in-the-newsGiving Thanks for Our Inventors: Leftovers

The People & Inventions Behind the Best Part of Thanksgiving: the Leftovers 

When it’s time to wrap up our feast, what do we reach for to save the leftovers? Storage products like Tupperware®, invented by Earl Tupper; Ziploc® bags, created by Steven Ausnit; and Saran Wrap®, developed by Ralph Wiley, make it easy to store our food for future enjoyment.  

 

Image: Earl Tupper and drawings from his patent. 

 

Storage Solutions: Tupperware and Ziploc

Earl Tupper was an American Inventor and entrepreneur who founded the iconic brand we know and love today, Tupperware. In the 1930s Tupper worked for Dupont, where he learned about plastics. Using what he learned, he founded the Tupperware Plastics Company to create lightweight, airtight, and durable containers. Tupper had an early inventor spirit as he was always creating and inventing, even as a child. Although these early inventions didn’t achieve success, he came up with many ideas, including a no-drip ice cream cone, improved hair combs designs, and even a fish-propelled boat! 

 

Ziploc changed the food storage game thanks to inventor Steven Ausnit. At the time Ausnit was working for Flexigrip, a company that held patents for a resealable zipper. Ausnit saw the potential of this technology for consumers and worked to develop a product that could be used for food storage, leading to the development of the Ziploc bag.  

 

Wax Paper: Beyond the Kitchen  

Wax paper is great for wrapping up food, as it helps keep the moisture in or out, but did you know that wax paper was used by many inventors like Gustave Le Gray and Thomas Edison? Photographer and inventor Gustave Le Gray used waxed paper to create photographic negatives, while Thomas Edison used it on his way to develop the phonograph.  

 

Image: Wax paper negative of  Selfportrait by Louis-Rémy Robert, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

Cling, Seal, and Save 

Ralph Wiley was working at the Dow Chemical lab on improvements for dry-cleaning products when he accidentally discovered what we now know as Saran Wrap in 1933. After a day’s work in the lab, he found that his glass beakers wouldn’t scrub clean due to a greasy substance. This substance was polyvinylidene chloride. He went on to experiment further with the substance and noticed it was clingy. Researchers at Dow recreated the substance into a green–colored spray on film and called it “Saran”. Saran was first used on military fighter planes to guard against salty sea spray. Later on, Dow saw potential for commercialization, that’s when the green color and odor of the material was removed and approved for food packaging!  

 

Digital collage of Saran Wrap advertisements featuring “The Most Amazing Food Wrap Ever Developed!”  from 1953, “Nothing Saves Like Saran Wrap” from 1958, and another from 1957.

 

 

Make Your Own Kazoo from Leftover Materials

Now that we are starting to wrap up our Thanksgiving feast, join educators Patty Lipka and Reggie Duncan to explore sound waves using wax paper! Check out the video and download the recipe card to make your own kazoo and compose a Thanksgiving ditty thanking your favorite inventor.