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cellophane, a thin film of regenerated cellulose, usually transparent, employed primarily as a packaging material. For many years after World War I, cellophane was the only flexible, transparent plastic film available for use in such common items as food wrap and adhesive tape.

Cellophane emerged from a series of efforts conducted during the late 19th century to produce artificial materials by the chemical alteration of cellulose

Harry Wesley Coover Jr., the man who invented Super Glue, died on Saturday night at his home in Kingsport, Tenn. He was 94.

when he was experimenting with acrylates for use in clear plastic gun-sights during World War II

In 1951, a researcher named Fred Joyner, who was working with Dr. Coover at Eastman Kodak’s laboratory in Tennessee, was testing hundreds of compounds looking for a temperature-resistant coating for jet cockpits

Nils Bohlin, the Swedish engineer and inventor responsible for the three-point lap and shoulder seatbelt

born on July 17, 1920

 (born March 6, 1917, Newark, Del.—died March 26, 2011, Kingsport, Tenn.), American chemist who discovered the powerful adhesive Super Glue while working as a chemist for Eastman Kodak, conducting research on cyanoacrylates to be used in clear plastic gunsights during World War II. Because the sticky cyanoacrylates were difficult to handle, Coover abandoned the research. In 1951 a colleague used the substance during a test to find a heat-resistant compound for jet cockpit canopies and was dismayed when it adhered to—and badly damaged—the lab equipment. Coover, however, recognized its unique ability to bond without the need for heat or pressure