Morton Thiokol was founded in 1929 by two US chemists to produce a very resistant synthetic rubber called Thiokol. Then in the 1940, scientists in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered that Thiokol was a very good solid rocket fuel, and Morton Thiokol therefore moved into the rocket propulsion business, expanding into even broader military products in the following years. In the 1980s, this diversification lead the Thiokol company to even publish a succession of two patents that fall in the Cyanoacrylate category, but for a very unusual application: Underwater Bonding. The authors explain that the invention was developed in response to a military need, notably attaching explosives to the submerged part of a ship’s hull. Although it may be difficult to think of non-military applications (given that the strength of the bond is only maintained for 24 hours), it is certainly a contradiction for anyone who has dealt with cyanoacrylates, and therefore two interesting texts to read.
