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Popular Science Highlights Top Accidental Inventions

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Aug 26 2010 4:41pm EDT

If Only We'd Thought of That

Slinky
The Slinky got it its start in 1943 as part of a experiment to help Navy ships.
Image: Gizmodo

Entrepreneurs are most definitely dreamers. But sometimes, they come up with the best products when they're dreaming about something else.

Take, for example, the Slinky. Did you know that the very low-tech toy that's been a staple of childhood for decades started off its life as a tool to help stabilize electronic instruments on Naval vessels?

Gizmodo has a great slideshow today looking at the top-10 best accidental inventions of all time.

Besides the Slinky, other products that started off as something else entirely include the microwave oven, saccharin artificial sweetener, Teflon, and Velcro.

Check out the full list here.

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