Weird Facts about WD-40®

• Norman Larsen, president and head chemist at the Rocket Chemical Company, developed a water displacement formula on his fortieth try, naming it WD-40.
• The aerospace industry needed a product to eliminate moisture from electrical circuitry and to prevent corrosion on airplanes and Atlas Missile nose-cones. The newly developed WD-40 worked so well, engineers working at the Rocket Chemical Company began sneaking it out of the plant for Wacky Uses use on squeaky doors and stuck locks.
• WD-40 became available to the public in 1958, and in 1961, a sweet fragrance was added to overcome the smell of the petroleum distillates. In 1969, the Rocket Chemical Company was renamed the WD-40 Company, after its only product. The WD-40 Company makes the "secret sauce," then sends it to packagers who add the solvent and propellant.
• In 1964, John Glenn circled the earth in Friendship VII, which was covered with WD-40 from top to bottom.
• The WD-40 Company went public on the NASDAQ exchange in 1973. The initial 300,000 shares, available at $16.50, closed that same day at $26.50.
• WD-40 makes over a million gallons of the "secret sauce" every year.
• WD-40 can be found in four out of five homes.