Who created chewing gum. Interesting about chewing gum (32 photos)

Who among us does not know these children's words? Those who don’t know are probably familiar with two blondes in their mouths, who sometimes appear there ... And certainly everyone remembers the cat from the cartoon about the parrot and his unforgettable: “Well, this is bubble gum!” Who is the creator of the famous "bubble gum"?

petrified chewing gum

Chewing gum sometimes replaces our toothbrush with paste. The gum helps cover up the smell. Chewing gum can be a powerful tool for petty revenge... How much chewing gum can do for us! With such a long history as chewing gum, this is not surprising: its prototype is 5000 (!) years old. Archaeologists studied the ancient settlements of Finland, and found a piece of resin that hardened under the onslaught of time. They thought and thought what it was, and suddenly they saw the prints of human teeth. Eureka! Yes, it's chewing gum!

In fact, of course, it is difficult to call it chewing gum. The ancient Greeks and peoples of the Middle East chewed the resin of the mastic tree to clean their teeth. The Mayan Indians used rubber for this. We can say that our ancestors found chewing gum only for practical use.

The first chewing gum went on sale in 1848. The Englishman John Curtis began selling portioned pieces of resin wrapped in paper (however, beeswax was added to the resin). Two years later, Curtis endowed the chewing gum with a smell, adding spices and paraffin. But this did not save the resin from spoilage - the rays of the sun, heat or cold forever took away its presentation from the chewing gum.
21 years later, in 1869, William Finley Semple showed business acumen and patented rubber gum. In addition to rubber, this chewing gum contained additives in the form of charcoal, chalk and fragrances. But the emergence of real chewing gum is associated with another name.

Adams means first

To Thomas Adams we owe real rubber gum. Thomas Adams brought into our world what we understand and imagine as chewing gum. There are two versions of its appearance: some say that General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana brought to America the habit of chewing the resin of the sapodil tree - chicle, and sold Adams some part of this natural rubber. Adams at first wanted to put chicle on rubber products, toys, shoes, but the resin turned out to be unsuitable there. Selling paraffin gum in a pharmacy gave him a brilliant idea. He chewed the chicle, assessed how it felt (he liked it) and, together with his eldest son Tom, decided to sell the chicle as chewing gum. Another version says that Adams bought a ton of rubber for a small amount, but did not find a use for it. Then Adams decided to set up an experiment: he boiled a piece of rubber and divided it into portions. Result: Although the gum had no flavor, sales of the first Adams New York No. 1 gum were good.

"Black Jack" was the name of the first flavored chewing gum. She appeared in 1884 through the efforts of the same Adams. In addition to the licorice taste, the chewing gum was given the shape of a pencil. "Black Jack", however, had its drawbacks, and one of them was the instability of taste. Sugar and corn syrup solved the problem. In the 1970s, "Black Jack" was discontinued, but in 1986 this variety appeared on the shelves again.

Adams New York No. 2 chewing gum appeared, differing from the first only in a larger package. And the name of the first fruit chewing gum (although it appeared in the century before last) is familiar to us firsthand - "Tutti Frutti". By the way, "Tutti Frutti" was the first chewing gum, which was sold through vending machines in the New York subway.

The son of the owner of the soap factory, William Wrigley, improved the technical side of the process and began to produce the well-known today Wrigley`s Spearmint. It was in 1892, and a year later the world saw Wrigley`s Juicy Fruit. These varieties are still at the top of sales to this day. The secret of Wrigley's success was in the additional components: powdered sugar, mint, fruit additives. Wrigley also made chewing gum the way we are used to seeing it: in the form of a plate, a stick and a ball.

The era of new balls is approaching ... and liners

Chewing gum of that time was not so elastic, did not stretch, had one color - white, and did not inflate. There must have been little pleasure in chewing it. Frank Flier, who had his own Fleer Company, worked on the inflation problem. Flier began to use synthetic substances, and this helped usher in the era of chewy rubber balls. Our favorite synthetics made it possible to blow bubbles, and the chewing gum that can do this is called “Blibber-Blubber”. 1906 - the year of the birth of rubber bladders ...

Rubber bubbles were insidious. Their stickiness was so high that it was very difficult to tear off the gum from the face or lips, so "Blibber-Blubber" was not particularly successful with buyers.

The problem of excessive stickiness was solved 15 years later by a certain Walter Dymer, and quite by accident. The Fleer Corporation accountant had fun mixing different ingredients in his home laboratory, putting the results of his labors in his mouth and trying to chew. And then one day - ta-ra-ra-ram! - received chewing gum that did not stick, did not deteriorate in the air and inflated. The inflated variety of chewing gum was called "bubble gum" (bubble gum). Now the main problems have been solved, the only thing left to do is to give a new taste and color.

Peppermint, cinnamon, vanilla flavors solved the first problem. And the color, like the appearance of chewing gum, was determined by chance: the factory only had pink food coloring ...

Needless to say, the possibility of inflating "hassle-free" bubbles caused a stir among buyers. However, new products demanded from buyers and new skills - the ability to inflate bubbles. Then Walter Dymer himself, who had already become vice president of the company, took up this issue. He suggested teaching salespeople so that salespeople could teach buyers.

Few people know, but inserts in chewing gum were first sold with ... cigarettes. But then came the 1930s, and William Wrigley (honor and praise to him!) came up with a new marketing ploy: images of baseball players and comic book characters "migrated" into the packaging of chewing gum. The circulation of pictures was small, so the emerging collectors began to hunt for them. The boom of such gathering occurred in the 1980s and 90s.

We live underground

Interestingly, the distribution of mint gum in America was facilitated by the government, or rather, the “dry law” introduced by it in the 1920s. Even bootleggers sold chewing gum to their customers so that if God forbid the police detained, they could not give the latter grounds for arrest or punishment.

The 1980s were marked by the jubilation of dentists: they stopped adding destructive sugar to chewing gum, using a substitute instead. In general, dentists from the very beginning of general chewing put forward a variety of ideas regarding the harm of gum. Among the most amusing are the myths that chewing gum can glue the jaws, glue the internal organs (!) And it is impossible to clean it with a toothbrush from braces and brackets, so it is strictly forbidden for unfortunate people who have such a design in their mouth to chew.

In Singapore, chewing gum was under a state ban for 12 years, which was introduced by Prime Minister Go Chok Tong, explaining this measure as concern for the cleanliness of cities. Punishment for the underground distribution of chewing gum in best case there was a heavy fine, at worst - imprisonment of up to two years. Even now in this country you can buy only anti-nicotine gum.

Not even a century has passed since its inception, and chewing gum turned out to be truly one of the most sought-after products. Now in the USA, the cradle of chewing gum, over 100 types of this product are sold. Every year, Americans spend about $2 billion on this gum. Based on official figures, it becomes clear that the demand for chewing gum does not depend on the season or fashion trends. By the way, chewing is far from a US phenomenon.

Ancient Greek gum lovers used resin pistachio tree. Some northern peoples and Indians used the resin of trees, because. It was believed that this process strengthens the dentition and freshens the breath. It is generally accepted that the passion for chewing Europeans borrowed from the Indians.

The first chewing gum manufacturer, John Curtis, in 1848 came up with the idea of ​​wrapping resin pieces in wrappers. After a couple of years, he began to use cheap paraffin containing spices. In this business, Curtis enriched himself and organized 3 factories.

Dentist William Finlay Semple patented gum in 1869. He recommended cooking it from rubber, coal and various flavors. During the same year, a real gum.

This event happened thanks to the general. After briefly ruling Mexico, Antonio López de Santa Anna fled to the United States. He was a true Mexican and constantly chewed "chicle" from the resin of the sapodilla tree. Legend has it that the general shared a secret with Thomas Adams and set up a supply of resin. Adams assembled the first rubber band machine in 1871 and began selling it. "Black Jack" flavored with licorice appeared in 1884 and was produced until the 70s of the last century.

Production resumed only in 1986. Merchant William Wrigley modernized the process of making gum. In 1892 he began to produce Wrigley's Spearmint, and in next year"Wrigley's Juicy Fruit". These names are still leading the chewing gum market to this day. It was Wrigley who first added powdered sugar, mint and various fruit additives to the composition, and also came up with the forms of its release: balls, plates, sticks. For popularizing his product, Wrigley sent parcels with 3 records to all telephone subscribers in 1915. It took less than a quarter of a century for Wrigley's to become the leader of the American chewing gum market and launch a global offensive.

In the 1920s, mint flavored chewing gum became a godsend for drinkers. It was in those years that "dry law" existed in America. A real joy for children was given by Walter Diemer in 1928. A chemist has invented a new kind of gum - "bubble gum". It not only gave a pleasant aroma to the breath, but also easily inflated into bubbles. Deemer improved on Frank Flier's version of the chewing gum, which was not a success.

Gum chewing became a truly global hobby after the 2nd World War. This product was included in the rations of the Americans. It was the US soldiers who introduced him to representatives of other continents. Then the production of chewing gum was launched in Japan and many European countries.

Only in the 70s it began to be made in the USSR. After 1980, sweeteners were added to the gum, which pleased dentists. Gum companies tout the benefits of their product. These include: cleansing the mouth of the remaining food, giving a pleasant aroma to the breath, replacing a cigarette for a smoking person, a remedy for stuffy ears in airplanes, and concentration.

But, alas, along with the advantages, there are also disadvantages. Chewing gum has a bad effect on tooth enamel, contributes to the occurrence of gastritis, because. during chewing, juice is secreted in the stomach, irritating its cavity. Also major problem remains the disposal of used chewing gums

December 28, 1869, 140 years ago in the United States received the first patent for the manufacture of chewing gum.

Chewing gum is a special culinary product that consists of an inedible elastic base and various flavoring and aromatic additives. In the process of use, chewing gum practically does not decrease in volume, but all the fillers gradually dissolve, after which the base becomes tasteless and is usually thrown away.

The very first chewing gum dates back to the Stone Age, VII-II millennium BC. It was found during excavations in Northern Europe and was a piece of prehistoric resin with imprints of human teeth.

To cleanse the mouth and freshen the breath, the ancient Greeks chewed the resin of the mastic tree, which grew in abundance in Greece and Turkey. They called such a prototype of modern chewing gum by the name of the tree - “mastic”.

It is also known that the Maya Indians about a thousand years ago, to brush their teeth and freshen their breath, used the frozen sap of the sapodilla tree. They called this chewy mixture “chicle”. Much later, it was sapodilla that served as the basis for the industrial production of chewing gum.

On the South American continent, the Indians, contemporaries of the Maya, chewed the resin of coniferous trees. White settlers adopted this habit from them and created their own version of chewing gum - from the resin of coniferous trees and beeswax. And thanks to Columbus, such a habit, like smoking, was brought to Europe, but then it did not take root there. This happened much later.

In 1848, shopkeeper John Curtis (John B. Curtis) and his brother began to be the first in the world to produce chewing gum - they simply packed pieces of resin into pieces of paper. They called their product Pure Maine Pine Resin. Later, they began to add paraffin flavors to their products. The new chewing gums with paraffin were sometimes quite unusual names: "White Mountain", "The Biggest and Best", "Four in Hand", "Sugar Cream". Gradually, their production expanded, but sales were still low due to the presence of impurities in gum that were difficult to remove from the resin.

In 1869, dentist William Finley Semple received the first patent for chewing gum. Semple proposed to make it from rubber with the addition of chalk, charcoal and a number of flavors. Semple claimed that such chewing gum would have a beneficial effect on the condition of the teeth. In addition, among the undoubted advantages of Semple's improved chewing gum, the inventor attributed its durability: the dentist assumed that a piece of gum could be used for weeks and months, since rubber is very durable.

However, William Semple, for unknown reasons, was never able to establish industrial production chewing gum.

Modern chewing gum (based on rubber, not pine resin) received a new life in the same 1869, thanks to General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana).

General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who briefly ruled Mexico, fled to New York. He took a ton of Mexican chicle with him, hoping to profitably sell it and earn money. According to legend, the general convinced the New York inventor Thomas Adams (Thomas Adams) to buy rubber from him. The inventor tried to vulcanize rubber, so he wanted to find a substitute for rubber, but the experiments came to nothing. Then Adams decided to cook gum out of it, remembering the habit of his Mexican acquaintance to chew "chicle". The researcher attached a test batch of the resulting chewing gum to local retail stores and was surprised to find that his products became popular. A little later, he added licorice flavor to the gum. This is how the first flavored chewing gum called Black Jack appeared, which was produced until the 70s of the XX century.

In 1871, Adams patented an automatic machine for the mass production of chewing gum, and since 1888, the Tutti Frutti chewing gum created by him began to be sold from vending machines on the platforms of railway stations.

In 1880, pharmacist John Colgan (John Colgan), having slightly changed the recipe, began to add flavor to chewing gum before putting sugar there. Such a simple manipulation contributed to the fact that the aroma and taste of chewing gum were preserved for a long time.

A serious role in the history of chewing gum was played by the Wrigley company, which became a significant player in the market at the end of the 19th century.

In 1891, successful soap salesman William Wrigley noticed that customers came to his shop not so much for the soap as for the two sticks of chewing gum that came with the purchase.

William Wrigley improved technical process production of chewing gum and in 1892 began to produce Wrigley`s Spearmint gum, and a year later - Wrigley`s Juicy Fruit" - varieties that are still leaders in world sales. Wrigley also pioneered the mixing of gum with powdered sugar, the addition of mint and fruit additives, and the development of chewing gum forms (balls, sticks, sticks) that are still in use today.

In 1928, chemist Walter Diemer (Walter Diemer) created another kind of chewing gum - "bubble gum", Which made it easy to blow bubbles. This invention made chewing gum popular not only among adults interested in good breath, but also among children who discovered new way entertainment.

After the Second World War, the fashion for chewing gum swept the whole world. The reason for this was the American military, whose diet included chewing gum. They introduced this product to the inhabitants of Asia, Africa and Europe. Gum began to be produced in Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France and other countries.

In the USSR, imported chewing gum was a cult object among children and adolescents, since it had not been produced inside the country for a long time, and the Soviet analogues that appeared in the 1970s were inferior to imported ones in terms of the possibility of inflating them and the colorful design of the packaging. In the early 1990s, candy wrappers and "liners" from chewing gum were the object of collecting and the subject of gambling among schoolchildren.

Chewing gum manufacturers prove the usefulness of their product. Its advantages include: the ability to clean the teeth and oral cavity from food debris after eating, freshness of breath. Sweeteners (sorbitol, xylitol) contained in chewing gum restore the acid-base balance. Chewing gum is used by airplane passengers to avoid stuffy ears.

The disadvantages of chewing gum, in particular, include its negative effect on tooth enamel (with too frequent chewing). In addition, excessive chewing contributes to the development of gastritis, since when a person chews, gastric juice is released, which irritates the surface of the stomach. Even the temporomandibular joint, the one that connects the temporal bone and the lower jaw, can suffer from constant chewing. jaw. If this joint is inflamed, chewing is not recommended.

The history of chewing gum dates back to ancient times, when there were no toothpastes or brushes yet, and people used resin to brush their teeth, as, for example, they did in the east, or hyvea juice (rubber), which the Maya Indians chewed. It is these natural substances that can be called the prototype of chewing gum.

Of course, the Americans began to produce the first chewing gum. In the 19th century, the Curtis brothers invented chewing gum, which was made from beeswax and pine resin. The idea was so successful that it was decided to increase production. The use of flavors allowed them to expand the range to four types.

William Finlay Semple was the first to obtain a patent for chewing gum in 1869, but did not, however, begin to manufacture gum. At the same time, the American Thomas Adams, having at his disposal a whole ton of rubber, independently made a test batch of chewing gum. Having sold it quickly enough, Adams decided to establish a production. In 1871, he patented a chewing gum machine and began to produce it on an industrial scale. Having achieved the first success, Adams began to improve the taste of the chewing gum he produced. The entrepreneur decided to add licorice flavoring to rubber, resulting in a new chewing gum called Black Jack. Except the taste New Product It also differed in shape - instead of the usual balls, a pencil appeared.

The next step in the history of chewing gum was the release in the early twentieth century by Frank Flear gum "Blibber-Blubber", which was possible to inflate. At the end of the 20s of this century, Walter Diemer, an employee of F. Flir's company, proposed options for improving the quality characteristics of products, as a result of which the company began to sell candies, inside of which there were small chewing gums. In the middle of the twentieth century, chewing gum conquered the United States. This product was in great demand during Prohibition, as its aroma interrupted the alcoholic smell.

In today's world, gum is used by everyone, from young children who chew it for pleasure and entertainment, to older people who use it for hygiene purposes and to prevent diseases of the teeth and gums. Over time, the ways and directions of using chewing gum only expanded (for example, they began to use it to freshen breath), but only one of its functions remains unchanged - brushing your teeth.

If there is a product that would represent the globalization of the planet, then it is certainly chewing gum. Gum can be found in any supermarket anywhere in the world*.

The history of chewing gum began long before our era. Probably, in one form or another, chewing gum was used among primitive tribes as early as 100,000 years ago, when man fought for his right to exist in this world. Such chewing gum was mostly resin collected from trees. The oldest chewing gum, made from the resin of conifers and found in a Neolithic settlement in Finland, is about 5,000 years old. Traces of use different types"chewing gum" in ancient times can be found in any culture: the ancient Greeks chewed mastic resin to cleanse their teeth and fresh breath, some ancient peoples chewed beeswax, the peoples of Siberia used dried larch resin, which, when chewed, changes its consistency from tiny hard pieces to a stretchy substance , and in Asian countries, a mixture of pepper betel leaves and lime was especially popular. The substance not only chewed easily and for a long time, but also disinfected the oral cavity.

Chicle mining, 1917

But despite the widespread use of chewable products plant origin, all of them in their consistency were a little like modern chewing gum. Things were different with the Indian tribes of South America, namely the Mayan civilization. For a long time, the Mayan tribes coexisted with an amazing plant that grows in Central America - sapodilla. This evergreen tree is a natural source of latex, a milky sap that is half plant rubber. Sapodilla produces it to protect against insects - when the slightest wound appears, the plant secretes juice that will heal the wound and at the same time "glue" the insect.

The Maya Indians, who settled in Central America, quickly learned about amazing properties sapodilla juice - it is almost tasteless, not poisonous, and most importantly, it can be chewed for a long time, and sometimes refreshing water droplets come across in it if it has recently rained. Chewing gum from the milky juice of sapodilla became an indispensable assistant for the Indians on the hunt - it helped to pass the time while waiting for the beast in ambush, to quench the feeling of hunger and thirst.

Quite quickly, the Indians realized that if the juice collected from the tree was boiled for some time on a fire, then the result would be a viscous white mass. This so-called chicle(or chicle) is a natural basis for modern chewing gum. The invention of the Maya was gradually adopted by other Indian tribes living in territories adjacent to the Maya. The Indian habit of chewing chicle passed through the millennia and persisted until European colonizers arrived in America.

Newly arrived visitors from the Old World quickly adopted the indigenous habits of chewing chicle, and, of course, tried to capitalize on it by redirecting chicle to Europe. However, the chewing gum of the American Indians did not take root in Europe for a long time - the competition was made up of the chewing tobacco that gained popularity.

Everything changed when manufacturers decided to add flavorings to chicle, which gave bright flavors to previously neutral chewing gum. At the end of the 19th century, factories began to open everywhere in the United States, producing chewing gum with various flavors: licorice, cream, sugar. At the same time, chewing gum began to be sold wrapped in wrapping paper. On June 5, 1869, the first patent for chewing gum was received, and, after 2 years, the first industrial machine for the production of chewing gum appeared in the United States. 1880 was marked by the appearance on the market of the most common flavor of chewing gum - mint. A few years later, the world-famous Tutti-Frutti fruit chewing gum appears. But the year of birth of modern gum can be considered 1893, when the Wrigley company appears on the market.

The famous taste of Juicy Fruit, along with Spearmint, appeared on the market in 1893. The Doublemint flavor was an addition to the line when it was released in 1914 |Depositphotos — usersam2007

William Wrigley, the founder of the company, originally planned to produce a completely different product - soap. But when he saw how popular chewing gum was among Americans, he quickly reoriented his production. He entered the market with two new chewing gums - mint "Spearmint" and fruity "Juicy Fruit". The new flavors appealed to customers and made William Wrigley a monopoly in the chewing gum market. Separately, it is worth noting his innovative ideas in the packaging of chewing gum - instead of ordinary bars, his company produces thin long plates, each of which is wrapped in individual packaging to prevent sticking. Wrigley was the first company to open a rubber band factory outside of the United States of America, in Canada. Wrigley runs a full blown campaign, giving a stick of gum to every immigrant who enters the US, handing out free samples on city streets, advertising on posters. Thus, Wrigley becomes synonymous with the word "chewing gum" and at the same time a symbol of the United States. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first chewing gum factories appeared in Europe.

Of course, Wrigley was the largest, but not the only manufacturer of chewing gum. In addition to it, the product was produced by many other companies. All of them, including Wrigley, constantly experimented with the composition of the gum, trying to achieve the maximum duration of the flavor of the gum. In 1928, accountants Walter Diemer came up with a reference formula for chewing gum: 20% rubber, 60% sugar, 29% corn syrup, and 1% flavorings. This made chewing gum long-lasting flavor and at the same time elastic. According to this formula, chewing gum is made to this day.

Illustration: depositphotos | belchonock

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