The Invention of Plastic Straws
If you wanted a straw in the 1880s, you’d have to settle for ryegrass.
Ryegrass straws didn’t make for the best drinking experience.
The Original Paper Straw
Marvin Stone hated the gritty residue ryegrass straws left as they broke down in his Mint Juleps.
Triggered and bored, Stone made his own drinking device.
He wrapped strips of paper around a pencil, then removed the pencil and glued the strips together, birthing the modern paper straw.
Stone tinkered with paraffin-coated manila paper to improve the durability of his straws and filed a design patent to beef up his bank account.
The Bendy Paper Straw
40 years later, while sitting in agony watching his daughter struggle to drink her milkshake through a straight drinking straw, Joseph B. Friedman decided to take action.
He jammed a screw into the straight straw, wrapped dental floss around the ridges, and removed the screw.
This transformed the straight straw into a bendy straw, saving millions from the struggle of awkwardly consuming blended beverages.
Things Get Krazy
In the 1960s, things got krazy with straws.
Paper straws died off due to the durable drinking experience plastic straws offered.
The plastic era gave birth to new inventions such as the Krazy Straw.
Fun-Time International is the current manufacturer of the Krazy Straw.
While designing regular straws, a glassblower made an error and created a bend.
Where one man sees a mistake, a child sees a fun straw to drink out of.
And then a man, with fresh eyes, sees an opportunity to profit.
The Krazy Straw was a hit.
Erik Lipson, owner of Fun-Time International, and supporter of the Krazy movement, also held a patent on crazy glasses; a sipping system you wear on your face!
Eat Your Straw
Other straw innovators believed it’s what’s inside the straw that counts.
The Magic Straw contained flavour beads which dissolved in liquid, creating either a chocolate, strawberry, or banana cream-flavour.
Kellogg’s introduced a line of cereal straws in 2007, encouraging kids to drink milk through a tubular Fruit Loop, Apple Jack or Corn Pop, and then eat the straw all together.
Back To The Future of Straws
However, with people realizing the world now matters, paper straws are making a comeback.
Aardvark Paper Drinking Straws designed a modern age paper straw, which is a combination of paper and glue to increase the straw’s durability in liquid, and allow straws to break down in landfills.
