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03 January 2010 11:00
Happy birthday drinking straw
On 3 January 1888, Marvin Chester Stone of Washington DC patented the drinking straw, which was made of hand-rolled paper covered in paraffin (lovely). His timing was excellent, as Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola had just come along.
Before Stone’s patent, people used stalks of rye grain as straws. By 1906, machines took over the hand-winding process.
Today, that technology produces spiral-wound coverings for many industries, including electronics, automobiles and medical packaging. And drinking straws are still big business. Americans drink an average of 51 gallons of soft drinks each year and 22 gallons of various fruit drinks.
Source: US Census Bureau
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