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."

Comments

May I be the first to say...

[maynard]

D'OH!

50 years?

[teebob21]

You know, if that stuff has really been around that long, the least they could do now is make it taste better.

I'll stick with paste anyday.

Re:50 years?

[physicsphairy]

As a veritable connoisseur of things that should not be eaten, I vouch that Playdoh is pretty high up there for initial taste. It has a bit too much salt, however, and one can only eat so much of it before the after taste becomes perpetual. Most pastes suffer from this problem also. The big problem with pastes is texture: they are hard to chew and hard to get down.

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.)

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

cologne that smells like playdoh.

shapes

[nodnarb1978]

I remember quickly getting bored with the default shapes thingee you made by mashing the dough through this big plastic doohickey.

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?

Business Plan:

[AlexanderDitto]

1. Create Wallpaper Cleaner 2. ??? 3. Profit!

Just remember...

[hobotron]

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.

Now with New and Improved Flavor!

[thesymbolicfrog]

Sure, they may not have changed it much in 50 years, but just you wait. For the 50th anniversary they'll probably have new flavors: "Original", Barbeque, Zesty. Mmmmm.... Play'doh. :)

(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.)

Playdough money

[ChestyLaRueGal]

I had a friend in college once pay me back with 10 cans of playdough. The only problem is that everyone wanted to play with my playdough. Damn roomates.

Recipes

[zymano]

Home Made 'Play - Doh'

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.htm

Glad to see this on slashdot!

[lawpoop]

I'm sick and tired of all those slashdot articles that extol the virtues of Legos in a child's intellectual development, and how it trained generations of engineers, architects and programmers to think logically, discretely, and modularly.

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!

[jamesh]

Actually, it was the brain damage sustained from the buildup of toxins accumulated from repeated ingestion of Play Doh that made you liberal arts majors.

(runs and ducks for cover :)

Re:misinformation

[Anonymous Coward]

The patent describes several alternatives, and is vague about additives, so I think it is fair to say that the formula isn't published. We know in general what it contains, but the specific formula used for the product aren't necessarily public. It's a long way from knowing the ingredients to knowing the "formula" -- which includes the actual ratios and specifications of ingredients and the process used to combine them.

The ingredients noted in the patent (simplified for readability)
  - wheat flour
  - water
  - salt
  - deodorized kerosene
  - borax
  - an alum, such as aluminum sulfate

Yum!

If Geeks named Play Doh

[Reality Master 101]

'Play Doh', pff. We all know that the Geek Community comes up with MUCH better names for products. I nominate "Play Gnoh".

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.