Reading Time: 2minutes – ON WRITING – We have a winner! I finished National Novel Writing Month with a 50,000-word manuscript. Continue reading NoMoNaNoWriMo
Reading Time: 2minutes – ON WRITING – National Novel Writing Month has taken place every November since 2006. It encourages writers to pound out a 50,000-word fiction manuscript during the 30 days that hath November. Continue reading National Novel Writing Month 2018
Reading Time: < 1minute – HUMOR -Our new portable air conditioner is scheduled to arrive Thursday by Fireball Transport. How appropos. Continue reading Hot Stuff!
Reading Time: 2minutes – HUMOR -We noticed, on our first tours of the house, the bird nests. “That’s great!” said I. “We love the birds.” Continue reading The Birds and the Bees
Reading Time: < 1minute – DEBATE TRICKS – American political discussions violate many rules of logic and debate. One of the most outrageous, easiest to spot, and hardest to parry is the Straw Man argument. Continue reading The Straw Man
Reading Time: 2minutes – ON WRITING -With permission from the Republican-American, I plan to self-publish “Living Here” columns to benefit the newspaper’s charity, the Greater Waterbury Campership Fund. Continue reading ‘Living Here’ — Starting over
Hello, and welcome! I’ve noticed a major increase in visits to this post over the last two days. Would you be kind enough to comment below on how you found it? Most seem to be coming from Google search, so could you tell me your search terms and what you’re looking for? I also refer you to my post on “The Bubble Wrap back story” elsewhere on the blog. Thanks! — Howard
Alfred W. Fielding, left, and Marc A. Chavannes, inventors of Bubble Wrap and founders of Sealed Air Corp., circa 1970.
An invention that flopped as a wallpaper 60 years ago popped into public awareness soon afterward. When IBM chose the material to protect its delicate super computers, it changed packing and shipping forever. Today its role in pop culture as a toy, stress reliever and even modern art is celebrated every January on Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day.
In 1957, Marc A. Chavannes, a Swiss chemical engineer, approached mechanical engineer Alfred W. Fielding with the concept of creating an insulating, textured wallpaper by sealing two sheets of plastic together on a paper backing. Chavannes had been working on ways to emboss thermoplastic film as early as 1948, but that method resulted in a textured sheet without the air cushioning we know today.
Working out of a small garage across the street from the Fielding Machine Co. in Hawthorne, N.J., they started by trapping air between two shower curtains. The material was not practical as a wallpaper, but in creating it they had developed a method to vacuum-form a pattern of air bubbles between two sealed sheets of treated plastic using machines Fielding developed.
If at first you don’t succeed…
The next application they tried was greenhouse insulation, but that also was not a success. However, on a bumpy flight into Newark Airport one day, they hit upon the ultimate use for their product: protecting fragile items during shipping.
They were the first to envision what became an entirely new industry: protective packaging. Until then, products were shipped mostly in sawdust or discarded or shredded newspaper, paper wadding, and other dusty, abrasive and often inky paper products. Now they faced another challenge: persuading shippers to buy a stronger, cleaner packaging material instead of using essentially free recycled industrial waste.
Reading Time: < 1minute -ON WRITING – This is a sunrise to a new career of independent writing. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we will enjoy relaxing with the view from the deck. Continue reading Sunrise
