American inventor of 'Japanese glue': Who is Harry Coover?

However, when he could not get what he wanted, he shelved his formula. Six years later, he revisited the formula to produce a plastic to be used as a cockpit top cover in airplanes, and this time he found "cyanoacrylate", an incredibly strong and fast adhesive. Within a few years, the fame of super glue spread all over the world.

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Harry Coover created the glue compound while working with a colleague during World War II to develop a tough plastic for use in weapons.

Coover, who worked in a sub-branch of the Eastman Kodak company, said that they accidentally found the substance that stuck to the place he touched.

Harry Wesley Coover Jr. (March 6, 1917 – March 26, 2011) was the inventor of Eastman 910, commonly known as Super Glue. Coover held 460 patents and Super Glue was just one of his many discoveries. He viewed "programmed innovation," a management methodology emphasizing research and development, among his most important work. 

This substance, discovered in 1942, was first offered for commercial sale in 1958.

The claim of the product, which was put on the market in small tubes, was to glue everything in one drop.

Super glue, which does not contain solvents, dries quickly, is very durable and long-lasting, and has spread all over the world over time; It has become used in the most demanding jobs in millions of homes and workplaces.

It was produced in many parts of the world, including Japanese companies.

However, the invention, officially known as cyanoacrylate, did not bring fortune to Coover. Because when the superglue spread around the world, the patent it received had expired.

Coover instead rose to become vice president of Eastman Kodak's chemicals division.

For his invention, he was awarded the National Order of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama in 2010.