My Town Monday: WD-40

Before starting this week's My Town Monday's post, I want to wrap up last week's book giveaway.

Congratulations to Alyson at New England Living, the winner of a signed copy of Eileen Cook's WHAT WOULD EMMA DO?!

And congratulations to Paradox of Paradoxical! You've won a signed copy of I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES! Email me at barrie.summy@gmail.com, and we'll get the ball rolling.

Thanks to everyone for playing!

Now, without further ado, here's this week's My Town Monday post. And it's rust-proof!

Did you know that WD-40 was invented in San Diego?

Way back when, in 1953, the Rocket Chemical Company, a little company of three people working in a little lab, "set out to create a line of rust-prevention solvents and degreasers for use in the aerospace industry."

It took them FORTY tries, hence the name WD-40! The WD stands for Water Displacement. (Apparently, there is a mysterious (for me) scientific connection between corrosion prevention and water displacement.)

Convair used WD-40 to protect the outside of the Atlas Missile from corrosion. In 1958, WD-40 hit store shelves in an aerosol can. In 1960, the company boasted seven employees and sold a whopping 45 cases daily to stores in the San Diego area. In 1971, the company went public. By 1993, sales were up to a million cans/week!

From the product website, here's a interesting tip for you musicians out there:

Try soaking new guitar strings in WD-40 before putting them on a guitar. The WD-40-soaked strings are easier to play and less likely to break because of the reduced friction. (submitted by J. Mark Holbrook)

So, the next time you're at a fancy cocktail party and someone asks you to pass the WD-40, you can totally impress by saying, "Oh, do you mean the Water Displacement that was invented in San Diego on the 40th try?"

(sources: http://www.wd40.com/, http://www.sandiegotraveltips.com/)

Sepiru Chris and Junosmom list links to other My Town Monday participants. They're lending a hand while Travis Erwin, our fearless MTM leader, gets his life back in order following a recent fire that burned his house down. To help him out, please visit Habitat for Travis.