Chewing Gum History


by McFadden Michael - Date: 2010-06-21 - Word Count: 540 Share This!

Even, a thousand years ago prehistoric people used to chew some kind of chewing gum. Caveman usually chewed tree resin, only because of the flavor it had. Almost all ancient cultures chewed some form of gum substance. People chewed tree resin to clean their teeth and fresh their breath.

Ancient Greeks chewed a substance called mastiche, which was resin from the Mastic tree. People in ancient Rome and other Mediterranean people for hundreds of years after Greeks also enjoyed mastic gum chewing. The Mayans, chewed a natural gum called chicle which came from the latex of the Sapodilla tree. Native Americans chewed the resin from spruce trees.

Modern chewing gum history begins in USA in 19th century. In 1948 In 1848 chewing gum became a commercial product. John B. Curtis invented and sold chewing gum made from spruce gum. He sold first chewing gum called State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. Within a couple years, John B. Curtis and his brother (in some sources father) founded "Curtis Chewing Gum Factory". They began selling paraffin gum, which became more popular than original spruce gum.

1869, William Finley Semple patented a chewing gum made from rubber as a tooth cleaner and jaw strengthener.

In 1869 Amos Tyler patented the first chewing gum made from rosin and olive oil.

In 1869 Antonio Lopez de Santa, a Mexican general, came to inventor Thomas Adams to develop a new form of rubber using chicle. Thomas Adams made his own version of chewing gum out of chicle. Two years later, Tomas Adams patented a gum-making machine. His chewing gum rolled into balls, and wrapped in colored tissue paper. In 1888, Adams' gum Tutti-Frutti became the first chewing gum to be sold in a vending machine located in one of New York City's subway station.

In 1880, the Fleer brothers also experimented with chicle. Henry Fleer and Frank Fleer invented chewing gum called "Chiclets", cubes of the chicle and coated the cubes with sweet material. They tried to make bubble gum but they never could commercialize this bubble gum. He called his invention Blibber-Blubber gum.
In 1880, William White added flavor to chewing gum. He combined sugar and corn syrup with chicle. He also added peppermint extract in his product called Yucatan gum.

During the early 1890's, Dr. Edward E. Beeman, an Ohio physician added a touch of pepsin powder and sold chewing gum as a digestion aid. He called his invention Beeman's Gum. In 1898, the Adams Gum Company bought out the Beeman's Gum Company.

A dental gum "Dentyne" was invented in 1899 by a dentist Franklin V. Canning.
Wrigley Chewing Gum was founded by William Wrigley, Jr. in 1891. In 1893, Wrigley's Spearmint was introduced. In 1914 William Wrigley and Henry Fleer added mint and fruit extracts to chewing gum Wrigley Doublemint brand came about in 1914, adding Henry Fleer to the company.

In 1928, Walter Diemer, an accountant for the Fleer gum company, accidentally discovered bubble gum based on original Frank Fleer formula. The originally color of his bubble gum was pink.

In 1950, The Topps Company was first company which added baseball cards to the chewing gum. Sugar-free version of chewing gum was invented in 1950.

Chewing gum has been around in many forms for many years. Today there are hundreds types of chewing gum...

Related Tags: chewing gum, bubble gum, chewing gum history

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