St Paul, Minnesota (CNN) -- It's been described as the solution to a problem nobody realized existed.
But that hasn't stopped the humble Post-it Note from becoming a ubiquitous fixture of stationery cupboards worldwide, with manufacturers 3M producing 50 billion each year.
The sticky yellow squares did not always look destined to set the office supply world alight. In fact, it took 12 years from when the technology behind the product was first developed, to Post-its hitting the market.
The story of the Post-it -- the self-attaching note that adheres in such a way that it can be removed without causing damage -- begins in 1968.
"It was part of my job as a researcher to develop new adhesives, and at that time we wanted to develop bigger, stronger, tougher adhesives," he said. "This was none of those."Spencer Silver, a chemist for the giant multinational Minnesotan company 3M, was attempting to develop a better adhesive.
What he came up with were microspheres, which retained their stickiness and had a "removability characteristic," allowing attached surfaces to be peeled apart easily.
For years he struggled to find a use for his invention, preaching the merits of his creation to unreceptive colleagues.
"I got to be known as 'Mr Persistent,' because I wouldn't give up," he said.
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