Who invented chewing gum?
Channel: Fascinating Facts
Date: 2019-10-17

The first commercial chewing gum was made and sold in 1848. by John Bacon Curtis. He called his chewing gum the State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum. John B. Curtis and his brother (to some sources John B. Curtis and his father John Curtis) came up with the practical idea of how to make and sell spruce gum as a chewing gum. They experimented with spruce tree resin and made a sticky, rubbery material which could be chewed. Then they added flavor to the gum and paraffin for soft and rubbery feel. The name of John’s factory was "Curtis Chewing Gum Factory".

In 1869, Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna told his idea of Chicle to Thomas Adams. Adams tried to make toys, masks, and rain boots out of chicle, but neither products were commercially successful. In 1869 he simply added flavor to the chicle! That was the first step for creating world's first modern chewing gum! The first mass marketed chewing gum was called Adams New York Chewing Gum. In the 1870s, Adams & Sons sold "Sour Orange" flavored gum as an after dinner candy. In 1871 Thomas Adams patented a machine for the manufacture of gum. That year Adams created a licorice-flavored gum called Black Jack. However, all the these gums had one big problem, they could not hold flavor.

1891 William Wrigley Jr founded Wrigley Chewing Gum. Existing companies offered similar products that were much more popular, than gums from Wrigley’s. One day in 1892, Mr. Wrigley got the idea of offering two packages of chewing gum with each can of baking powder. This offer was a huge success! His first two brands were Lotta and Vassar. Juicy Fruit gum came next in 1893, and Wrigley's Spearmint was introduced later that same year.

By the early 1900s, with all aspects of manufacturing, packaging and marketing modern chewing gum was well on its way to its current popularity. Gum with chicle soon got favor of spruce gum and paraffin gum, and it held flavors longer and better.

In 1914 William Wrigley and Henry Fleer added mint and fruit extracts to a chewing gum with chicle. This is how Wrigley’s Doublemint, popular brand was created. The Wrigley Company was rapidly becoming an international success. Wrigley brands became known the world over. The first factories were established in United States and soon.Wrigle’s Doublemint factories were established in Canada (1910), Australia (1915), Great Britain (1927) and New Zealand (1939).

Today, there are hundreds gum flavors from classic vanilla to the coke flavor. There are many types of gums available in market, from gums used for medical purpose, to the gums that color our teeth Gums are today made from many different ingredients like pepsin, guarantee, nicotine etc.

People enjoy chewing gums!