shopping centers you name it so the next time you see a big ridiculous inflated tall boy waving at you in the distance just imagine you're in the Caribbean dancing along to the drama [Music] there is a wise old Japanese saying the nail that sticks out gets hammered down well down in Tokyo there's one nail that sticks out just about as far as you can imagine an inventor known across the country a mad genius with a staggering number of patents tons anguillan as your name say Kevin yeah Thomas Alva Edison law somebody up that includes a wig for self-defense meet you Shiro Nakamatsu you may notice his name is spelled Nakamatsu he dropped the letter you because he says an eight-letter name is easier to remember but he still wants you to pronounce it you got a duck dr. Nakamatsu score key inventions brought him worldwide recognition inventions like the peon peon booths with springs that put an extra bounce in your step there's dr. Nakamatsu siree Breck's it looks like a lazy boy but the doc says the darn thing enhances brain power then there's the gold golf putter that paints when you strike the ball huh would you look at that you know you've made it when the streets are named after you but make no mistake dr. Nakamatsu inventions aren't all noisy golf clubs and bouncy shoes he claims to invented the floppy disk that's right that floppy disk retractable landing gear a widely used kerosene pump and even the digital watch to maintain his hyper creativity dr. Nakamatsu keeps his mind and body in shape that lightweight inventor Thomas Edison said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration is that your secret dr. Nakamatsu yeah mr. Petrovic on Chavez scene oh yeah static guru Matar camel toe toe toe covering agenda changes Nathanael Reba today bin Laden Patoka day on abandon temple Sunnah is say hi Donna Donna has no creative Khanna dynamic comedy that's my new motto menu it's more Beethoven die gonna die some actual study at Mayo mathematics or a demo domina by business unit anonymous proxy courage of the Daruma at Emerson mrs. Nona Kahneman row to hoe holders [Music] Madonna Panama where most of the sands Oona nonny [Music] Monica cameo as mesh mesh day sorry amo te le morte rossa huzzah - teaser moment old Oh Yoko toy at Emma's cinema no date end rail Gobi omedetou wisdom on tonight Oh sighs Oh Tina zona de Nino day Sinica hot reservoir dr. Cottle chill coconut man Horrocks taxi is your name is Cassie gun cried master at actua Tenley Parrish master dr. Nakamatsu saw the cancer as an opportunity it was his greatest challenge to invent his way out of an impossible corner he developed his own personal cancer treatment this includes a meticulously documented diet and a new invention to fight the cancer ich alls began Gann robot the doctors gave him one year to live that was five years ago [Music] but actua quue sudesna test a nose into a motor Mason what actua rocket so stay services - inna yuh green juice an not a tequila SoDo so no sir no ganado simple nail DiPalma Jameson kdrama ataxia Sima de as meiosis guru desho natte Inanna ataxia Stoughton Oh Sergio mata Mata Tata toma el paradis selenium they attack us yes [Music]

Channel: Great Big Story

Views: 239,029

Rating: 4.8942633 out of 5

Keywords: great big story, gbs, lag, documentary, docs, New Releases, Great Big Reels, Weird & Fun Knowledge, Weird, fun knowledge, Biography & Profile, biography, profile, inventors, invention, innovation, imagination, creator, create, cotton candy, silly string, super soaker, inflatable tube, fun, daves_producer_picks

Id: juebA5ilOLw

Length: 11min 45sec (705 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 18 2019