Prizes Awarded at the InventHelp-INPEX Inventor's Corner at the Home & Housewares Show Learn More >>
COMPANIES THAT HAVE ATTENDED INPEX®
Non-stick Gum and Other Chewing Gum Inventions
With the New Year now in full swing, many of us at InventHelp® are doing the best we can to make good on our ambitious New Year's resolutions.
Read more articles from the January 2008 issue of InventHelp's newsletter for inventors |
One of the most popular New Year's resolutions is to live a healthier lifestyle. That may mean eating a more balanced diet, exercising regularly, or giving up bad habits like smoking.
If you're one of the many who decided to quit smoking this year, congratulations! Chances are you'll need another hobby, like chewing gum, to hold you over. For your entertainment (and perhaps to help de-stress you), InventHelp presents the story of chewing gum. And, you'll hear about one new invention that may change chewing gum forever!
You can't deny that people just like to chew! Ancient Mayans chewed chicle, which is the sap from the sapodilla tree, and North American Indians chewed the sap from spruce trees and passed the habit along to the settlers.
Chewing gum really "popped" into the scene when Mexican General Santa Anna introduced chicle to inventor Thomas Adams, who began experimenting with it as a substitute for rubber. Adams tried to make toys, masks, and rain boots out of chicle, but every experiment failed. Frustrated, he popped a piece of surplus stock into his mouth.
And the rest, they say, is history. By 1870, he opened the world's first chewing gum factory. By the early 1900s, with improved methods of manufacturing, packaging and marketing, modern chewing gum was well on its way to its current popularity.
Even today, with the plethora of chewing gums available, there's still one big problem with it — it sticks to everything! How many times have you stepped in gum in your favorite pair of shoes, or found a freshly chewed piece stuck under a table?
One inventor decided to do something about it. Terrence Cosgrove, a professor in western England, grew tired of finding chewing gum stuck to sidewalks and theater seats.
Cosgrove is not your average gum chewer. He studies polymers, which are the chemical compounds that (among other things) make chewing gum chewy. If he could find the right chemical mixture, the professor theorized, he could retain the chewy without the sticky.
Eventually, his team came up with a formulation of polymers that would not stick. To determine whether it came off sidewalks and other surfaces, they pitted it against standard chewing gums on main streets across western England. While the other gums stuck, Cosgrove's mostly rinsed off with rainwater.
As an academic, Cosgrove was hesitant to jump into the entrepreneurial scene. But, after winning an enterprise competition at Bristol University, he suddenly found himself with the venture capital needed to start his own business.
Next year, his company, Revolymer, plans to start its own product and brand of gum: Clean Gum.
Cosgrove not only discovered Clean Gum's polymers, but chose the flavors — mint and lemon. Both are doing well in taste tests. And there's no doubt that chewing gum has a huge market, particularly during this time of year as thousands try to kick the tobacco habit while still satisfying that oral fixation.
While Clean Gum is still far from regulatory approval, the days of sticky shoes and slacks caused by chewing gum could be a thing of the past!
************
The New Year is the perfect time to enact positive change and start 2008 on a high note. Whatever your resolution is this year, do your best to "stick" to your guns! Happy New Year from all of us at InventHelp — we're looking forward to a great 2008!
Back to Articles for Inventors | Back to January 2008 Newsletter
|
|
home | about InventHelp | services | resources | contact | offices | site map | InventHelp Store | InventHelp's Invention & Technology News | InventHelp Blog | Avoiding Invention Scams