The Slow Invention of Spray Paint

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode: The Slow Invention of Spray Paint
Date: August 25, 2025
Hosts: Holly Fry & Tracy V. Wilson

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Holly and Tracy take listeners on a journey through the convoluted and often debated history of spray paint. Eschewing the popular topic of graffiti art, they focus instead on the technological evolution and the inventors whose work over more than a century gradually shaped the spray paint cans we use today. The slow, multi-decade story spans whitewashing basement walls, decorating grand exposition buildings, and the quest for a reliable aerosol can.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Episode Motivation and Scope

• Personal Anecdote: Holly, while staring at graffiti on trains and reflecting on how historical train travelers would view modern train graffiti, realized, "they didn’t even have spray paint," sparking curiosity about spray paint's origins. (03:10)
• Clarifying Topic Focus:

  "We're not talking about graffiti art... The invention of spray paint, like a lot of inventions, is kind of a matter of debate." — Holly Fry (03:41)

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2. Early Innovations: Joseph Binks’s Whitewash Sprayer

• Joseph Binks: Often cited as an originator of sprayable pigment, his story is hard to verify with primary sources.
• Context: Binks was a maintenance manager at Marshall Fields in Chicago. He sought a faster way to whitewash the department store's vast basement, inventing a pressurized sprayer to apply the lime-based wash. (05:16–08:14)

  "He decided to try to create a faster method...a reservoir for the whitewash, a hose with a nozzle, and a hand pump that could pressurize the liquid in the reservoir and then spray it out." — Tracy V. Wilson (07:30)

• Notable Myth: Some versions of the story tie the invention to the aftermath of the 1871 Chicago Fire—an anachronism, as Binks’s sprayer was really from the late 1880s. (08:14)

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3. Francis Davis Millet and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

• Francis Davis Millet: Renowned artist, muralist, and journalist. Served as director of decorations for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
• Spray Paint at the Fair:
  • Faced with the task of painting the exposition’s massive plaster buildings to look like white marble, Millet (or his department) devised a paint sprayer described in detail in contemporary accounts.

  "A contrivance was therefore fashioned by Frank D. Millet...whereby four men working in unison could accomplish the task of 50." — Holly Fry, quoting Bancroft’s Book of the Fair (21:45)

  • The sprayer: Gas pipe nozzle, rubber hose, air pump, electric power (22:22)

  "The sprayer created for the Expo appears to have been a more industrial design, both in the size and the use of electrical current to run it." — Tracy V. Wilson (24:01)

• Historical Controversy:
  • Ongoing debate whether Millet invented a new device or simply deployed/modified Binks’s earlier invention. Both names are cited; contemporary images label the World’s Fair device as “Millet Spraying Machine.” (20:03–21:45)

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4. Medical Atomizers to Paint Sprayers: Dr. Allen DeVilbiss

• DeVilbiss’s Atomizer: As an ear, nose, and throat doctor in the 1880s, DeVilbiss created an atomizer for spraying medicinal liquids in the throat or sinuses.

  "Pinch the bulb and the resulting pressure burst would create a fine spray of droplets." — Tracy V. Wilson (24:58)

• Product Expansion: The company moved from medical to perfume atomizers, then in 1907, Dr. DeVilbiss’s son Thomas adapted the atomizer for paint. The paint sprayer was rapidly adopted by furniture makers. (25:19–25:54)
• Legacy: The DeVilbiss and Binks companies (two major players in early spray technologies) are ultimately connected in modern manufacturing.

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5. The Aerosol Leap: Erich Rotheim and the Modern Spray Can

• Compressed Air vs. Aerosol: Early spray systems relied on compressed air; true aerosol cans (using pressurized gas to atomize paint on demand) came later.
• Erich Rotheim’s Patent:
  • Norwegian chemical engineer, patented an aerosol can in the late 1920s, using dimethyl ether as a propellant. (31:15)
  • Main challenge: Engineering a nozzle that wouldn’t clog.

  "He kind of hit a wall when it came to developing a nozzle that would not clog." — Holly Fry (32:47)

  • Patent history: Disputed accounts of sale to U.S. companies; Rotheim died young and his company shut down by 1940. (33:16–33:49)
• WWII Impact: U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists adapted Rotheim’s design for portable insecticide sprays, widely used by troops to combat disease. (34:46)

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6. Commercial Success: Ed Seymour and the Consumer Spray Paint Can

• Practical Innovation:
  • In 1949, Ed Seymour wanted to demonstrate aluminum radiator paint without heavy equipment. His wife Bonnie suggested aerosolizing the paint, inspired by insecticide cans. (35:08)
  • Ed developed the first spray paint can, combining paint, propellant, and an easy-to-use spray head. (35:37)

  "He combined the paint with aerosol in a can and then he used a spray head to make it easy to spread." — Holly Fry (35:37)

• Patent & Adoption:
  • Patent issued in December 1951 for "hermetically sealed package for mixing and discharging paint paint," including the now-familiar mixing ball. (36:02)
  • Local newspapers dubbed it “rattle in a can.” Initially for demonstrations, it became a hit consumer product. (37:35)
• Seymour Company: Expanded rapidly into automotive, industrial, and traffic paints. The company remains family-run for decades.

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7. The Problem of the Nozzle: Precision Valve’s Plastic Breakthrough

• Valve Mechanics:
  • Early nozzles rusted and clogged; Robert Abplanalp of Precision Valve Company developed a reliable plastic nozzle in the 1940s/50s, opening the floodgates for expanded consumer and industrial spray paint usage. (39:06–40:11)

  "At this point, with the plastic nozzle in place, the spray paint industry exploded." — Holly Fry (40:11)

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8. Regulation, Reformulation, and the Modern Era

• Health & Environment:
  • Lead paint bans and the Clean Air Act of the 1970s forced companies to reformulate products to reduce toxicity, VOCs, and environmental impact.

  "The Seymour Company, I will say, was ahead of the game on this and had things removed before they were required to." — Holly Fry (41:06)

• Looking Ahead: Interest continues in developing sustainable, environmentally friendly spray paints. (41:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "We're going to step through a number of people and moments that get us to the point where you could just go to the hardware store and grab a can of paint and paint something at your house." — Holly Fry (04:55)
• "All you do is shake the can, then press the button. Almost any job of painting...becomes a simple operation with no mess, sticky brushes or turpentine..." — Newspaper article on Seymour’s spray can (37:35)
• "If you look at it in kind of its grander scale, it's more a matter of all of these people contributing pieces to the story." — Holly Fry (04:25)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:10] – How a moment spent gazing at graffiti inspired this episode
• [05:16] – Joseph Binks and whitewashing with one of the first spray devices
• [09:40] – Francis Davis Millet’s background and artistic career
• [19:26] – Using paint sprayers at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair
• [24:18] – Dr. Allen DeVilbiss and the invention of the atomizer
• [29:23] – Distinction between compressed air sprayers and aerosol spray cans
• [31:15] – Erich Rotheim and the patenting of the aerosol can
• [34:46] – WWII and the use of aerosols for insecticides
• [35:08] – Ed Seymour and the consumer spray paint can
• [39:06] – The invention of the plastic nozzle and mass adoption of spray paint
• [40:11] – Environmental regulations and reformulations

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains the chatty, accessible, and gently humorous tone typical of the podcast, blending curiosity with critical historical inquiry. The hosts express appreciation for digging into historical puzzles and openly acknowledge uncertainties about inventor attributions throughout.

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Conclusion

The invention of spray paint is a patchwork of ingenious solutions to practical problems, gradual technological improvements, and even a bit of serendipity (and good advice from a spouse). From basement whitewashing to world fairs, from medical atomizers to bug sprays to the ready-to-use colorful cans we know today, spray paint’s history is one of incremental innovation and ongoing transformation.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an I heart podcast.

[Holly Fry]

Listen to your elders, honey. You might know them from their viral videos, but now the old gays are pulling back the curtain with their new podcast, Silver Linings with the Old Gays, brought to you in partnership with iHeart's Ruby Studio and Veeve Healthcare, hosts Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse serve their lifetime of wisdom when it comes to love, sex, community and whatever else they've got on the gay agenda. So check out Silver Linings with the old gays on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Holly Fry]

At T. Rowe Price Their experience helps them see investment potential differently. Instead of quick answers, they know that what really leads to confident investing is true curiosity. And since you're listening to this podcast, we know you value curiosity too. It's what drives them to ask the questions that really matter in our ever changing world, like can healthcare innovations create a healthier world? And how will AI be a part of a new tomorrow? Just like you, their curiosity runs deep and with it comes the power to help you invest confidently. Better questions, better outcomes. T. Rowe Price Learn more@t rowprice.com Curiosity Good morning.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Welcome to Today.

[Holly Fry]

From back to school to tackling your.

[Ryan Seacrest]

To do list, the Today show is your best start to the day. It's a new season and every morning we're here to help you take it all along as the forecast calls for football all across the country, blockbuster stars.

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And the best way to start is together.

[Holly Fry]

Watch the Today show weekday mornings at 7am on NBC. Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

This episode is brought to you by. Everything is depressing and I'm curious.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I also have a forthcoming episode that has similar motivations.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, I. I don't know what what Day it is what day it was. I have been traveling a lot for work. And there was one day, you know, my husband and I had been apart for like over a week, which is very unusual for us. I don't know that it's ever happened before, save one exception because he was traveling and I was traveling. Some of that was surprisers. But we got home and I was like, hey, let's go out for lunch. Because I FL early in the morning, early meaning in the morning period. And we did. And we were at this place that we love near our house, that is near train tracks. And as trains were going by, I, in my somewhat exhausted state, kept gazing at them and I was looking at all the graffiti and I had this moment of like, I wonder what train people of the 1800s would think of trains today? And then I went, they didn't even have spray paint. And then I went, when did that happen? So here we are.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I love when that kind of train of thought leads to an episode.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah. To be clear, I don't wanna disappoint anyone. Cause I know it is a much beloved subject for some people. We're not talking about graffiti art, even though I think that is fascinating. It'll get a little chatter on our Friday episode because I stumbled into a hotbed of people discussing it. But the invention of spray paint, like a lot of inventions, is kind of a matter of debate. But this isn't just a case that we've had in some inst. Where a bunch of different inventors are onto the same idea kind of around the same time, and there's like a race for a patent or arguments over, like, when people filed. The possible contenders for the title of inventor are actually spread across decades for this one. And some of this becomes more of an argument about what the definition of spray paint is. But there are also kind of clusters of moments, particularly at the beginning, were there disagreements about maybe who was where and what they knew of what other people were doing. Really, though, if you look at it in kind of its grander scale, it's more a matter of all of these people contributing pieces to the story. And in some cases, in one in particular, we know a pretty decent amount about the various characters involved and we're going to talk about them. But others, unfortunately, don't offer a whole lot of information about their personal history in any kind of definitive record. So we're going to step through a number of people and moments that get us to the point where you could just go to the hardware store and grab a can of paint and paint something at your house.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

One of the earliest figures cited as an inventor of a sprayable pigment is Joseph Banks. And this is already a tricky part of the story because it is hard to find information to back this up. There's also not a lot of information on who Binks was as a person. Most of the references about this are on pages from body shops that use spray booths, which is cool. I've had a similar experience sometimes when I have been researching something that would be used in some particular capacity today. But that's not a primary source. So it could be entirely true, but there's nothing hard evidence that we can verify this with. There is a book that does include this information. It's titled Collision Repair and Refinishing A Foundation Course for Technicians. Holly was not able to get a copy of that. It may or may not have a more concrete source of where that detail comes from.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, also, since that is a book that is about. I mean, I was able to get a preview of it and see the contents. It definitely is about the hard need information of doing the job of collision repair. So I can't imagine the historical element is real heavy. But in any case, according to the often repeated story, Banks was working as a maintenance manager at Marshall Fields department store in Chicago. And as part of his routine work schedule, he had to oversee the whitewashing of the basement. So just in case you don't know what that means or why it's done, because I think some people think whitewashing just means painting a thing white that's not actually accurate. Whitewashing is a way to manage moisture and bacteria as well as to brighten a space. True whitewash uses lime putty as a base. So it is not a matter of applying white pigment, but a wash that happens to be white that also helps to keep the space clean. And because of its white color, there is also an improvement to visibility because it brightens the space, and it offers a way to strengthen the mortar or brickwork. So a big department store would have a vested interest in all of those benefits in its basement.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

But whitewashing all the corridors of Marshall Fields took weeks. Even with the whole team working on it, the basement had many levels. Every level had its own series of corridors and rooms, and all of that needed whitewashing. As a supervisor, Binks recognized that sending his men to do this job with buckets of paint and paintbrushes was not efficient. And this was not the only job in the store that needed to be done. So he decided to try to Create a faster method. The resulting device had a reservoir for the whitewash, a hose with a nozzle, and a hand pump that could pressurize the liquid in the reservoir and then spray it out of the nozzle.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, I've seen this compared to, like, a modern lawn care insecticide or weed killer nozzle. Like the way that those are kind of handheld while you're carrying the reservoir. Also, as an aside, sometimes Banks's story is told with the detail that he invented this sprayer as a way to repaint a lot of buildings quickly after the scourge of the Great Chicago Fire. That creates a wildly different timeline. That fire happened in 1871, way before he was working on this project at Marshall Fields. And most sources do mention his sprayer as having been invented in the late 1880s. So I do not think the Chicago Fire was a part of the equation.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

There is a Binks Company operating today, and while the company doesn't offer a comprehensive history of its namesake, there are some photos of Binks sprayer base and an invention by another man that we'll talk about in just a bit.

[Holly Fry]

So the next figure to enter the story of spray paint is Francis Davis Millett. Maybe. Really, but sometimes he's held up as a maybe. This part of the story takes place a few years after Banks is said to have come up with his whitewash spray invention. And it involves an event that is essentially a recurring character on Stuff youf Missed in History Class, the World Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, which took place from May through October of 1893.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Millett is worthy of a little exploration because his life story touches on a lot of significant events. Francis Davis Millet was born on November 3, 1846, in Mattapoiset, Massachusetts, and was delivered at home by his father, who was a doctor. The family moved around Massachusetts while he was a kid, and in 1857, his father, Asa, lost everything during a financial crisis in the United States. When the Civil War began, Asa Millett worked as a surgeon for the Union army, and Francis, who went by Frank, traveled with him as an assistant. In 1864, Frank enlisted and was made the drummer for the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia.

[Holly Fry]

After the war, Millett attended Harvard University, and he studied language and literature there. He graduated in 1869 and started working as a reporter and editor in various Boston area newspapers. But while he was working in journalism, he started studying lithography. We've talked a little bit about lithography printmaking on the show before. It uses grease as a repellent of water based inks, so images etched into an oil or grease coated material would absorb the ink to then be transferred onto the paper. And he also started taking life drawing classes at this time at the Lowell Institute. He had been artistically inclined even before he started all these studies and he was producing paintings even while he was still in undergraduate. But once he finished school, his artistic output accelerated even though he was also holding down a full time job.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Although he was working as a journalist as early as 1870, Millett was listing himself in the city directory of Boston as an artist and he set up his own studio that year as well as his skills improved. With art school training, he started producing portraits. By the spring of 1871, Millett was ready to leave his journalism work behind and go to art school full time and he went abroad to do that, enrolling at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. While in Europe, he traveled to Germany, London, Hungary, Turkey, Greece, Italy and more locales on study trips. Millet had never been to Europe before and it seems like he was eager to take in as much as he could while he was abroad. His art style during these years became more complex and vivid in its color choices. He also started winning awards in student competitions at the Royal Academy. He eventually became the only American to win a gold medal at the school.

[Holly Fry]

And coming up, we'll talk about Millett's very busy career and how frequently he was involved with World's Fairs. But first, we're going to take a sponsor break.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

Listen to your elders, honey. You might know them from their viral videos, but now the old Gays pull back the curtain on their brand new podcast Silver Linings with the Old Gays, brought to you in partnership with iHeart's Ruby Studio and Veeve Healthcare. With over 300 years of experience between them, hosts Robert, Mick, Bill and Jesse serve four lifetimes of wisdom when it to love, sex, community and whatever else they've got on the gay agenda. Listen in to these fabulous friends, swap stories exploring how queer life has evolved over the decades and the silver linings they've collected along the way. Each episode dives into hot topics from safe sex and online dating to untangling Gen Z lingo, as well as insights on how music, art and fashion show up in queer culture. So check out Silver Linings, a show about how pride ages like fine wine. Available on the iHeartrade radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to Deals Time, where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Lindor, Oreo, Lays, Celsius, Cottonelle and Snapple. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pickup or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Holly Fry]

Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn [e-mail] In 1873, Millett got his first experience working at a World's Fair when he was selected to work at the Vienna Universal Exposition as Secretary to the Chairman of the Massachusetts Board of Commissioners to the fair.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1875, Millett was back in Massachusetts and built a studio on a piece of land his father gave him in Bridgewater. The following year he co founded the Boston Museum School of Art and taught there. His next notable career achievement was in murals. These were murals that adorned the interiors of Boston's Trinity Church. That was over the course of 1876 and 1877, he started exhibiting his canvas paintings throughout the northeastern United States. Millett had gained a degree of fame as an artist at this point and made portraits of society people and celebrities like Mark Twain. When the Russo Turkish war began in 1877, Millet combined his art and his journalism experience and became a war correspondent. He sketched what he saw on the battlefield for publication in newspapers. He'd already been living temporarily in Paris when the war started, and once it concluded, he went back to the French capital. When the Paris Exposition took place in 1878, Frank was selected as a fine arts juror. He lived and worked in London and Paris for several years and married Lily Greeley in Paris in 1879. After the wedding, the two of them returned to Massachusetts again and the Bridgewater studio was expanded into a home for the newlyweds.

[Holly Fry]

But they didn't really settle down. They were there long enough to have their first child, a daughter named Catherine, and then a second child, Edwin, who sadly died as an infant. And then they were on the go again. Throughout the 1880s, Millet seemed to be constantly in motion, traveling throughout Europe and the US While also constantly producing paintings and having exhibitions. His third child with Lily, a son named Lawrence, was born while the Millets were living in England. And he eventually maintained a pretty regular schedule of living in two places. England from May to October each year and the US for the remaining months, normally in Massachusetts or New York, as determined by his work schedule. Frank and Lily's fourth child was also born in England in 1888. That was another son named John Alfred Parsons.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And Frank was kind of a Renaissance man in terms of the art he created. He kept being selected for a variety of high profile jobs, including the design of the stained glass throughout St. Stephen's Church in Lynn, Massachusetts. He also designed theatrical costumes for a lot of productions. He was considered an expert in historical clothing and worked alongside Louis Comfort Tiffany to decorate lavish interiors. He also started writing and publishing short fiction. In the early 1890s, he became vice president of New York's National Academy of Design.

[Holly Fry]

This is like such a stripped down version of his stuff too, that like, we'll talk about Frank on Friday. He also continued to be involved in world's fairs, including the Munich International Exposition in 1883, where he was once again a juror, but also was part of the Executive committee. He was again a juror for the Paris Exposition of 1889. So when preparations began for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, it isn't really surprising that Millett was involved. He was selected to be the director of decorations. And that is how his story ties.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Into spray paint for the exposition. A full array of neoclassical buildings was designed to house the various exhibit halls. And according to the lore, things got behind schedule. The buildings were made of a composite of plaster and jute fiber that was spread over steel frames. And they were supposed to look like white marble once they were painted. But the finishing touch of the paint started too late. And there was no way that even a massive workforce of people could manage it if they were just using paintbrushers. So they brought in paint sprayers.

[Holly Fry]

This is one of the points of contention regarding spray paint history. So the paint sprayer is sometimes described as a new invention created by Millet to solve this problem. But this has been a matter of doubt for a lot of people over the years. Given the fact that Joseph Banks is said to have invented a sprayer in Chicago several years prior, it's pretty normal to consider that he may have been called in to help. And that seems like a pretty rational explanation. And some accounts you read will say exactly that. But that version that Joseph Banks was the inventor and they were using his, versus Millett invented a new thing. These two possibilities are very much the ones that are found bandied about every time you can find information about spray paint history online.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That could have been where Holly left it. But then she stumbled across an illustration on a dead University of Chicago page that showed Ben in 19th century hats spraying paint while standing on scaffolding sitting on top of a compressor. The caption just read spray paint. But the attribution led to a book by Hubert Howe Bancroft titled the Book of the Fair. An historical and Descriptive presentation of the world's Science, Art and industry as viewed through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. This book, published in 1893, details the process of setting up the fair. The architects involved, planning of the layout and and expo buildings. And there was the illustration. And in this, it was labeled in the book as Millet Spraying Machine.

[Holly Fry]

So this book has a very long footnote, like a footnote that takes up the next page about construction and mentions why things fell behind schedule in the first place. Quote. Among the many difficulties encountered by the construction department was the intensely cold and stormy weather accompanied with heavy snowfalls, which marked the winter preceding the opening of the fair. One of the severest in the annals of Chicago. For weeks the buildings were capped with snow and ice, the melting of which caused a severe strain on the roofs, crushing in portions and causing slight interior damage.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That long footnote also spells out exactly how the buildings were painted. Quote to paint the buildings by the ordinary method was found to be an impossible task within the time allotted. A contrivance was therefore fashioned by Frank D. Millet, in charge of the decoration department, whereby four men working in unison could accomplish the task of 50. It consisted of a piece of gas pipe so shaped at one end as to discharge a spray of paint, and from which a rubber hose connected with an air pump driven by electric power. By the pump, paint was drawn from a barrel and scattered by force of air over the surface to be coated.

[Holly Fry]

Millet is also quoted in the book explaining the whole decision making process behind the sprayer and how the paint was mixed for it. Every experiment which has been made to produce aesthetic effects of texture suggested by the usual treatment of plaster objects, has resulted in partial or in total failure. And every time the warm white of the staff the staff is that mixture of plaster and jute. Every time the warm white of the staff has been meddled with, its glory has departed. But the conditions imposed by the climate, by the impossibility of securing a homogenous surface, and by the exposure and consequent discoloration of a certain portion of the work have made it necessary to apply some sort of paint to all the buildings. Ordinary white lead and oil have been found to give the best results for the irregular absorption of the staff and the weathering rapidly produce an agreeable and not too monotonous effect, and the surface deteriorates less rapidly after this treatment.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So this Millet sprayer was a lot different from the Binx sprayer. Whether Millet knew about the Binx sprayer is not known, but the sprayer created for the Expo appears to have been a more industrial design, both in the size and the use of electrical current to run it.

[Holly Fry]

Meanwhile, in Toledo, Ohio, a physician had run into his own problem that led him to create a means to spray fluid in a fine mistake. That physician was Dr. Alan de Vilbus, born in 1841. By the late 1880s he was an experienced doctor and he was an otolaryngologist, an ear, nose, and throat specialist, and in the course of his work he often prescribed treatments or anesthetics that involved coating the throat or the sinuses with medicine. But there wasn't a great way to get even distribution so often These liquids would end up swallowed by the patient or they would only coat one portion of the affected area.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Devilbis solution was the atomizer. He created an apparatus with a hollow bulb on one end which connected to a sprayer nozzle via a tube. Another tube led to a reservoir where the liquid needing administration was held. Pinch the bulb and the resulting pressure burst would create a fine spray of droplets.

[Holly Fry]

De Vilbas started marketing this invention to other physicians and it rapidly caught on. He opened the de Vilbus Manufacturing Company in 1890 to produce his atomizers at a larger scale and as Devilbus sons grew up, they joined and then eventually took over the family business and through them the product line expanded that included perfume atomizers. By the way, vintage Devilbus atomizers are very popular on the collector's market and also thanks to his son Thomas de Vilbus, in 1907 it included a paint sprayer.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The Devilbiss paint sprayer was quickly adopted by furniture makers and the company continued to expand and grow. The Binx company we mentioned just a little while ago includes the devilbiss company as part of it today.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, those companies as anytime we've talked about companies and inventions have gone through numerous ownerships, iterations, etc. But that's their current status. The Devilbus atomizer is the other model that is shown on the Binks page next to the Binks sprayer. Also, as the Devilbus paint atomizer was gaining popularity, Frank Millet died at sea at the age of 66 because he was a passenger on the Titanic when it struck an iceberg and sank.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Coming up, we will talk about the evolution of these sprayers to the paint can that we are familiar with today. First we will hear from the sponsors that keep Stuff youf Missed in History class going this Labor Day.

[Announcer]

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[Holly Fry]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and safeway now through August 26th. It's back to Deals time where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Black Label Bacon Pop Tarts, Quaker Activia, Lunchables, Frito Lay, Goldfish and Jack Links. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pickup or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Holly Fry]

Wouldn't it be great to never buy gas again? EVs are as easy to charge as your phone and they are a perfect addition to your everyday life. Most people are only driving about 40 miles a day and most EVs can handle 200 to 400 miles of range on a charge. And there are hundreds of EV models available today, so there's something perfect for every lifestyle and budget. I drive an ev. I've had it for a couple of years. It's my favorite car I've ever owned. It is so fun to drive. The pickup is incredible. It's super agile and it is easy to maintain. The way forward is electric. Learn [e-mail] the paint sprayers that we have been talking about so far were propelled by compressed air, but none of them were aerosol based. So all an aerosol is by definition is simply small particles of liquid or even solid suspended in a gas. Today, the U.S. national Institute of Standards and Technology defines an aerosol product as a self dispensing, pressurized packaging form consisting of a metal, glass or plastic container with a permanently attached continuous or metering valve and designed to dispense products as sprays, streams, gels, foams, lotions or gases.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

There are instances of aerosols going back to the 18th century. Some of aerosol history is related to a topic we have covered on the show before. That's in our 2023 episode on Johann Jakob Schweppe and the rise of Carbonation. In that case, some drinks were aerosolized to give them bubbles and there were efforts to create spray cans in the 19th century, but they weren't really usable. The cans had to be heavy to keep the contents from exploding out, and that made them too heavy to easily carry.

[Holly Fry]

It wasn't until a Norwegian scientist named Erich Rotheim that an aerosol can became a realistic product. Rotheim was born in 1898 or 1899 and he got a chemical engineering degree in Switzerland and In his late 20s, in 1926 he applied for a Norwegian patent for an aerosol can. He also filed for and received a US Patent under the title Method and means for the atomizing or Distribution of liquid or semi liquid Materials. That patent opens with this invention has for its object a method for the atomizing or distribution of liquid or semi liquid materials, as well as means for carrying the method into effect. The invention also comprises a method of preparing the liquids or materials to be atomized or distributed as well as the products obtained by the said preparation. According to the invention, the material to be dispensed is enclosed in a pressure resisting vessel together with dimethyl ether under a pressure sufficient to effect liquefaction of the dimethyl ether by condensation. The substance dimethyl ether is a gas at ordinary temperature in a liquefied condition. It has a boiling point of minus 24.9 degrees Celsius, 24.9 degrees Celsius below zero. Its vapor density is 1.617 and its specific volume in a gaseous condition is 350 times its specific volume in a liquid condition at ordinary atmospheric pressure and room temperature.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Rotheim initially started his own company to produce the cans, but then partnered with the Oslo, Norway company Furnacefabric to develop a version for the mass market with the intent to use the can for paints and varnishes. He worked alongside a scientist named Froda Mortensen on the can's design. They did well overall, producing a prototype, but they kind of hit a wall when it came to developing a nozzle that would not clog.

[Holly Fry]

Eventually, in frustration, Rotheim is said to have sold the patent to US company for 100 kroner. That would have been a little less than $10. What company bought it has proven really tricky to track down, and there might be a reason. There is actually a contradictory account on the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology site written by museum curator Dag Andreasen, and that version states that while Rotheim was in talks with a number of US companies to sell the patent, including DuPont, there was never actually a deal.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Eric Rotheim did not live very long after all of this would or would not have happened. He died quite young, at the age of 39. That was in 1938. So just before World War II. The company he had founded, Elromix, shut down by 1940. The war did prove to be a time, though, when his invention received rapid adoption. The widespread encounters with malaria and typhus that soldiers experienced drove US researchers Lyle Goodhue and William Sullivan from the Department of Agriculture to use Rotheim's basic design to create small spray cans of insecticide that could be carried into the field. According to that same museum account, Goodyou had been working at dupont at the time when Rotheim was in talks with the company about the patent. Rotheim's prototype spray can is in the collection of the Oslo Science Park.

[Holly Fry]

And now we have to jump ahead just a few years to talk about a man named ed Seymour. In 1949, Ed, who was in the paint business, had developed a unique aluminum coating that was intended to be used on radiators. And he wanted to be able to show this paint off in demonstrations with an easy way to apply it that wouldn't require a full shop of equipment.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

According to the story, Ed's wife, Bonnie, was the one who suggested maybe he could put the paint into a spray gun. She compared it to the insecticide sprays that were already in use at the time. Years later, in 2014, Seymour's daughter, Nancy Seymour Heatley, told a reporter, quote, there's an urban legend that says my mother was using what they called a bug bomb and said, hey, why don't you put paint in an aerosol can? I have no idea if that is true.

[Holly Fry]

True or not, Ed Seymour never claimed that the invention happened any other way. And he went with what was was perhaps Bonnie's idea. He combined the paint with aerosol in a can and then he used a spray head to make it easy to spread. So not only did he meet his need of being able to easily show off his coatings, but he also realized that the finish he could get from aerosolized spray was really smooth.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In December of 1951, he was granted a patent on his invention. Hermetically sealed package for mixing and discharging paint paint. This design included an agitator attached to the end of the uptake tube for the paint for easy mixing. This is described in the patent this way Quote in use of the package before depressing button to effect spraying of the paint, the package is agitated, for example, by giving it a whirling motion. This causes the flexible tube to move the agitator in an arc over the base. This movement and the agitation thus imparted to the paint removes pigment settled on the base and affects the redispersion of this pigment in the vehicle. In practice, it has been found that shaking or whirling the package for a few seconds is adequate to effect redispersion of the pigment within.

[Holly Fry]

According to the Seymour company's website, this was initially meant to be something, as we said, that he just used to show off his paints to other businesses. But then he realized that he had invented a new consumer product. Though intended to show sales prospects how the paint would look when applied to surfaces, the aerosol sprayer proved so popular that Ed borrowed a few thousand dollars from a local bank to develop this revolutionary idea. Soon after perfecting the first spray can, Ed and the employees of his new company formulated the paint, which was mixed and filled with aerosol using a combination of customized and specially engineered machinery.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

The Daily Chronicle of DeKalb, Illinois reported on Seymour's patent the following year. Quote A Sycamore paint manufacturer and inventor has been issued a patent on a new development in spray painting which he calls a rattle in a can. Seymour's development is a new device which permits perfect and complete enamel spraying from an 11 ounce can resembling an insect spray device. All you do is shake the can, then press the button. Almost any job of painting around the home, farm or factory becomes a simple operation with no mess, sticky brushes or turpentine, officials of the company said. The write up then mentions the metal agitator and the fact that Seymour manufactures the paint in Sycamore, Illinois, and then the paint is shipped to Chicago for packaging in the cans. At the time of that writing, 25 colors were available in shipping throughout the United States. United States.

[Holly Fry]

Eventually, the Seymour Company expanded to include an automotive division, an industrial division specializing in coatings for industrial equipment, traffic paints, cast iron coatings, and more. And that company still exists today. Ed's daughter Nancy, who we quoted earlier, ran the company after her father, and she was the CEO until her death in 2017. Also, as an aside of something that I found that just seems nice at a time when we need nice things, in 1960, Ed Seymour was awarded Boss of the Year by the local chapter of the National Secretaries Association.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

As Seymour was developing his business, Precision Valve Company, owned by Richard Nixon's close friend Robert Henry, aplonap was developing a more reliable nozzle. Up to the point when APLONAP filed his patent application for valve mechanism for dispensing gases and liquids under pressure. Nozzles continued to be problematic, just as they had been for Rotheim. Aplinap's patent mentions that the full utilization of the aerosol principle of dispensing in the insecticidal, germicidal, cosmetic pharmaceutical, paint, wax, and many other similar fields had been really slowed. Quote. Because the large variety of formulations which have been developed and which require various sizes, shapes and types of containers cannot conveniently be used with the types of dispensing valves presently. Furthermore, the present valves do not provide safe and efficient operation in conjunction with simplicity of assembly to assure low cost in mass production. Precision Valve had invented the plastic nozzle.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, up to that point, they were all metal, so they would clog, they would get rusted, they were just a pain in the neck. They didn't have enough interior flexibility to allow multiple sizes of pigments to get through. But at this point, with the plastic nozzle in place, the spray paint industry exploded. A lot of new companies emerged, including all the ones you're familiar with. And for decades, it seemed to be a constant growth industry. Then in the 1970s, regulations against lead paint were put into place and many companies had to reformulate. The Clean Air act, which is the comprehensive federal law that regulates air emissions from stationary and mobile sources, was established in 1970. It got a pretty significant update in 1990, and it has similarly led to reformulations to create low VOC products, removing or reducing the volatile organic compounds and efforts to remove chlorofluorocarbons and ozone depleting chemicals. The Seymour Company, I will say, was ahead of the game on this and had things removed before they were required to. So there are lots of companies still working on it. There's a cool development that I think is interesting of trying to develop a truly sustainable spray paint. I hope that happens really soon. That's the slow invention of spray paint.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Do you have listener mail?

[Holly Fry]

I do. This is from our listener, Lindsay. And I'm not even gonna joke. Part of the reason I selected this is because of the name of her pet. It's so good. Yay. Lindsay writes Greetings. I would like to say first and foremost that I appreciate and adore the podcast. Having grown up in Cincinnati, there have been many episodes that have delighted me with personal connection, but this one has finally prompted me to write in. I studied in Salzburg for an academic year abroad while I lived in House Humboldt. Another possible episode. I spent quite a bit of time visiting friends and Howl's Paracelsus. I smiled when you mentioned that the Salzburg peasant revolt could be its own episode. If it does become an episode, which I highly encourage, please do not leave out the painted cow. It is hands down my absolute favorite history story. And then we get a link to some story behind it. Finally, I want to thank both of you for the various times that you've taken a few moments, especially this year at the beginning of the show, to affirm your stance and express concern over the attacks on equality, science and education. It's not easy to speak up to a large audience like that, but it is very important. Again, thank you. Thank you also for taking the time to read a silly email from a fan that got so excited she stopped her workday to write in over the story of a cow. Petax of my dog named Paul Anka is attached. This dog is very cute. It appears to be a very precious Shih Tzu is my guess. It is a black and white baby. It is a very good poser. It knows its angles and how to take portraits. This dog is precious. I would kiss this dog so much it would grow tired of me.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So good.

[Holly Fry]

Thank you so much, Lindsay. I love the idea of having personal connections to Paracelsus and his important and also problematic history. Every time I think of him, I laugh a little bit. And also listen, I needed these dog pictures and I may have shown them to my best friend who loves Shih Tzus especially. No, because we all need cute puppies in our lives. Images of cute One of these palanka is on a set where it looks like he's in front of a cottage. It's just perfect. I I love everything about it. It's like a no Renaissance painting is any better. If you would like to write to us with your pet pictures, thoughts, connections to Histories etc. You can do that@history podcastheartradio.com you can also find us on wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and we have hope you subscribe there. The iHeartRadio app being one among them.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 26th, it's back to Deals time, where you can enjoy storewide deals and earn four times points. Look for in store tags to earn on eligible items from Black Label Bacon, Pop Tarts, Quaker Activia, Lunchables, Frito Lay, Goldfish and Jack Links. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event long savings. Shop in store or online for easy drive up and go pick up or delivery subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Albertsons or Safeway.com for more details.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

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