The Caulking Gun

Theodore Witte was the typical home handyman. Like every DIYer who has ever used a butter knife as a slot screwdriver or a soup spoon to stir paint, Witte looked to the kitchen for more than sustenance. In 1894, when he patented the idea of using a ratcheted piston to force window putty through a nozzle to effect a smooth, weatherproof seal, Witte owed an inspirational debt of gratitude to his local baker: his device worked, and looked, suspiciously like a cake decorator's gun. He called the invention a "puttying tool." Unfortunately for Witte, the putty industry didn't quite catch on to the idea, and like so many great inventors, he was squeezed out of the picture.

Interestingly, cake decorators gave up on the gun in favour of the more controllable cloth bag. And in one of those odd quirks of historical irony, caulk manufacturers have introduced squeezable caulk tubes that work much like, well, cake decorating bags.


from:
http://www.canadianhomeworkshop.com/stuff/inventions2.shtml