The Solution Was Sake!

[Steve Bildermann]

Some engineering problems take longer to solve than others. Inventors struggled for decades to find the right filament material, before Thomas Edison tried carbon and made a practical light bulb.

Toshikatsu Kuwahata, an engineer at the audio factory of JVC (Victor Company of Japan Ltd.), in Yokohama, is no stranger to such lengthy struggles. He wrestled for more than 20 years with his own personal challenge—making a speaker cone that could be manufactured in quantity out of wood.

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/resource/apr04/0404tool.html