Aerosol bug spray
Date invented: 1941
In World War II, soldiers stationed in the South Pacific needed an easy way to kill mosquitos, which could potentially carry malaria. In a partnership with the Department of Defense, two scientists with the Department of Agriculture, Lyle Goodhue and William Sullivan, took on the task of developing a way to deliver insecticide as a fine mist.
The first aerosol can was patented in 1941 and nicknamed “bug bomb” by soldiers. The partnership between the USDA and the DoD has yielded other life-saving innovations, including the use of DDT in controlling typhus. In 1949, engineer and veteran Robert Abplanalp patented a cheaper plastic aerosol valve meant for commercial mass production.
He started the Precision Valve Corp. to market the invention and turned a profit almost immediately. The aerosol can has since been refined and is now less harmful to the environment.
