I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a Jalopnik reader out there who doesn’t have a can of WD-40 kicking around their house or garage somewhere. While using this wonder liquid to loosen a seized bolt, stop a door from squeaking or cleaning tree sap from your hood, have you ever stopped to wonder where it actually came from? I did, and the answer is, as always, the military.
WD-40 has been a favorite of home mechanics and DIY experts for decades. The mineral oil can be used to clean the rust from bike chains, helps stop snow from sticking to a shovel and can even help clean bird poop from your car, apparently.
It’s been doing this for decades, and can actually trace its roots back to the 1950s and a fledgling startup called Rocket Chemical Company, according to the WD-40 website. Officially, this company set out to create a line of solvents that could displace water and prevent rust for the aerospace industry.
You might think this means that it was on hand to help with the race to space or the development of commercial airliners. You know, fun stuff like that. While WD-40 was used by NASA, notably in the Friendship VII mission to orbit the Earth, the San Diego Air And Space Museum reports that the development of WD-40 had a slightly more sinister twist:
WD-40 was invented in San Diego in 1953 as a rust-prevention solvent for Atlas missile outer skins. A chemist at the Rocket Chemical Company created a compound that would prevent rust and corrosion on the Atlas.
The Atlas rockets were the first intercontinental ballistic missiles to be developed by the United States. Developed in the 1940s and 50s, the Atlas missiles consisted of an outer skin that protected the fuel tanks and two-stage engines within. The skin of the missiles was susceptible to corrosion, which could weaken its integrity, so a product was needed to clean away any rust and prevent corrosion from wreaking havoc on the missiles.
WD-40 was that product, and the company claims that it worked so well that “several employees snuck cans of WD-40 Multi-Use Product out of the plant in their lunchboxes to use at home.”
Within a few years of its development for the Atlas program, workers from the Rocket Chemical Company had begun experimenting with filling aerosol cans with WD-40 and by 1958 it had made its way onto store shelves for the first time. It initially launched in San Diageo, but is now sold in more than 170 countries around the world.
And finally, where does the name come from, I hear you ask? Well, it’s meant to be a water displacement product and the recipe that was settled on was the 40th iteration of the blend. The more you know.