The answer came in the late 19th century, from a man named John Dicks. John was the son of a Robert Dicks, who produced sealing wax along with his partner Elmer Wiggin. John formulated and began producing caulk and other kinds of putty in large quantities.

How was caulk invented?

The oldest form of caulk consisted of fibrous materials driven into the wedge-shaped seams between boards on wooden boats or ships. Cast iron sewerage pipe were formerly caulked in a similar way. Riveted seams in ships and boilers were formerly sealed by hammering the metal.

Who invented silicone caulking?

J. Franklin Hyde, a chemist who decades ago turned a useless sticky goo into a common family of industrial raw materials called silicones and who also invented a process for making an almost-pure glass used today in fiber optic technology, died Monday at his home on Marco Island, Fla.