Lint Rollers / Rotating Beacon Lights

"Japan's Top Inventions"

The behind-the-scenes tales of hit products and creations from Japan.

This is "Japan's Top Inventions."

On today's show... a tool used for cleaning.

All you need to do is roll.

We tell the story behind this invention.

Later on the show... A red lamp.

It has a unique boomerang shape...

Just what is it for?

Stay tuned to find out.

Hello, welcome to "Japan's Top Inventions."

I'm your host, Jason Danielson.

In the first half of our show, we take you "Behind the Creation."

Today's topic is this. Lint rollers.

These tools feature a roll of adhesive paper.

Just move it along a surface, and watch the dirt and dust stick to it.

Then, tear off the used layer, and it's ready to be used again.

These rollers are used in countries including Japan,

China, the US, and more.

Development was inspired by something unexpected.

The factory of a company which makes daily necessities.

They're known for creating lint rollers.

The company's display room is full of their latest products.

This is the standard model for use in the home.

An orange line helps users identify where to peel off a layer.

And this model is for use at stores and businesses.

It's much larger than the standard one.

The one for businesses is wider because they have a larger area to clean.

I think our rollers have changed cleaning.

Our story begins in 1975.

This manufacturer is headquartered in Osaka.

At the time, one of their main products was industrial adhesive tape.

The tape that the company made was used in building homes,

for temporarily attaching boards and panels to roofs and walls.

Featuring a specially formulated adhesive,

their tape was also used to secure parts to cars and appliances.

The company wanted to find a way

to sell their tape to regular households.

A subsidiary was set up with the mandate

to come up with 100 product ideas each month.

Working on lint rollers at the company now is Nagano Masaki.

Here's what he heard about those times.

The company wanted to adapt its adhesive technology for use in the home.

Everyone tried to come up with a unique and creative product

that the everyday consumer would find useful.

Ideas were continuously being brought forward.

Like tape for peeling the shell of a boiled egg.

While there were many concepts, none of them were promising enough.

Eventually, one day, a proposal finally made it to production.

A cockroach catcher.

The product consisted of a stick with a square of adhesive at the end

for catching the critters.

It was a stick with a sheet of adhesive at the tip.

It was like a fly swatter for cockroaches.

The company was confident it would be a hit.

While the product made it to market, it didn't go as expected.

Sales were poor.

The reason? It was hard to use.

Cockroaches moved too quickly to be caught with it.

Cockroaches run away really quickly.

It was hard to catch one with it.

We had a good feeling about the product,

so the result was very disappointing.

Expectations had been high for the product.

The company's warehouse was filled with unsold stock.

A while later,

someone from the development team was visiting the warehouse.

Something there caught his eye.

An employee had some paper packing tape in hand.

She was repeatedly patting down her clothing using the tape.

It was to clean off dust and lint.

Seeing this, the developer had a thought.

"A moving target like a cockroach is hard to catch,

but what about all the dirt just lying around?

Adhesive tape could work as a cleaning tool for that."

The employee was cleaning her clothes by dabbing it with packing tape.

The developer was inspired by this alternative use for adhesive tape.

And so, the development team had their idea for a new product.

They immediately started work on a prototype.

While the company's first attempt

at a product with adhesive paper ended in failure,

they hit upon the idea for a cleaning product at the warehouse

where the unsold stock was kept.

Prototyping started on the new product, but problems kept on rolling up.

A cleaning tool which used adhesive tape.

First, the team would have to decide the general shape of the product.

A certain something caught their eye.

DIY home improvement projects had been getting popular in Japan.

A common tool was the paint roller.

What if these rollers had adhesive tape on them instead?

The team procured a roller for testing.

They attached paper packing tape to the roller and gave it a try.

It worked.

"Bingo."

That led the team to create a lint roller, 16 centimeters wide.

To make it more obvious what was getting picked up,

they made the roll white.

Once a layer was no longer sticky, it could be ripped off.

Then it was ready for action again.

The layers had to be easy to remove and the tool simple to use.

They focused on making it quick and handy.

Next, the team turned their focus to the strength of the adhesive.

If it was too weak, it wouldn't pick up the dirt.

If it was too strong, it would get stuck to the floor.

The development team kept on working to adjust the formula for the adhesive.

After countless experiments,

they arrived at the perfect level of stickiness.

But then... the team discovered a serious flaw with their prototype.

They were trying the roller on a piece of carpeting

they had put dirt and debris on.

The roller didn't pick everything up like they expected.

Little bits of dirt and debris were left behind.

The stuff that had fallen deeper into the carpet

was too low to reach the adhesive paper,

and it wasn't getting picked up.

The problem was with how carpeting is uneven.

The adhesive paper didn't make it low enough to grab

what was in the lower regions.

What could be done so that the roller would pick up dirt in the deeper parts?

Eventually, they had an idea.

They would apply the adhesive in strips on the roll.

Carpets trap a lot of hair and dirt in grooves.

But with the adhesive applied in strips,

those lines would fit into the grooves and pick up the debris.

With this, the adhesive paper was greatly improved.

The developers continued to test their product.

But another problem became apparent.

The roll was getting stuck onto the floor, unravelling.

The strength of the adhesive wasn't an issue,

but the problem kept reoccurring.

It happened often when the adhesive surface was fresh.

If you rolled it back and forth, the paper would stick.

It would unroll and get stuck.

The adhesive paper is wound up in a roll.

There's no problem if the roller spins in the same direction it was wound.

But if it's rolled in the opposite direction,

it ends up stuck onto the ground.

The team decided to print something on the rolls:

arrows.

With that, you could easily tell what direction to roll in.

And so, in 1983, the company's lint roller was finally complete.

The development team got to work preparing for test marketing.

But where would be best to trial the new product?

The team looked to the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido.

Because of the snow and cold winters there,

many homes have carpet flooring.

A cold region would have more homes with carpeting,

so we picked Hokkaido first.

In addition to the salespeople, developers also made the journey north.

The team arrived on location,

and set up an eye-catching array of lint rollers at a household goods shop.

They did their best to appeal to the customers, but the product was new.

Even after explaining it was for cleaning, people didn't seem to get it.

Cleaning floors with adhesive paper wasn't a familiar concept to people.

They weren't sure what to make of it.

The team started asking customers to try it out for themselves.

A small portion of carpeting was prepared.

Dirt and debris was sprinkled over top.

Then, they asked customers to try rolling it up.

It was the moment of truth.

Would their product work in front of customers?

Nervously, a team member handed over a roller.

Then, they held their breath, and watched.

The carpet was clean.

It was a new product.

People were impressed at how simple and effective it was.

A lot of hard work and thought went into the product,

so I think the team members were really happy.

And that was how the company's lint rollers became accepted.

Sales expanded beyond Hokkaido and across Japan.

Households all over the country began using the product.

Afterwards, the lint rollers also came to be used in other countries.

How do experts view this invention?

We're joined by Nakamura Yoshinobu to learn more.

Welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

What was groundbreaking about these lint rollers?

As someone who researches adhesives,

what stands out is the way that they chose not to apply the adhesive uniformly.

Rather, they applied it in strips,

so that the adhesive would reach the deeper parts of the carpeting.

That way, it could pick up the dirt down there.

I believe that the key to this product's success was how they did this.

How have these lint rollers changed cleaning?

They've altered the way people think about cleaning.

They're just so convenient.

With a vacuum, you have to worry about neighbors

and noise late at night or early in the morning.

With these rollers, you can use them any time.

That convenience is how the rollers have become so successful with customers.

How do you tend to use these lint rollers, yourself?

I use one every day.

You see, I have cats at home, and they shed hairs.

I use a roller to clean up after them.

And you can tell that it's picking up the cat hair

because you can see it on the roller.

I think that humans have a common desire to make things clean.

A groundbreaking and handy product like these lint rollers

surely has demand not just in Japan,

but all around the world.

I believe that they're going to continue to get more popular.

How do you see adhesive technology evolving in the future?

The technology behind formulating adhesives has dramatically evolved.

Now they're able to precisely control

how strong or weak the adhesives are with current technology.

For example, smartphone assemblies

are held together with double-sided adhesive tape.

They're trying to make things thinner and thinner

so that smartphones can be even more compact.

Normally, with thinner tape, that would mean that it is not as sticky.

It's weaker.

But now they have tape on the order of one thousandth of a millimeter thick

that is still very strong.

University research and corporate research are coming together

to make this kind of progress possible.

There are going to be benefits

from things like this continuing on into the future.

Thank you for your time. Good speaking with you.

It was my pleasure.

Top Niche Creations.

Our next segment is "Top Niche Creations."

Our topic today involves these.

Police cars.

There's a product that's indispensable to Japanese police vehicles.

A company in Japan holds 80% of the market share for it.

Just what could that product be?

We sent our reporter to learn more.

Hey everyone, Cyrus Nozomu Sethna here.

I'm currently in Hyogo Prefecture in West Japan.

The company we're visiting is in that building over there.

Let's take a look!

I'm here at a company which makes parts for emergency vehicles.

Hello there. I'm Cyrus.

Nice to meet you.

Showing us around today is Umemoto Takaya

who works in product development.

Inside, we're greeted by a flashy sight.

Wow.

This is cool.

So the company makes all of these products here?

That's right.

These are all rotating beacon lights that we've made,

which are used on emergency vehicles.

The company boasts 80% of the domestic market share for these lights.

We're treated to some demonstrations.

So this is a very standard model.

How is one of these attached or removed?

There's this magnetic rubber mount.

It can be easily removed,

and also placed on the roof.

That's neat.

And when it's turned on...

Nice.

It's very bright.

And it's spinning inside.

Yes.

What exactly is spinning in there?

We're given a look inside.

There's a silver dome inside which is referred to as the reflector.

A small motor makes it spin.

So what's with the spinning?

The light by itself doesn't stand out much.

But by spinning it, you can see it from far away,

and it's very recognizable from every direction.

It certainly does catch the eye.

Definitely.

An upgraded model is this bar-type one here.

Compared to a single lamp, this model has four lamps inside.

It's quite wide and large.

And how does this one look?

The lamps in a row are even more eye-catching.

And here is the latest model.

So this has a new shape. It's like a boomerang.

Compared to the bar-type one,

this boomerang model stands out more when viewed from the side.

Just how much of a difference is there?

These police vehicles are equipped with the lights.

Looking from the side...

it's obvious that the boomerang model is wider.

If we look at both from the same height,

you can clearly see the difference in the coverage from the lamp.

You're right. This one is spreading a lot more.

It's neat you were able to come up with this.

Well, it's very dangerous when police cars are on the move in an emergency.

Like they have to run red lights.

People need to be able to perceive that danger instantly and instinctively.

It's very important that the beacon lights alert them

that a police vehicle is present.

The company leads the market with their lights.

It was founded in 1947.

Originally, it manufactured small motors.

But it decided to make use of these motors to create rotating beacon lights.

In 1965, it completed its first model,

and offered it for sale to the police.

But uptake was slow.

The problem was that the lamps on a police car need to be extremely durable.

Lamps on emergency vehicles are subject to extreme conditions,

be it air resistance or flying objects.

The components in the lamp need to be protected.

When there's an emergency,

you can't have faulty lights that aren't spinning right.

How could the lamps be made more durable?

The material used for the red-tinted cover had to be reevaluated.

They eventually settled on a special resin used for the windows of jet planes.

Polycarbonate.

Just how strong is it?

Here is an employee performing tests on a lamp.

Even when struck with a bat, there is no effect.

You can even ride a bike over it, no problem.

That is why the lamps were selected for use on police vehicles.

They eventually came to be used for other purposes.

This lamp is at the exit of a parking lot.

Attention. A vehicle is exiting.

It lets pedestrians know a car is coming out.

And this light outside of a store goes off

when there is a robbery in progress.

In addition, the company is currently putting effort into these.

Signal lights for factories.

We were shown the company's factory floor where products are assembled.

Above each employee is a colorful tower of lights.

And what does it mean?

The green light is on when the employee is working normally.

Yellow means that work has been paused for whatever reason.

And red is when there is a problem,

and the worker is calling for assistance.

Red is when help is required.

For example, if you've run out of parts, press the red button.

A notification is sent to the smartwatch on the supervisor's wrist.

(Assembly suspended)

All the signal towers are networked together,

and their status can be seen on these displays.

Counters for uptime or suspended work are shown,

offering a means to improve efficiency.

This system is already used in 17 countries and regions around the world,

including Canada and the US.

One client has even reported a 16% increase in uptime using the system.

Do you have any goals for the future?

Improving the efficiency of production is a new area for us.

We're hoping to help support various industries from behind the scenes,

by making things more visible at the factory with our lights.

That's what we're aiming for.

The company is helping to boost productivity in factories

with their signal lights.

They're also developing products which do more than display different colors.

Here's an LED display board.

This device allows users to input their own custom messages

and display them in easy-to-read text.

From police car lights to dynamic text display boards.

Talk about eye-catching!

That's all for this episode of "Japan's Top Inventions."

We'll leave you with more about the lint rollers

from the first half of the show.

See you next time! And stay inventive.

(The lint roller was developed in 1983.)

(Over 55 million units have been shipped.)

(It's become a common household item.)

(Forty years since their first version. This compact model is for clothing.)

(And this roller is for smartphone and tablet screens.)

(It removes dirt and grime.)

(The original model. The old glue has yellowed with time.)

(It all started here.)

I believe using tape as a cleaning tool was a groundbreaking concept.

We're carrying the torch for the developers that invented the rollers.

We feel driven to keep evolving this product.