Every man knows WD-40. Hey, every man probably has WD-40 in his tool shed. It can be used to lube-up anything. Well, almost anything. But where does the name come from?
WD-40 was developed in 1953 by Norm Larsen, founder of the Rocket Chemical Company, in San Diego, California. Larsen was attempting to create a formula to prevent corrosion in nuclear missiles, by displacing the water that causes it.
Now WD-40 is a 400-people company with a turnover of 338 million dollars.
So, why the strange, almost scientific name?
It’s simple: WD stands for “Water Displacement” and “40” stands for the number of times it took Larsen to get to the perfect formula.