Spencer Silver and Art Fry's Contribution to Our Modern Society

Topic: Spencer Silver and Art Fry's contribution to our modern society.

General Purpose: To inform the public.

Specific Purpose: To specify how two fellow colleagues have contributed to one of the best

selling office supply.

Thesis: Without Silver and Fry's invention, our lives are left bland and

unorganized.

Introduction

I. So, how many of us have used this? (Post-it notes)

A. I am sure we have all used a Post-it note at one point in our lives, to either get organized or remind ourselves of something.

B. Personally, this obsession of mine has kept my life in order.

II. Not many are aware of who invented such creations that make life much simpler.

III. Without Silver and Fry's invention, our lives are left bland and unorganized. (Thesis)

Body

I. During the late 1960's, Spencer Silver was a man on a mission.

A. Before taking a position as a chemist for 3M, he graduated from Arizona State University.

1. As he worked for 3M's Corporate Research Laboratory, it was his job to create and analyze adhesives.

2. He tested these adhesives and was assigned to think of how 3M could use them in new products.

B. Along the way, Silver was determined to create a strong adhesive.

1. Positively, he was able to develop a new adhesive.

2. Instead of following through with his intensions, the adhesive was actually weaker than what 3M had already manufactured.

C. Rather than discarding his creation, he kept it just in case it might come in handy for something else.

II. Art Fry on the other hand, was an undergraduate working as a new product development engineer for 3M.

A. He graduated from University of Minnesota, majoring in chemical engineering.

1. He sang for his church choir during the weekends.

2. He also attended a number of Spencer Silver's seminars at 3M.

B. It was while singing in the church choir that Fry gained an inspiration in 1974.

1. Frustrated over the fact that every time he was to stand and open his hymnal, the paper bookmarks would always fall out causing him to lose his page.