The History of Bubble Gum free essay sample

It’s been around for centuries—from the ancient Greeks to the American Indians, everyone’s chewed it. But the best kind of gum—bubble gum! —wasn’t invented until 1928, when an enterprising young accountant at Fleer Gum and Candy used his spare time to experiment with different recipes. (McCarthy, 2010) II. Bubble gum is a type of chewing gum that is especially designed for blowing bubbles (McCarthy, 2010) III. Chewing bubble gum is a common habit in many countries, and although it can offer great pleasure to many individuals, it is also a nemesis for countless parents, school teachers and building custodians because this sticky intruder is often found in children’s hair, on bed posts and under tables, chairs and desk and or sticks to the soles of shoes (Kahtani, 1999). IV. Today I would like to inform you about the invention and commercialism of bubble gum, modern bubble gum today. Transition: Now that I’ve gotten your attention about bubble gum, let’s find out when and how it was invented. We will write a custom essay sample on The History of Bubble Gum or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Body I. Bubble gum was the â€Å"brain child† Frank Fleer of the Fleer Corporation (Wardlaw, 1997) A. In the early 1880, two brothers, Henry and Frank Fleer began experimenting with chicle the sticky substance found in sapodilla trees (Wardlaw, 1997) a. The tasteless chicle was called â€Å"Chicklets† B. In 1906, Frank Fleer unveiled the first bubble gum ever (Wardlaw, 1997) a. It was named Blibber-Bubble b. It was unsuccessful because it was to brittle c. It produced sticky wet bubbles that splattered when burst d. Had to be removed from the face with turpentine (Redclift, 2004) II. The major difference between bubble gum and chewing gum is the base a. Chewing gum base is a natural gum called chicle harvested from the sap of a tropical tree called a Sopapilla tree. This kind of gum is chewy, but it will not blow to form a large bubble (Khan, 2010) b. Bubble gum base, on the other hand, is a mixture of starches and polymers made in a laboratory and specially formulated to blow big bubbles (Khan, 2010) Transition: As time assed, many experiments were carried out to obtain different type of gums either in the form of chewing gum or in the form of a bubble gum. III. Bubble gum, as we know it, was created by â€Å"accident† A. In 1928, Walter Diemer and accountant for the Fleer Coporation, experimented on new gum recipes in his spare time (McCarthy, 2010) 1. It was less sticky than previous attempts a. It was named â€Å"Dubble Bubble† (McCarthy, 2010) 2. In Diemer’s words, It was an accident, I was doing something else and ended up with something with bubbles. (Khan, 2010) a. He was actually attempting to make a new rubber product b. Diemer colored his creation pink because it was the only food coloring he had at the time i. Though many colors of bubble gum are on the market, pink remains the most popular color. B. Diemer’s invention so successful that it sold over a million and a half dollars worth of gum in the first year (Wardlaw, 1997) 1. To test his new recipe, Diemer took samples of the new gum over to a local store and it sold out in a single day. (Wardlaw, 1997) a. By 1941 children were buying 45 million worth of bubble gum a year (Wardlaw, 1997) 2. Walter Diemer did not have the patent to his invention on his name and he also never received any money for his invention (Wardlaw, 1997). Transition: Now that I have given you a brief history of how bubble came into existence, let’s take a look at bubble gum today. III. Modern Bubble Gum A. Nowadays our consumption of bubble gum is a 19 billion dollar industry (McCarthy, 2010) 1. Bubble gum today has become a part and parcel of everybodys life a. Kids in North America spend approximately half a billion dollars on bubble gum every year. (Kahtani, 1999) b. The average American chews over 300 sticks of bubble gum each year c. Most bubble gum is sold between Holloween and Christmas Conclusion I. So, in conclusion, not only have you probably never considered the history of something as ordinary as bubble gum, I am hopeful that you were at least intrigued by some of my findings. II. Gum is one of the most popular, common and ancient things we put into our mouths every day. No matter what kind of gum you fancy, it’s always interesting to learn the history of something.