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Who invented foil. The Great Packaging Revolution

Aluminum is the most common metal on earth. It has high thermal and electrical conductivity. In alloys, aluminum reaches a strength that is practically not inferior to steel. Light metal is readily used in the aircraft industry and the automotive industry. Thin aluminum sheets, on the other hand, are excellently suited due to their softness; for packaging - and have been used in this capacity since 1947.

Difficulties in mining

The element aluminum occurs naturally in a chemically bonded form. In 1827, the German physicist Friedrich Wöhler managed to obtain significant amounts of pure aluminum. The release process was so difficult that at first this metal remained an expensive rarity. In 1886 the American Charles Hall and the Frenchman Paul Héroux independently invented the electrolytic method of aluminum reduction. The Austrian engineer Karl Josef Bayer, who worked in Russia, in 1889 managed to significantly reduce the cost of new way metal mining.

To the invention - in a roundabout way

The path to aluminum foil lay through the tobacco industry. At the beginning of the XX century. cigarettes were still packaged in tin sheet to protect them from moisture. Richard Reynolds, who at that time joined his uncle's tobacco firm, quickly realized that the foil market had a great future, and founded own enterprise, which supplied packaging for tobacco and chocolate manufacturers. The cheapening of aluminum drew Reynolds' attention to light metal. In 1947, he succeeded in making a film 0.0175 mm thick. The new foil did not have toxic properties and reliably protected the products from moisture, light or odors.

17th century: Staniole, a thin sheet of tin, used to make mirrors.
1861: started industrial production grease and moisture resistant parchment paper.
1908: Jacques Edwin Brandenberger invents cellophane, a transparent cellulose film.

We encounter foil almost every day, most often without even noticing it. It is household and technical. The first is used for packaging products, making blisters for tablets, baking meat and vegetables. It is non-toxic, odorless and perfectly retains heat. The second is used in electronics and industry. Such a foil is plastic, heat-resistant and has a high reflectivity.

Who Invented Foil? Who and when had the idea to turn a piece of metal into a paper-thin sheet?

Truth and fiction

Sometimes you can find a mention that Percy Spencer invented the foil. In fact, this is not true at all. According to legend, Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven when he noticed that a turned on magnetron melted a chocolate bar in his pocket. But the chocolate bar was just wrapped in foil, which, perhaps, contributed to the heating process.

But who really invented foil? In reality, opinions differ radically. The first foil was gold, it is also called. It appeared a very long time ago, even among the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. This is due to the fact that gold is the most ductile and malleable metal, that is, it is not difficult to flatten it into the thinnest sheet. Used it for decorating jewelry and gilding.

In Japan, craftsmen forged and stretched a piece of gold until it turned into a sheet of foil. When the leaves become very thin, no thicker than 0.001 mm, the foil is again beaten off between the layers of paper. This art exists only in Japan for many centuries.

You can even eat gold foil. V Food Industry this is an E175 additive, used to decorate various dishes, such as ice cream.

Now it is valued not only for its artistic value, but also for its high electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion. And these are important qualities for electrical engineering.

Who Invented Foil? Actually, the aluminum product has a long and controversial history. Its progenitor was tin foil, staniol, which was widely used until the twentieth century in the manufacture of mirrors, in food packaging and in dentistry. But the steel was toxic and had an unpleasant tin smell, so it did not take root in the food industry.

brilliant invention

Who Invented Foil? Interesting Facts talk about this "brilliant" invention. In 1909, a young engineer from Zurich, Robert Victor Neher, was watching an international balloon race and accidentally overheard fans arguing about which aircraft would last the longest in the air. It occurred to Neher that for the best result, it would be worth covering the silk balloon with a thin layer of aluminum foil.

Unfortunately, the balloon designed by Neher could not fly. But the machine for the production of the thinnest strips of aluminum, that is, foil, had already been built. After several trial and error, not without the help of colleagues (Edwin Laubert and Alfred Moody), Neher still managed to succeed. A patent for the production of aluminum foil was received on October 27, 1910.

Neher and chocolate factories

Confectioners were the first to appreciate the advantages of the new packaging material. Prior to this, chocolate was sold in pieces by weight. Beyond that, opinions differ. Some historians say that the Tobler chocolate factory signed the first contract with Neher for the supply of foil. Others claim that the Nestlé factories came up with the idea of using aluminum foil to protect consumers from melted chocolate. Still others attribute the idea of chocolate wrappers from this material to Franklin Mars, the owner of the Mars factory. The aluminum wrap was the successful innovation of a savvy entrepreneur. In the US, Life Savers were first wrapped in foil in 1913.

So who invented foil? Some claim that he did this so that his favorite sweets would not spoil so quickly.

Later, foil was used to package medicines, cigarettes, oil, coffee, and even juice. At the same time, the first rolls of household foil for packaging anything appeared.

Color matters

So after all, who invented the foil? To this day, this is a controversial issue. It is only known for sure that in 1915 Neher came up with a way to make foil multi-colored. But in 1918 he was drafted into the army, where he died from a Spanish flu on November 27 of the same year. But his idea did not disappear, and in 1933 Konrad Kurz became the discoverer of the cathode deposition method. This method made it possible to deposit the thinnest even layer of gold on an aluminum base. This foil was used for hot stamping. World wars and total economic decline forced manufacturers to change the layer of real gold to a layer of yellow lacquer with a metallized base. This is how modern multi-colored foil appeared. Color variety and cheaper production have expanded the scope of the material.

Other story

The question remains unresolved: who invented the foil? There is another version of its appearance, and it is not associated with balloons but with the tobacco industry. It often happens that discoveries come to the minds of several people almost simultaneously. Until the early 20th century, cigars and cigarettes were packaged in thin sheets of tin to keep moisture out. Richard Reynolds, who was working at his uncle's tobacco factory at the time, thought of using aluminum, a cheaper and lighter material, instead of tin. He made the first sample of aluminum foil in 1947.

Foil and lotus

On April 16, 2015, German scientists announced the invention of a material to which liquid does not stick, in this case yogurt. The new material is aluminum foil covered in microscopic cavities where air collects and prevents liquid from getting inside. Scientists spied this idea on a lotus leaf, which repels water and dirt.

Japanese companies are already ready to put the invention into practice by developing special lids for yogurt.

It happened with the invention of foil - a thin metal film

Do you think this is an immense exaggeration? Now try to imagine that all products and products that require a thin aluminum film to preserve or sell have disappeared. Gone are chocolates and sweets, butter and margarine, tea and coffee, bouillon cubes and medicinal tablets… Continue?

Swiss engineer Robert Victor Neher first managed to roll foil exactly one hundred years ago - in 1910. True, it was not made of aluminum, as is now the case in most cases, but of silver. In those distant years, it was not the same as it is now, but only a little thicker than a human hair. But it could already properly fulfill its duties - to serve as an air- and light-tight package that helps keep food fresh and undamaged. Neher's first client was Tobler, a Bernese company that still wraps its triangular chocolate bars in aluminum foil.

To this day, three-quarters of the production of foil is used for packaging and, of course, for household purposes. However, it is also used in many other industries - from the automotive industry to construction and design. During the Second World War, foil had to come under arms: the Reich industry made special strips from it, which were scattered from aircraft to confuse British radars.

Now aluminum foil at the world's largest production facility, located in the Lower Rhine Grevenbroich, is rolled from huge aluminum castings - eight-meter bars weighing 24 tons. For fans of figures: such a “baby” costs 70 thousand euros. Before the finished film is obtained, he will have to climb through mighty rolls six times, enduring powerful heating in between.

Now the bulk of the control technological process and compliance with the necessary parameters is entrusted to the computer. But even without human supervision, it is still impossible to do without, it is not for nothing that 1800 people are employed at the enterprise.

It is useless to explain what it is to work in a hot shop: those who have not tried it will still not understand. You have to feel it in your own skin.

Foil from Grevenbroich, in addition to the German market, is also exported to Africa, Asia, South America. Now they transport it around the world on everything they need - from cars to airplanes. And in the 20s of the last century, she left Grevenbroich only by rail. From the enterprise to the goods station, the products were then delivered on carts pulled by donkeys. By the way, the daily production volume then was 150 tons, only half as much as now.

Of course, up to the magical figure of 6.3 micrometers (nine times thinner than a human hair), Grevenbroich could not then roll the foil. However, even now this is not possible for everyone. For example, the Chinese, one of the main competitors of German distributors (however, the production belongs to the now Norwegian concern Noshk Hydro), although they built it for Lately many similar productions, so far they still cannot reach such quality indicators.

Alexander Varvarin

20.02.2016 / 1598

Food foil is the thinnest sheets of aluminum that are widely used in the household sector. The word "folga" itself has Polish, German and Latin roots, literally meaning "metal paper". Commercially, this flexible material has been used for less than a century, but attempts to use aluminum to improve life were made by the ancient Egyptians. How do you get modern foil, which is in every home?

Foil production: secrets and features of technology

This product appeared in the XX century as a result of the development of technology. Turning an aluminum alloy into a thin sheet is quite difficult. For its production, flexible metal is subjected to repeated cold rolling on machine tools. It passes between large shafts, the gap between which decreases with each stage of rolling. To obtain an ultra-thin sheet of foil, a slightly different technology is used:

in production, 2 sheets of aluminum are simultaneously rolled;
metal "sheets" are separated from each other by a special cooling lubricant;
the resulting sheets have different sides: one is glossy, the other is matte.

Food foil properties

The sterility of this material is achieved as a result of exposure to high temperatures annealing the finished sheet. It also has other valuable features:

does not deform;
does not melt;
does not cause allergies;
not afraid of low temperatures;
safe, can come into contact with food;
chemically inert;
it is able to accumulate heat, therefore it is used for baking dishes in the oven;
protects the products wrapped in it from dust, bacteria and moisture.

Do not use foil to wrap products containing acid (eg lemon juice). From contact with such substances, aluminum begins to oxidize, and the substances released during such a reaction are harmful to health.

Varieties of aluminum foil

Manufacturers offer a wide enough range of foils to meet the needs of all customers, from housewives to food companies. Each of its types has its own characteristics, emanating from the scope.

double-sided, having a glossy and matte side;
one-sided - completely matte.

Both that, and other material can be both smooth, and embossed (textural). There is also a foil with a laminated surface of different colors. Everyone could see such a pattern in boxes of chocolates, where it lies on top of a treat. Colored foil is also used as a wrapper for processed cheese, butter, curd desserts and other products. It protects against moisture sun rays as well as dust and other contaminants.

Unusual uses of food foil

Foil can be used for more than just roasting meat, potatoes, or other foods in the oven. This thin sheet of aluminum will become an assistant in other matters. Here are the most original ways its applications:

If you don't have a watering can handy and you need to pour or pour something into a container with a narrow neck, roll a piece of foil into a cone shape. Such a trick will save the hostess if the house does not have a confectionery syringe to decorate the cake - you can squeeze the cream out of a homemade foil cone.
Do you want to take homemade buns, bread or pies for a picnic? To keep the heat of fresh pastries as long as possible, lay a sheet of foil on the bottom of the basket - it will not let the heat "run away".
If a flashlight, toy, or other device goes off intermittently, you can place pieces of foil between the spring and the batteries to keep them from falling out.
To quickly iron cotton or linen items, you need to lay an aluminum sheet under the ironing board cover, thereby minimizing heat loss from the iron.
Foil creates beautiful decorative decorations for the interior - snowflakes, angels, butterflies and much more. It also looks spectacular as a gift wrapping material.
If you need to bake a lot of cupcakes at the same time, you can build several additional foil molds.

Food foil is a unique invention of mankind, which is used in different areas life and simplifies hundreds of tasks at home and at work.

People at all times were engaged in needlework. In ancient times, they carved rock paintings with stone on stone, sewed together pieces of skin and fur with the help of veins and bone needles, strung beautiful pebbles and shells on leather laces, wove baskets from bark and branches, molded clay jugs. And it has always been important for people that the things they make are not only practical, but also beautiful. Therefore, earthenware jugs were decorated with paintings, clothes with embroidery, wooden items with carvings, and metal items with embossing. Whenever new material became available, people immediately adapted it for artistic creation. Ropes appeared - macrame appeared, paper appeared - origami arose ... If aluminum foil had become available to people in the Stone Age, now archaeologists would proudly show us Neolithic jewelry woven from it. But, despite the fact that aluminum is the most common metal on earth, scientists managed to obtain it in its pure form for the first time only in the 19th century. This was a very difficult task, so for some time aluminum was a rare metal and was valued more than gold. Very noble and influential persons, not sparing money, ordered aluminum buttons and cutlery to show off such unprecedented luxury. But in the 20th century, people finally conquered electricity, a cheap way to produce aluminum was found, and it became a widely available material. The aluminum forks and spoons dreamed of by emperors have become attributes of cheap catering. And after stamped products, aluminum foil appeared.

This is a delightful modern completely safe material, as if specially created for needlework. Light, flexible and shiny, it is not afraid of water and high temperatures, does not require special tools when working and, importantly, it can be bought at every hardware store, and it is very cheap.

Therefore, it is not surprising that from the very moment of its appearance, craftsmen and craftswomen tried to adapt it for creating jewelry and artistic creativity: they wrapped nuts and sweets in it to hang on Christmas tree, glued cardboard boxes, crumpled and pressed in the form of various figures and sculptures. But it turned out that this is not all that ordinary aluminum foil is capable of. Foil weaving was the next big step in the application of this new modern material in the field of artistic creation. When people see products woven from foil, they do not immediately understand what and how it is made of, but having figured out what's what, they cannot believe that no one has thought of this for a century of the existence of this material.

Weaving from foil is so simple and cool that it immediately begins to seem as if this type of needlework, accessible even to children, has always existed. Indeed, he had a chance to be born every time when someone, having eaten a candy or a chocolate bar, began to crush and twist in his hands an already useless, but such a beautiful and shiny candy wrapper. But, either the sweet tooth had more important things to do, or no one ate sweets in the quantities necessary for insight, but it turned out that it was me, Olesya Emelyanova, who once had the idea to find candy wrappers best use than a trash can. From gold wrappers from Autumn Waltz and other elegant candies, I began to weave miniature flowers, butterflies and goldfish. The children I knew enthusiastically collected suitable candy wrappers for me, so that later they could exchange them for an outlandish craft.

But the collection of wrappers was slow, their size was small, and there were a lot of ideas, so I started looking for a replacement that was more affordable and convenient for work. I didn’t have to go far, because in every house there is a roll of food foil. She, of course, did not shine as much as gold, but she did not end at the most interesting place. So from the “goldsmiths” I moved into the category of “silver”. Now it was possible to weave whatever your heart desires: life-size flowers, candlesticks, lampshades, toys, figurines of animals and birds.

That's how I took the next step in the application of a relatively new material for mankind and invented the new kind creativity - foil weaving or, as it is also called, "FOILART" (from the combination of the English words "foil" and "art"). There was nothing like it anywhere in the world, so Russia can be safely called the birthplace of this amazing technology, as evidenced by the patent for invention I received No. 2402426 *. Having defended my invention, which is never superfluous, I decided that it was time to introduce it not only to friends and acquaintances, but also to the general public.

In 2008, Elf-Market released the first series of creative kits. It includes 11 sets: flowers, a butterfly, an Easter egg and a candlestick. By the way, it is precisely because of the name of this series that the second name of the technique, “FOILART”, stuck to foil weaving.

In 2011, the AST-PRESS publishing house published the world's first book on foil weaving, Foil. Openwork weaving ". This is a beautiful deluxe edition with many photographs. Some of them you had the pleasure to see above in the photo exhibition of works. The book includes workshops on weaving flowers, candlesticks, napkins, vases, baskets and animals from foil.

In 2012, the Tenth Kingdom released another one, which included 6 models: a box, tree leaves, jewelry, candlesticks and a miniature bicycle.

In 2014, the art of foil art continued its triumphal march on the market of sets for children's creativity. The Russian Style company has released a series of foil weaving kits under the new name Sparkling Art, which translates as brilliant art or sparkling art. And why not, because products woven from aluminum straw really shine due to the uneven metal surface of the foil. The series includes 4 models: a horse, a snail, a fish and a diadem.

Also on my website you can right now become participants in free master classes and.

Products woven from foil look very impressive, but there is nothing complicated in their manufacture. Despite the fact that foil weaving is a new kind of creativity, it has a lot in common with traditional types of needlework. The process of preparing the material - twisting a wire from a strip of foil, is very similar to spinning a thread. Our great-great-grandmothers did this by hand for so long that the genetic memory of this occupation is still alive. Don't be surprised if you suddenly feel that your hands remember how to do it. The very process of foil weaving is similar to lace weaving, wire weaving, and the work of a jeweler, so "FOILART" cannot be unambiguously called purely female needlework. Weaving from foil is simple, exciting and is liked by everyone who appreciates beauty and grace, loves to decorate their home, surprise and delight their loved ones.

I sincerely hope that you will like my invention, and that foil weaving will become your favorite way of creative expression. Learn new things, create beauty with your own hands! I sincerely wish you success in this.

* « Foil weaving" - new modern look handicrafts, patented by the author (RF patent for an invention and a method for manufacturing a decorative thread from foil and products from it No. 2402426). The technique of "foil weaving" can be used for commercial purposes (books on foil weaving, kits for creativity, paid workshops on teaching the technique, sales finished products and foil threads, etc.) only if there is a license obtained from the author and owner of the patent, Olesya Emelyanova, in writing in accordance with applicable law.