Hey look at this. It's lint! No big deal, right? But when this little guy invites a few more of his closest friends, it's a little different story. Just ask this really important businessman. This too-skinny fashion model. Or this lovely family just sitting down for their annual portrait (the baby looks pretty into it). But let's hop back in time and ask electrical engineer Nicholas McKay what he thinks about lint! See, one night in 1955, Nicholas and his wife were getting super-spiffy for the local high school dance they had generously agreed to chaperone. Oh- but when Nick reached into the closet, his favorite black suit was covered in fuzzy, pesky lint! But instead of merely choosing something else to wear, Nicholas grabbed a cardboard toilet paper roll, some masking tape, and a thoroughly ruined coat hanger, and… poof! A popular 1980s adventure series about an ingenious man with a mullet was born! Oh wait- that's not right. Darn back in time glitch. There we go! Nicholas’ tinkering produced something even more amazing: the very first lint roller! Or as he called it, “the lint pickup.” So when our guy Nick finally got to the dance, he was able to keep doing his job while looking like a million bucks. Uh- not that kind of bucks. There you go. A few design tweaks, and nearly 60 years later, and Nicholas McKay's lint roller is found in over 60,000 stores in the U.S. alone.

Illuminating Moments in American History
From the accidental invention of the microwave to the love story of rubber gloves, these 68 shorts chronicle the history of unexpected American innovation.

Produced, written, and directed by Nathan Marsh. Art and Animation by Joel West and Isaac Windham. Sound by Scott Sprague. Narration by Carol Munse.