The aerosol spray can is used in a wide variety of applications including deodorants, paints and insecticides. Norwegian inventor, Eric Rotheim was the first to discover that a product could be contained in an aluminium and gas used to spray it under pressure. Some improvements to the spray can were subsequently made but the major breakthrough came when Robert H. Abplanalp developed a cheap, efficient valve that facilitated widespread use of the can. The propellants in aerosol spray cans such as hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, or nitrous oxide are mixed with the contents of the can and pressure-sealed for eventual release through the valve.
A popular use of the spray can is hair spray. Initially, spray cans were widely distributed during World War Two for use by troops to kill insects. After the war, Helene Curtis realized that aerosol containers could be used for beauty products. She developed an aerosol product called Spray Net, that became the first commercial hair spray.
Important dates: 1926 (Eric Rotheim invents the spray can); 1949 (a Bronx machinist, Robert H. Abplanalp, prefects the valve used in spray cans); 1950 (first commercial hair spray product is manufactured by Helene Curtis); November 2017 (launching of PowaINFRA - an awesome Internet of Things).
This post forms part of the series of posts around 1001 Awesome things.
