I was told by a friend that Super Glue was actually made for the military. It was suppose to be used for quick fix ups for cuts caused during battle. The supper glue was actually used to seal up the cuts till they could be attended to. Now I was a Marine for 8 years and never heard of such a thing.
Could this be an Urban Legand or Myth as I think it is? I mean the concept is right in track, but knowing how hard it is to get the stuff off of you, what about the accidental spillage in the heat of battle?
From THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION, June 1993.
"Cyanoacrylate was first discovered in 1942 in a search for
materials to make clear plastic gunsights for the second world war. The American researchers quickly rejected cyanoacrylate because the wretched stuff stuck to everything and made a horrible mess. In 1951, cyanoacrylate was rediscovered by Eastman Kodak researchers Harry Coover and Fred Joyner, who ruined a perfectly useful refractometer with it – and then recognized its true potential.
Cyanoacrylate became known as Eastman compound #910. Eastman 910 first captured the popular imagination in 1958, when Dr Coover appeared on the “I’ve Got a Secret” TV game show and lifted host Gary Moore off the floor with a single drop of the stuff."
Personally I have used superglue to close a bad gash on my dog’s side. It needed stitches, but I was a long way from the vet, and there is no way that dog would have let me put in four or five stitches. It worked very well, no infectiction and no irritation. She didn’t even try to lick it.
Sort of a half truth. Cyanoacrylate was originally used experimentally in the 1940s while researchers were looking for a material from which to make rugged but optically clear gunsights. Turns out it was too sticky and couldn’t be removed from the moulds. Go figure.
It resurfaced again about a decade later, this time in research into making laminated heat resistant canopies for jet planes. This line eventually led to the marketing of the stuff as a product.
So, yes, its invention was an offshoot of military research, but not for sealing wounds. Have you ever tried sealing a wound with superglue? There’s a reason they generally only use it on unconscious patients in the operating theatre - it stings like you wouldn’t believe.
I’ve heard of the same story but it’s used as a back-up and was not invented specifically for it. It’s a grunt invention in the anecdotes , sort of like using condoms to water-proof rifles.
I use it all the time. it works best on clean cuts like paper cuts or sharp blade slices. Jagged cuts don’t seem to work as well, but it does stop the bleeding. In my experience, it doesn’t sting.
The superglue you get at the store is definitely not suitable for use in open wounds. You need reasonable assurances of sterility and lack of unfriendly other ingredients. However, properly made, it is really great stuff for certain types of wounds. Since no one can make money off this (expired patents, costly FDA review and all), variations of the compound have been developed for medical use. Much more expensive. Basically a rip-off.
The anecdote in the OP has cause-and-effect backwards.
A minor hijack here… Anyone know what kind of critters could live both in cyanoacrylate and a mammal’s body?
I’ve sealed MANY small cuts with the stuff, and a few large cuts. Last one was fairly big, and I realized I needed stitches and a tetanus shot. I got congratulations for my resourcefulness from the ER doctor, and a look that would have curdled fresh milk from the ER nurse (but not in that order).