r/Damnthatsinteresting 4d ago

The inventor of Vaseline, Robert Chesebrough, was such a firm believer in its medicinal properties that he claimed to have eaten a spoonful of it a day. During a bout of pleurisy in his 50s, he ordered his nurse to cover him from head to toe in the substance, and soon recovered. He lived to be 96. Image

Post image
68.2k Upvotes

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

71

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

….. shit…. What about him…? I gotta google him now lol

407

u/gabriellyakagcwens 4d ago edited 4d ago

From the Wikipedia page for the first Kevlar Body Armor:

The company was founded in the early 1970s by U.S. Marine and pizza delivery owner/driver Richard Davis. Davis developed the idea of a bulletproof vest after shooting three armed robbers in self-defense during a delivery.

Davis started his company out of his garage. In early sales demonstrations, he would put on one of his vests and then shoot himself, usually with a firearm provided by whatever agency he was demonstrating for.

157

u/gwicksted 4d ago

Ok, that guy is badass.

96

u/eTLGb83FK2XfpRVA4NXc 4d ago

Three armed robbers for a pizza delivery driver?

Clearly the pizza chef is also a badass.

108

u/cchoe1 4d ago

Dudes also a con artist who sold shit armor to cops that failed. they investigated and found nearly half the armor that was sold to them was malfunctioning. Instead of fixing it, he dissolved the company and ran off with a bunch of money

131

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

75

u/theartoffun 4d ago

This guy should be president

8

u/s0m3on3outthere 4d ago

Probably better than our two current options after the debacle last night.

0

u/TFFPrisoner 4d ago

That kind of mindset is what got us here.

1

u/s0m3on3outthere 4d ago

This was a heavy /s joke. I'm sorry if it didn't come across that way.

6

u/RollingMeteors 4d ago

“Defund the police, and find my own wallet instead” decades ahead of his time!

6

u/Charlielx 4d ago

Hell yeah, much respect ✊🏻

4

u/Fliznar 4d ago

So he did do some good

1

u/AutumnTheFemboy 4d ago

Defender of the proletariat

0

u/bigkahunahotdog 4d ago

Womp womp.

3

u/xSTSxZerglingOne 4d ago

Basically John Wick.

1

u/Tranxio 3d ago

Now imagine if you covered yourself with both Vaseline AND Kevlar, you would be indestructible!

-3

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Yea legendary status for sure. I bet he got crazy laid all the time 😏🤙

7

u/-thecheesus- 4d ago

I mean.. if you've seen him in video he is/was short, tubby, balding, and uses large glasses. But he's also charmingly intelligent and got a fun, goofy sense of humor with balls of steel. So who knows ¯\(ツ)

2

u/AutumnTheFemboy 4d ago

Are you mentally stunted by any chance

2

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Indeed I am so I just go w it 😀I hope you’re having a great day AutumnTheFemBoy!🥳😆🐏

3

u/mdmnl 4d ago

Davis developed the idea of a bulletproof vest after shooting three armed robbers in self-defense during a delivery.

I worry he felt the need to invent a bulletproof vest to give future robbers a more even playing field.

"OK guys, you take what's in the till, I'll close my eyes and count to ten, but then I'm coming for you..."

2

u/Capital_Living5658 4d ago

How did he just create Kevlar tho lol. I don’t really trust Kevlar now.

7

u/jdsfighter 4d ago edited 4d ago

He didn't create Kevlar. He was just the first to use it for body armor. You can see more here.

1

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Interesting 🤨 still takes a bit of a loose screw to take a bullet like that…. 😎

6

u/lovelyblooddevil 4d ago

Well he didn’t create Kevlar, a polymer chemist, Stephanie Kwolek, invented Kevlar (Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide).

-2

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

I know right?… that’s what makes him that much more of a bad ass. Shitty Kevlar product and he still would take a bullet💥

1

u/Electrical-Act-7170 4d ago

I remember when that was happening.

122

u/Toadsted 4d ago

Made his nurse cover him in kevlar every day

111

u/Rawniew54 4d ago

He shot himself in the head then put kevlar over the wound to prove its healing properties

9

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

He probably ran out of Vaseline I bet 🤔

3

u/nameyname12345 4d ago

the kind of demo that only has to be done once

2

u/BokUntool 4d ago

Great arrangement of those deep-fried words, bravo!

1

u/Yourprolapsedanus 4d ago

Happy cake day

0

u/seanjohn004 4d ago

Fkn hilarious 😂 

0

u/PM_Eeyore_Tits 4d ago

And lived to be 69.

2

u/comethefaround 4d ago

Ate a spoonful of Kevlar daily!

38

u/George_H_W_Kush 4d ago

He would demonstrate the armor to police departments by having one of them shoot him. Man was truly insane. Richard Davis was his name.

3

u/TheSoverignToad 4d ago

according to the Wikipedia quote someone posted he would shoot himself with a gun they provided.

3

u/BURNER12345678998764 4d ago

That makes more sense than putting your life into the hands of a random cop's aim.

0

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Now that’s someone who stands behind their product and perhaps has a touch of mental illness as well….Dick Davis 🤜🦘‼️ thank u for sharing that w me👍 👍👍

19

u/78thepaul 4d ago

Kevlar guy also has a huge Vaseline fetish

-1

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Probably a huge ol wang as well 😆to go w his huge balls of steel⚽️ 🏀 see…u need all that to shoot yourself daily…. Oh, and some Vaseline 🤙

2

u/AmericanWasted 4d ago

he would eat a spoonful of Kevlar everyday

1

u/Emergency_Till_9639 4d ago

Helps protect him from the inside 😆 possibly taste better than Vaseline jelly …🤔