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Thread: October 3rd Useless Fact

  1. #1
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    Today's useless fact - Who invented chewing gum?

    Humans have been chewing on something since the dawn of history,
    usually sap (resin) from various trees or wax. In 1848, John
    Curtis made the first gum in the United States when he cooked
    resin from a spruce tree on his wood-burning stove. In 1869, the
    first patent issued for chewing gum was given to William Semple,
    a dentist in Ohio, who invented a gum to exercise the jaws and
    stimulate the gums. It never sold, probably because it was made
    primarily of rubber.

    The invention of gum, as we know it today, came about because
    of the friendship of two men, Thomas Adams, a photographer,
    and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had defeated the Texans at
    the Alamo. When Santa Anna was exiled from Mexico, he lived with
    Adams on Staten Island, New York. Adams had tried different
    schemes to make money but all had failed. Santa Anna told him of
    an idea that could make Adams wealthy. He told him of a gummy
    substance that people in Mexico had been chewing for thousands of
    years. It was called chicle, the milky sap from the sapodilla
    tree that grows in the tropical rain forests of Central America.
    But gum was not on either's mind. The plan was to blend chicle
    and rubber together to make cheaper tires, toys, and rainboots.

    Santa Anna had his friends in Mexico ship a ton of chicle to
    Adams. Although he labored for about a year, every one of his
    experiments failed. He had not been able to blend chicle and
    rubber. A vast amount of useless chicle was stored in his
    warehouse and Adams decided to throw it all into the river.
    By sheer luck, Adams happened to go into a drugstore and saw a
    little girl buy some paraffin wax chewing gum. He remembered
    that Santa Anna had told him that Mexicans chewed chicle.
    Inspired, Adams started making unflavored pure chicle gum. It
    sold extremely well and Adams built a thriving business.
    Some years later, John Colgan, a drugstore owner in Louisville,
    Kentucky, was selling a gum he made from balsam tree sap and
    flavored with powdered sugar. He had heard of how successful
    Thomas Adams was, so he ordered 100 pounds of chicle. He started
    making Taffy Tolu Chewing Gum, which was so successful that he
    sold his drugstore and devoted his time to manufacturing chewing
    gum. A breakthrough in gum manufacture occurred when a popcorn
    salesman, William J. White, started experimenting with a barrel
    of chicle a friend had given him. He discovered how to flavor
    gum. Chicle does not absorb flavors, but sugar does. He combined
    flavors, such as peppermint, with corn syrup and then blended the
    mixture with the chicle. In 1899, the major gum manufacturers
    united to become the American Chicle Company. William White was
    president and Thomas Adams, Jr., was chairman of the board. You
    might see some of their brands today, such as Black Jack and
    Beeman's. People have been chewing gum ever since.

    William Wrigley, Jr. (the founder of Wrigley Gum) devised a
    marketing technique that caused sales of his gum to soar. He
    mailed one stick of gum to every person in teh United States who
    was listed in the phone book.

  2. Lounge   -   #2
    Keikan's Avatar ........
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    Makes me want to chew gum
    Ohh noo!!! I make dribbles!!!

  3. Lounge   -   #3
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    Chicle?



    I guess that why they are called Chiclets


  4. Lounge   -   #4
    my favourite chewing gum is wrigleys coolmint extra, always get a pack a week without fail

  5. Lounge   -   #5
    uNz[i]'s Avatar Out of order
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    bleh... chewing gum is disgusting. :x

  6. Lounge   -   #6
    Octopussy
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    OMG!! no way man gum is awesome i have jaw muscles cuz i chew gum like 24 hours

  7. Lounge   -   #7
    Keikan's Avatar ........
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    35cents well in canada anyways
    Ohh noo!!! I make dribbles!!!

  8. Lounge   -   #8
    Octopussy
    Guest
    lol...have u ever chewed juicy fruit? omg it sux like after 1 hour it tastles liek carpet.....well i havent eaten carpet but i think i nkow how it would taste...

    the best is ICEBREAKERS!! "forget the cool la la la la la la la l al alalalala"

  9. Lounge   -   #9
    Twist3r
    Guest
    i dunno im more of a MINT guy...

  10. Lounge   -   #10
    Did you know that doublemint was the first brand to exploit the sexiness of identical twins?

    Luv them twins!
    Aren't we in the trust tree, thingey?

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