You may not have heard of Ed Lowe. Truthfully, before I read the article, I had never heard of him either. In 1947, he had the bright idea to take fuller's clay and sell it to farmers as nesting materials for chickens. Unfortunately for Ed, the farmers weren't all that interested.
Serendipity took over from there. A local woman came by asking for sand for her cat who would now be coming indoors for the winter. Ed sold her some of the fuller's earth. Because it had the ability to help neutralize the odor of kitty urine, it became an overnight sensation among the indoor cat community. Ed came up with the moniker "kitty litter" and the result is one major reason behind the enduring popularity of house cats.
Luck is important, but persistence is probably more important. When your invention runs into resistance, keep trying!
Here are links to two articles on the invention of kitty litter:
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