From Idea to Invention
By Michele Barone

One late winter night, 11-year-old Frank Epperson used a stick to stir water and soda pop mix. Epperson left his concoction outside on the back porch. He found it frozen the next morning with the stick still stuck in it. When he pulled it out of the jar—flavored ice and all—he took a few licks to try this strange treat. Delicious!

The following summer Epperson made more “Epperson Icicles” and sold them for five cents each. He decided to call his icicles “popsicles” because they were made with soda pop. And the rest is hot weather history!

Cone Creator

Sometimes, inventions are sparked by accident. That’s exactly what happened to Arnold Fornachou. But Fornachou also stumbled upon his surprisingly successful creation while trying to solve a problem. While selling ice cream at the 1904 World’s Fair, the resourceful teenager ran out of dishes. He had a dilemma, until he noticed a man selling an Arabic waffle dessert called zalabia. So, Fornachou bought some zalabias. He rolled them into cone shapes, using these instead of dishes to sell his ice cream. Fornachou had not only solved his problem, he had invented the first ice cream cone!

Now Heal This!

Earle Dickson’s wife, Josephine, often got small cuts while she chopped vegetables in the kitchen. So Dickson cleverly stuck little gauze squares in the middle of pieces of tape to place over Josephine’s wounds. Dickson’s boss at Johnson & Johnson Company liked his idea for Band-aids, but at first no one would buy them. Finally, when the company gave free Band-aids to Boy Scouts all over America, the invention became a big hit.

Yo!

The first yo-yos were actually stones or wooden disks with twine tied around them. Philippino hunters caught animals by throwing the “yo-yos” at their prey’s legs. An American named Donald Duncan saw this weapon when he was on a trip overseas, and was instantly intrigued. At first, Duncan made only one small yo-yo to play with. But when he came back to America he started a company that sold thousands (eventually millions!) to kids and grown ups everywhere.

Catch the Pie Pan

Those fun flying discs—otherwise known as Frisbees—actually originated from a Connecticut bakery called the Frisbie Pie Company. After work hours, kids played catch with the store’s empty pie pans. One of those children was Walter Morrison. As an adult, he invented a plastic saucer to throw back and forth. Morrision called his new toys Frisbees after the pie pans he threw as a boy.

The Birth of Barbie

Barbie Handler’s mom noticed that her little girl liked to cut out magazine pictures of fashion models and glue different outfits on them. Soon Mrs. Handler invented a famously blonde female doll and named it Barbie after—who else?—her daughter. She also created a boy doll named after her son, Ken.

So next time your little brother asks you to test drive his aerodynamic tinfoil flying machine, don’t dismiss the idea as kids stuff. It just might be the one that makes both of you millions. Get the idea?