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A century later, in North America, the
Mayan Indians of Central America began chewing a natural gum called
chicle that they derived from trees. Centuries later, American
Indians chewed a natural gumlike resin that came from the bark of
spruce trees, and they introduced this spruce gum to North American
settlers.
In 1869, New York inventor Thomas Adams was hired by a Mexican
exile named Antonio to develop a new form of rubber that contained
chicle, since chicle was plentiful back in Mexico. Antonio thought
that Adams could make synthetic rubber tires out of the new
material. Adams tried to use it to make things like toys, masks,
rain boots and bicycle tires; he failed in every attempt, yet he
still became a huge success.
One day he decided to chew a piece of the chicle, and then he
added flavoring to it. In the process, he invented the modern
chewing gum. Soon after, he began selling pieces of his gum for a
penny each, and then he patented the machine that made it.
There are a few other pieces of "gum
trivia" that are worth mentioning:
- The very first patent for chewing gum went to a dentist named
William Semple, and it was issued in 1869, the same year that
Adams invented his chewing gum. Maybe Semple was the original
fifth dentist -- you know, the one who didn't recommend Trident to
his patients.
- The first bubble gum was invented by Frank Fleer in 1906. If
that name sounds familiar, it's because his company makes the
Fleer trading cards.
- A Fleer employee named Walter Diemer invented bubble gum and
made it pink because pink was the only color that he had left.
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 And if you just can't get enough of
this gum trivia, here's one more:
- The largest bubble ever blown was 23 inches in diameter,
according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
What ever happened to Thomas Adams' boss, the Mexican exile named
Antonio?
Before he moved to New York, Antonio served as a general in the
Mexican army; in fact, he was also a former president of Mexico.
There was something else for which he is remembered. You know him by
his first name, but history knows him by his last name -- Santa
Anna, as in Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He was the general who led
the attack on the Alamo!
Thomas Adams' company went on to merge with the nation's six
other largest chewing gum makers, building a monopoly in the
process. Today the company is known as Cadbury Adams, which is a
division of Cadbury Schweppes. What happened to Adams' chicle gum?
Did he give his brand of gum a name back then?
It turns out that he did name it. The name of Thomas Adams' gum,
which he began making way back in 1869, is Chiclets.
They should mention this kind of stuff in the history books.
[Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann is the author of Invention Mysteries. He can be
reached at niemann7@aol.com.
© Copyright Paul Niemann 2005 |
