The National Inventors Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2026, honoring 15 inventors whose ideas have shaped everyday life, from Wi-Fi and shapewear to life-saving medical devices and industrial technologies used around the world.
Among this year’s inductees is Cleveland chemist Donald Alstadt, inventor of Chemlok, a revolutionary rubber-to-metal adhesive system now used in nearly every vehicle worldwide.
Alstadt’s innovation solved a long-standing manufacturing challenge by creating a reliable way to bond rubber to metal, improving safety and durability across countless products. Today, Chemlok and Chemlok-derived technologies are widely used in the automotive, aerospace, defense, agriculture, and energy industries, making Alstadt one of the most influential, though often unseen, inventors of modern transportation. He is being inducted posthumously…