Purina realized that any cost-cutting to their dog food itself would be met with immediate pushback from consumers, who were unreceptive to previous Purina cost reduction efforts like dog food that was 70% sawdust and insect carcasses or dog food made with “canine protein.” So, they decided that the best approach to money saving was in the reduction of shipping costs, which is where Von Wisencocker’s work came in. The scientist developed a highly-concentrated material (the composition of which has been lost to time) that actually managed to repel gravity by measurable amounts. Pellets the size of a marble could displace up to a pound, so Purina began including 10 of these pellets into every 20 pound bag of dry dog food, effectively halving the shipping costs. The plan was the pellets would be sewn into the sides of the bag, and could be returned to the store to get deposit money back, much like how glass Coca-Cola bottles were handled, and then Purina would re-use the valuable pellets. The problem was that hungry dogs would often chew through the bags and eat the pellets, which would cause them to radiate anti-gravity waves until the passed them as floating dog shit. The image above is one from this era, depicting the occasional phenomenon of a dog that had eaten enough pellets to cause even a large object like a car to be affected, and then the panicked dog would run around, a hovering car floating above, trapped in the anti-grav rays being emitted upwards (because of the repulsive reaction to normal gravity, you see) the people inside resigned that they would now be taken wherever the dog wants to go. I’m surprised this incredible bit of history isn’t referenced more often! Bonkers, right? (Seriously, though, this is a great book and I highly recommend it. Very thought-provoking, and just provoking in general.)
