The man who invented the fridge magnets was John Wheatley. John created his magnets back in 1951. Thanks to his invention, people attach leaflets with messages to each other to the walls of refrigerators and simply collect magnets, bringing them from different countries.
John Wheatley
American John Wheatley is considered the inventor of magnets that are attached to the metal walls of refrigerators.
In the fall of 1951, he registered a patent under the number US 2693370, in which he described his invention as a system of several magnets fixed on one base. Wheatley's original invention was intended to secure pieces of paper to tables, walls, etc. It wasn't until many years later that Wheatley magnets began to be attached to refrigerators.
Modern varieties of magnets
Modern refrigerator magnets are plastic figures with one or more neodymium magnets glued to the back. Unlike magnets that were common in the days of John Wheatley, neodymium magnets have a very high magnetizing force and do not demagnetize for a long time. They are made from an alloy of iron, boron and the rare earth metal neodymium.
Originally, fridge magnets were used to attach to-do lists and to-do lists. Now they are often used simply as a decorative element. On refrigerators you can find souvenir magnets brought from different countries, calendar magnets, thermometer magnets, etc.
In addition to neodymium magnets, flexible magnetic stickers can also be found on refrigerators. They consist of plastic, on the underside of which a ferromagnetic layer (usually iron oxide) is applied. The strength of such magnets is enough to hold their own weight, but they are unlikely to be able to attach several sheets of paper to the refrigerator with their help.
In the 1960s, the United States began to produce whole sets of small fridge magnets, made in the form of letters of the alphabet. With their help, it was possible to leave messages on the refrigerator and teach children to read and write.
Collectors of magnets
Collecting fridge magnets has become a hobby for many. Some people collect magnets from travel, others collect magnets that are about a particular topic. So far, collecting magnets does not have a generally accepted name (as, for example, collecting coins is called numismatics, and collecting stamps is called philately). Russian collectors of magnets suggested using the term "memomagnetics" for this.
The largest collection of fridge magnets belonged to the American Louise Greenfarb - it included several tens of thousands of magnets, thanks to which Louise was included in the Guinness Book of Records.
