The 50 Year History of Play-Doh 182
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."
May I be the first to say... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say... (Score:3, Funny)
It turned into a pancake very quickly though.
Re:May I be the first to say... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:May I be the first to say... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm glad he borrowed it, because D'oh is such a better line than MY annoyed grunts.
On a side note, if you can find Castellaneta's CD "I am Not Homer"...it's hilarious.
Did anyone ever make... (Score:2, Funny)
Mom did.
It tasted salty.
Re:Did anyone ever make... (Score:2)
I looked up the patent and couldn't see the whole thing for some reason, but the thought of kerosene (even a small amount) in a toy that kids are guaranteed to eat sounds a bit crazy.
Re:Did anyone ever make... (Score:2)
In home recipes [wikihow.com] they use vegetable oil instead. It comes out about the same but is edible instead of just non-toxic.
Re:Did anyone ever make... (Score:2)
Re:If it looked like cottage cheese, then... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:If it looked like cottage cheese, then... (Score:2)
he was eating what?!??!?!?!?!? [google.ca]
How exactly does one eat a Latin dance style?
Re:If it looked like cottage cheese, then... (Score:2)
With flair, [google.com] of course.
50 years? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll stick with paste anyday.
Re:50 years? (Score:5, Funny)
What I recommend most is sillyputty. Granted, is not all that flavorful, but you can consistently eat much more of it than either playdoh or paste and it generally doesn't leave a bad aftertaste.
The new cornstarch based packing peanuts make an excellent side dish. You can wrap them in notebook paper to make a semi-palatable burrito. (Typing paper has bit too much chemical additives. And NEVER EVER EVER EVER eat receipt paper. It's just nasty.)
Re:50 years? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:50 years? (Score:3, Informative)
*no, of course the ladies were not impressed. After this failure I took to collecting MIB Star Wars figures and posting on slashdot.
Re:50 years? (Score:1)
what the hell?
Re:50 years? (Score:3, Funny)
Either you're some sort of glutton, or you overpaid for those packing peanuts.
Re:50 years? (Score:2)
I was going to make some witty sexual comment but I had like 4 or 5 window tabs open and forgot where I was. :(
And if you REALLY love the doh! (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/05/03/playdoh_scen
cologne that smells like playdoh.
Re:And if you REALLY love the doh! (Score:2)
shapes (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember eschewing this tool in favor of jury-rigging my own shapes.
Twenty-five years later, I do the same thing with photoshop.
Progress?
Heh. Good call... (Score:2)
When I was a little man,
Playdoh came in a little can
I was Star Wars' biggest fan
Now I'm stuck without a plan
G. I. Joe was an Action Man
Shaggy drove the mystery van
Devo was my favourite band
Take me back to my happy land!
-- The Aquabats, Playdoh. Available NOW at your local P2P app!
Business Plan: (Score:5, Funny)
Just remember... (Score:5, Insightful)
Put the GOD DAMN CAP BACK ON.
In one of my college physics labs we used Play Doh for fine tuning our experiments with small mass additions. COLLEGE level physics class and without fail every student cant put the cap back on, and we all know how that dries out.
So I guess what Im saying is some of us have forgotten basic 5 year old common curtesy, But Play Doh is awesome.
Class Dismissed.
Re:Just remember... (Score:3, Informative)
It also masks that distinctive smell...but if you're into that smell you can either use plain mineral oil or buy the PlayDoh cologne.
Re:Just remember... (Score:3, Funny)
Isn't that smell so very distinctive and reminiscant of childhood. I love that stuff! As a bonus, kneading it can be relaxing too.
Re:Just remember... (Score:2)
In that case, you may be interested in bying a bottle of Play Doh Eau de Toilette. [demeterfragrance.com]
This will make you (even more) popular with the ladies!
How come plastersine didn't dry out? (Score:2)
Re:How come plastersine didn't dry out? (Score:2)
Play-Doh Resistors (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, why am I paying 40,000 bucks a year for this
Now with New and Improved Flavor! (Score:4, Funny)
(I have never eaten Play'doh. Play'doh is a registered trademark of Hasbro, the same large corporation that rules over D&D. This speculation written to excite the imaginations of Slashdot users as well as give me some Karma points for being funny.)
Re:Now with New and Improved Flavor! (Score:2)
Playdough money (Score:4, Funny)
Recipes (Score:5, Informative)
Ingredients
* 2 cups plain flour
* 1 cup salt
* 2 cups water
* 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 2 tablespoons cooking oil
* food colouring
Method
* Mix ingredients in a pan and stir while heating gently
* When dough is formed tip out and cool on grease proof paper
* When cool kneed until smooth
* Store in airtight container in a cool place
Another recipe. Including Silly Putty recipe. Hmmm
http://k2.kirtland.cc.mi.us/~balbachl/kidrecip.ht
Re:Recipes (Score:4, Interesting)
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 (Score:2, Informative)
Despite the patent, TFA claims, "It goes without saying that the top secret formula is a closely guarded secret." Color me confuselated*, you can't patent a secret. That's the whole point of a patent!
*The author reserves the right to invent words to suit his mood.
Re:Recipes (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
Or packed tightly into the back seat of a toy car, then left to dry. I'd say nearly half of me and my brother's toy vehicles were carrying a permanent load of dry, rock-hard home made playdough in the back.
Re:Recipes (Score:2)
* 3 cups flour
* 3 cups salt
* 3 tablespoons alum
Combine ingredients and slowly add water, a little at a time. Mix well with spoon. As mixture thickens, continue mixing with your hands until it has the feel of clay. If it feels too dry, add more water. If it is too sticky, add equal parts of flour and salt.
brown marbled doh... (Score:1)
Then, there's the ball of brown marbled doh that is hopelessly mixed from all the colors in the play-doh fun pack. Of course, the brown doh works perfectly with the play-doh ground beef grinder and burger press. Mmmmmmm. Now, where's the red doh so I can make some doh tomatoes using the tomatoe slice press...
What makes up the smell (Score:2, Interesting)
Better even than "that New Car Smell". And a lot cheaper.
Well THAT can't be good for you. (Score:2, Informative)
Mmm... petroleum distillate. How comforting, and assuredly non-carcinogenic.
Re:Well THAT can't be good for you. (Score:2)
They say that it's used so sparingly that it's OK if kids eat a little bit, but I find that hard to believe. I was always taught that ingesting Kerosene (even in small amounts)is a bad thing.
Re:Well THAT can't be good for you. (Score:2)
misinformation (Score:1)
#1. If it was granted a US patent, then this information *must* be public, or else the patent could have been challenged.
#2. The patent expired in the mid 70s. If a reformulation is a trade secret that's one thing, but saying that the composition of the product was secret in 1956 shows a poor understa
Re:misinformation (Score:4, Informative)
The ingredients noted in the patent (simplified for readability)
- wheat flour
- water
- salt
- deodorized kerosene
- borax
- an alum, such as aluminum sulfate
Yum!
Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
Finally, we give praise to the medium that created all of us Liberal Arts majors: Play-Doh. Folks, it doesn't get any fuzzier than this stuff. There is no formula, design, or strategy. Anything you make can be anything you want; a bird is a blob is a bunny. Anything goes -- nobody can say you are wrong. Take your masterpiece and pinch it here and there and its totally different. What an exercise in hermeneutical phenomology! It's everything yet nothing at once! Take all the colors, mix them together, and you get a wonderful, muddied brown. Who can argue with that?
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)
(runs and ducks for cover
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
I had Lego all over my floor.
I had peices of Lego all over my floor.
The child has ingested several large peices of Lego
What the fuck is this Lego doing in my oatmeal?
This is the only "Leggos" out there.
http://www.coles.com.au/images/cmi/library/ingredi ent/small/leggos-sun-dried-tomato-pes.jpg [coles.com.au]
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Sorry, no. "Non-Toxic" has been a primary marketing point of Play-Doh for years. That means it's safe to eat as much of it as you want!
Liberal arts majors must have gotten their brain damage from eating something else.
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Take all the colors, mix them together, and you get a wonderful, muddied brown. Who can argue with that?
The parents who find the lumpy, lint-covered brown thing a couple years after its birth :-)
Re:Glad to see this on slashdot! (Score:2)
Don't forget (Score:2)
Best darn $2 you can spend... (Score:2)
Re:Best darn $2 you can spend... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Best darn $2 you can spend... (Score:2)
Besides, they come in very intersting odours and colors these days. Very vibrant...
Re:Best darn $2 you can spend... (Score:2)
I know about you now, and wouldn't eat anything you cook. You see, most people know to wash their hands before preparing food.
Sorry couldn't resist. . .
Wallpaper cleaner? Anyone tried this? (Score:3, Interesting)
Another Use of Play-Doh by The Brain (Score:4, Interesting)
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:Another Use of Play-Doh by The Brain (Score:2)
w00t! 50 years of... (Score:3, Funny)
The patent is published online (Score:2, Informative)
Get your facts right (Score:3, Informative)
If Geeks named Play Doh (Score:5, Funny)
Or perhaps 'The PIMP' (Plastic Immersive Modeling Product)
Or "PDNC" (Play Doh's Not Clay)
Clearly they needed someone like RMS back in the 50s to help them out.
Re:If Geeks named Play Doh (Score:2)
Re:If Geeks named Play Doh (Score:3, Interesting)
or KlayDough ?
Anyone else prefer Plasticine? (Score:3, Insightful)
Admittedly you can't dry plasticine at all, so if you want something permanent you're out of luck. But just for pure creativity, I got to give props to plasticine. And it's also cool because it led me into animation, and film.
Cheers.
Re:Anyone else prefer Plasticine? (Score:3, Funny)
--Lefty
Re:Anyone else prefer Plasticine? (Score:3, Interesting)
Secret patents don't exist (Score:2)
So what is Play-Doh made of, you may ask? It goes without saying that the top secret formula is a closely guarded secret
Well, if it was patented, then by definition it's not at all a secret. It's about as public as it can get.
Furthermore, it sounds highly unlikely that a substance that ends up in infants mouths on a regular basis has any ingredients that are secret.
Yeah, okay, I'm nitpickin', still, sounds like a press release to me.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Secret patents don't exist (Score:2)
Mary Worth (Score:2, Funny)
Happy memories... (Score:2)
Anyway, I spent 4 hours yesterday making play-doh animals with my own children. It doesn't go beep, it doesn't required batteries and they'll probably be doing the same thing when they have kids of there own just like me. I can't wait until they're both old enough for l
long since expired (Score:2)
They took the "ug" out of "dough" for the name! (Score:2)
Claydonia (aka Clay-O-Rama) (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Polymer Clay. (Score:2)
Sad but true (Score:2)
Re:ingredients (Score:2)
Re:ingredients (Score:2, Insightful)
Shouldn't the original formula be in the patent somewhere? It's not like this is a bogus software patent we're talking about here. Especially when you consider that the stated purpose of patents is to give inventors a temporary monopoly in exchange for publishing how to make the invention (in the patent filing itself).
If not, then the whole system sounds like it (the patent system) was always a scam and society is no worse off by not granting patents since no new knowledge is gained.
Re:ingredients (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:ingredients (Score:2)
Re:ingredients (Score:1)
Re:ingredients (Score:3, Informative)
Re:New and Innovative? (Score:2, Funny)
Depends on whether you consider substituting Penzoil for schmaltz in your matzo balls a nonobvious idea.
All I can say is, it never would have occured to me.
KFG
Re:New and Innovative? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:hmmm (Score:1)
Basically you're right. Just add some mineral oil to get Play Doh.
Roll it over your wallpaper. The mineral oil disolves the paste haze and the dough picks it up, just like cleaning a "bread" board used to knead noodle dough on, except for a bread board you'd use a bit of vegetable oil instead of mineral oil.
KFG
Re:The best thing to make out of Play-doh. (Score:2)
Re:The best thing to make out of Play-doh. (Score:2)
Re:The best thing to make out of Play-doh. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It's not a coincidence (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:2)
Re:Play-Doh or Harcourt? (Score:2)
One, we need to pay teachers more. Everyone deserves a decent salary, and the guardians of the future deserve one doubly so.
Two, we need more teachers. Stuffing thirty kids into a classroom with a single teacher means the teacher can not give any individualised attention and much of her (or his) time is spent on discipline. Should be about 12 per teacher in grades under 3, 18 for 4-6, and 25 for everything afterwards.