Think Tank - Innovative mishaps

Accidental Innovations

Image by Mohamed Hassan - Pixabay

New possibilities and opportunities are often brought along by technical solutions to what are usually thought of as engineering problems. Accidental mishaps are also some precursors to these technologies. They have predominantly been regarded as interesting events; however, unknown to be valuable when first developed. In this IP, we shall discuss two such innovations that made their way to light by accident.

The first example of an accidental innovation we are looking into is that of the microwave oven, invented by Percy LeBaron Spencer as he noticed that when he stood close to a magnetron, the chocolate bar in his pocket had melted (Bryant, 2014). The magnetron is a device used to transmit microwave signals and is essential to operate radars. Percy LeBaron Spencer’s focus was on high-powered vacuum tubes that generate short radio waves called microwaves. The phenomenon observed when his chocolate bar melted in his pocket simulated microwave cooking. A magnetron converts electrical and magnetic currents into a powerful form of heat which we see used in microwave ovens. Magnetron tubes comprise filaments that produce electrons as the heat increases by radiating heat after receiving an electrical charge. The filament propels electrons that latch onto positive electrodes in a negative magnetic field. Although by 1945, Percy LeBaron Spencer had filed a patent for his metal microwaves cooking box, the force behind this innovation-by-mistake was driven by national and societal needs in times of World War II. During this era, work on Magnetrons was fostered by an incessant need to bolster sonar equipment capabilities helping submarine crews spot hostile vessels more quickly (“Magnetron – 1920,” n.d.).

The second example on our list of accidental innovations is the X-ray Machine discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen while in his lab, investigating a vacuum tube covered in cardboard. Rontgen noticed a mysterious glow coming from a screen nearby coated with chemicals. He named these new rays causing the glow X-rays because of their unknown origin. Further investigation led him to discover he could see past his skin to his bones when he placed his hand in front of the glow. This led to the world’s first X-ray.

The forces behind this phenomenon surrounded the golden era of the 19^th century that saw scientists and inventors rise in multitude, an epoch in which experiments and discoveries abound. Dalton’s atomic theory of 1808 was put forth. Faraday’s dynamo of 1831 had seen the light; Mendeleev and the Periodic Table; Darwin, Simpson (chloroform for surgeries 1847), Snow (correlate cholera to water 1854), Pasteur (microorganisms for diseases); Bell (telephone, 1876), all already making waves (Sen & Honavar, 2021). This force feels like a societal drive. Society was moving in a particular direction during that time. It felt natural that inventors and scientists were motivated to come up with discoveries as they worked on experiments to better their surroundings. At times, some scientists investigated further other scientists’ work, as was the case with Rontgen. Arthur Goodspeed, an American physicist, and Nikola Tesla observed this phenomenon while working with Crookes’s tube (Sen & Honavar, 2021).

 

 

References

Bryant, A. (2014). Thinking informatically. Informatics, 1(1), 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/informatics1010001

 

Magnetron – 1920. (n.d.). The largest and highest powered magnet lab in the world - MagLab. https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/museum/magnetron

 

Sen, M., & Honavar, S. G. (2021). Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen: Finding X. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, 69(10). https://journals.lww.com/ijo/Fulltext/2021/10000/Wilhelm_Conrad_R_ntgen__Finding_X.7.aspx