The 50 Year History of Play-Doh

tanagra writes "50 years ago U.S. Patent No. 3,167,440 was granted to Noah McVicker and Joseph McVicker for a "plastic modeling composition", (which was originally intended to be a wallpaper cleaner) now called Play-Doh. Little did they know that they had created the substance of childhood memories as well as many a childhood meal, unfortunately. Play-Doh persists as one of the most well known and popular children's "toys". As you attempt to clean your children's Play-Doh out of the carpet, the car, and the bathtub; take a look back with us at how it all got started."

And if you REALLY love the doh!

[Rayston]

or you have SO that does.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/03/playdoh_scent ed_colo.html [boingboing.net]

cologne that smells like playdoh.

What makes up the smell

[Mr. Droopy Drawers]

I've always wondered what goes into making that distinctive smell.

Better even than "that New Car Smell". And a lot cheaper.

Re:ingredients

[Ucklak]

When I was a kid, I used to watch ZOOM and in their ZOOM DO segment, they showed us how to make play-doh. I made it and colored it green.
Played with it for a few days, not as pliable as the original stuff but good enough and it got more playtime because we made it.
Put it in its tupperware container in the dark pantry and forgot about it. A couple of days later, it grew out of it's container and made a mess in the pantry.

Wallpaper cleaner? Anyone tried this?

[ShyGuy91284]

It seems like such an odd idea...... I'm curious if it actually works...

Another Use of Play-Doh by The Brain

[Esion Modnar]

I saw this show on Discovery about the rare math genius who was also NOT otherwise mentally handicapped. He could calculate Pi to 40,000 decimals or something. He used play-doh to describe how he visualized different numbers. For instance, 637 was a green saddle-shaped thing. (Or whatever, I don't remember.)

He got that way after suffering (as a young child) a very specific brain injury as a result of a disease. No mention of any radioactive poisonous spiders, however.

Re:Recipes

[Atmchicago]

You can also take a look at the patent itself at http://patft1.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm [uspto.gov]. Then search for patent US 3167440. Click the images button. They have a terrible viewing system, but it's there!

Re:Recipes

[Generic Guy]

The basic problem with the homemade 'Play Doh' type modeling dough is that the food coloring tends to bleed into your hands, clothes, and usually anything it touches.

Despite its tendency to dry into a hard, nearly impossible to remove mass in your carpet (or your kid's hair), the 'real' Play-Doh product seems to hang onto its color very well.

Play-Doh Resistors

[dukiebbtwin]

In my college physics lab we used play-doh as a resistor - figuring out how resistance changed with varying surface areas and the like. Also measured whether there were differences in resistance among different colors of play-doh. Needless to say the play-doh got pretty fried at the points where you connected it to the rest of the circuit. Of course the play-doh was used more for constructing artistic masterpieces than using it as a resistor!

Now, why am I paying 40,000 bucks a year for this :x :x :x I had my final earlier tonight too - that was rough - and no mention of play-doh resistors - in fact very little problems dealing with dc circuits at all, the only stuff I was really good at!

Re:If Geeks named Play Doh

[chthon]

or KlayDough ?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Anyone else prefer Plasticine?

[spun]

I gave up play-doh when I found out about plasticine, and I gave up plasticine when I found out about polymer clay like Fimo and Sculpey which you can work much like plasticine but you can bake and make permanent.

Claydonia (aka Clay-O-Rama)

[Domomojo]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned one of the best uses for Play-Doh, the game Claydonia from Dragon magazine. Details:
http://www.lclark.edu/~gamesoc/games/claydonia.htm l [lclark.edu]

In a recent episode of "How It's Made" on the Science channel they showed how they make a Play-Doh like product called Tutti-Frutti. This clay has various scents added to so it can smell like candy or fruit. It is made by:
http://www.bojeux.com/ANG/Products/section/tutti.h tml [bojeux.com]

They don't say what it tastes like though.