John Joseph Rawlings was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and inventor

Invention

An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...

 of the wall plug

Wall plug

A wall plug is a type of fastener used in buildings. It allows screws to be fitted into masonry walls.There are many forms of wall plug, but the most common principle is to use a tapered tube of soft material, such as plastic. This is inserted loosely into a drilled hole, then a screw is tightened...

, also known from his name as the rawlplug. He invented it in around 1910-1911, filed a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 in 1911, trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

ed the rawlplug name in 1912 and was granted the patent in 1913. In 1919 his company

Company

A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

, formerly known as the Rawlings Brothers, was renamed to Rawlplug Ltd..

Wall plug

The original device was a jute

Jute

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fibre that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from plants in the genus Corchorus, which has been classified in the family Tiliaceae, or more recently in Malvaceae....

 fibre cylinder inserted into a hole drilled in the masonry and into which the screw was inserted. Thye deeper the screw

Screw

A screw, or bolt, is a type of fastener characterized by a helical ridge, known as an external thread or just thread, wrapped around a cylinder. Some screw threads are designed to mate with a complementary thread, known as an internal thread, often in the form of a nut or an object that has the...

 penetrated, the more the fibre expanded and the greater the grip against the masonry. The jute was replaced by a thermoplastic

Thermoplastic

Thermoplastic, also known as a thermosoftening plastic, is a polymer that turns to a liquid when heated and freezes to a very glassy state when cooled sufficiently...

 plug in the 1960s, injection moulded singly, or in multiples attached together by the original sprue

Sprue

A sprue may refer to:*Sprue , a feature in molding and casting molds*Coeliac disease, also known as sprue, a disease of the small intestine*Tropical sprue, disease*Sprue Asparagus, first pickings of asparagus...

. Each plug can be easily twisted off the spue when needed.

Wall bolt

The company went on to develop the Rawlbolt, a fitting with similar function but much greater size and strength.