Mankind has been using some form of hollow tube, or straw, for nearly 7000 years, possibly longer, to consume beverages. In the beginning, straws were made from carved wood, reeds, and other naturally hollow stemmed plants. Around 3000 BC, Sumerians began to produce straws of precious metals, typically gold. The reasons for their use vary, but most notably, straws were used as a good means to avoid ingesting bugs or other foreign objects that may land in drinks.
Across the pond in Argentina and other South American countries, they drank what is known as “Yerba Mate,” a tea infusion that most often contained shreds of leaves and even stalk material. Sometime in the early 1500s, they crafted a custom crafted straw known as a “Bombilla,” Spanish for “little pump.” The bombilla was typically made of silver though bronze was used as well. At one end was a small teardrop shaped, perorated bowl that acted as a filter to block debris. The filter could be opened or removed for cleaning.
Fast forward a couple of centuries and into the late 18th and early 19th centuries when juleps and cobblers rose to the top of many favored beverage preferences in England, and particularly the American South. The “gentleman” needed something to keep the mint and other fruits out of their beards and mustaches when drinking. The most common type of straw found at this time was one made of rye grass.
Rye grass was plentiful and easily processed into drinking straws. Unfortunately, they tended to disintegrate relatively quickly, especially for those who “nursed” their drinks, and would leave an unpleasant residue and taste. Enter American inventor, Marvin Stone.
The Modern Drinking Straw is Born
Marvin Chester Stone was born on 4 Apr 1842, in Rootstown, OH to Chester and Almira (Welton) Stone. His father was inventor in his own right, counting among his achievements, a cheese press and washing machine. Studying theology at Oberlin College when the Civil War began, he enlisted as a private in Co. C, of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry.
Following the war, Marvin returned to Ohio and in 1868 resumed his studies at Oberlin College, graduating in 1871 with a degree in theology. He spent the next several years as a newspaper journalist in Washington, D.C. where he met and married Jane Platt of Baltimore on 7 Jan 1875. One child was born to their union, Lester Marvin Stone.
After a few years in newspapers, Marvin would turn his attention to his true passion, inventing things to make simple everyday life easier. His first invention was a machine to roll paper cigarette holders. Securing a contract with W. Duke, Sons & Co. and opened a factory in Washington, DC to produce cigarette holders for the company’s Cameo brand of cigarettes. No doubt aware of consumer dissatisfaction, and probably his own, with straws of rye grass and other degradable materials, Marvin looked to his cigarette holder rolling machine as a solution. His experiments led to a successful product made simply by wrapping strips of paraffin coated manila paper around a pencil, gluing the edges, and then removing the pencil.
On 3 Jan 1888, Marvin received a patent for his “spiral winding process.” He had decided the ideal length of the straw should be 8 1/2-inches long with a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like fruit seeds from being lodged in the straw.
In January and February of 1896, he applied for two additional patents for double-tubed straws that would increase the volume of liquid being consumed and provide more comfort to the lips of the user. The design and manufacturing process were much simpler than the spiral wrapping method of his original design. Both patents were issued in June of that year. By all accounts, the life span of this design was short-lived, as the closest representation on the market today is the short “stirring/sipping” straw used for coffee and alcohol drinks at the local pub.
By the late 1890s, business was booming, and a process to produce his straws in a much greater quantity with speed and efficiency was needed. Unfortunately, Marvin would not live to see his simple, yet life-changing invention enter the approaching boom of “mass production” as the industrial age entered the twentieth century.
Marvin Chester Stone died on 17 May 1899 at his home in Washington DC after a long illness. He is interred in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, MD along with his wife Jane and their son Lester.
A Bend in the… Straw
Watching his young daughter Judith one day at the counter of his brother’s fountain parlor in San Francisco trying but failing to get her mouth to reach the tip of the straw in her milkshake, Joseph Friedman, an inventor himself, took the straw and inserted a small screw into it. He then tightly wrapped dental floss around the straw covering the screw, creating a corrugated section that when he removed the screw would easily bend over the lip of the glass. Judith could finally enjoy her milkshake.
Joseph would finalize his invention, submit it to the patent office and receive his “Drinking Tube” patent on 28 Sep 1937. In the 1950s, he would receive an additional five US and foreign patents related to improved designs of his straw. After unsuccessful attempts to engage existing straw manufacturers, Joseph decided to produce the straw himself. He founded the Flexible Straw Company on 24 Apr 1939 in California.
Joseph Friedman’s sketch showing the bending mechanism of his flexible straw. Joseph B. Friedman Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Interrupted by World War II, the Flexible Straw Company would have to wait until after the war to begin production. The straw made its debut of sorts in 1947 when the first contract sale was made to a hospital. From there, they spread to other hospitals and eventually found their way into sodas and milkshakes across the country. A young relative named Michael Fabricant, a member of parliament in England, would write that his great uncle’s invention was “arguably the most significant technological achievement of the twentieth century.”
Dawn of the Age of Plastic
Today, like most everything else used in the hospitality industry, the straws we use are generally made of plastic, polypropylene to be specific. Individually wrapped, sanitary, at times reusable, and certainly easy to dispose of plastic straws like plastic utensils, containers and bags revolutionized the art of convenience. Plastic straws made their first appearance in the post-war 1950s when cheaply produced plastic began to replace conventional materials that had been staples in manufacturing for decades and longer. Americans wanted convenience, durability, and disposability for their carry-out and impromptu catering and plastic answered the call. Plastic straws were cheaper to produce and far more durable than paper.
Strangely enough, it was Joseph Friedman’s Flexible Straw Company that would become the country’s largest producer of plastic straws after it was sold to the Maryland Cup Corporation in 1969. In the 1980s, straws would become more than just an implement to make drinking easier and cleaner, they would become novelties with new iterations like crazy straws, jumbo straws, lighted straws and more. In the 21st century the straw has undergone a renaissance of sorts that mixes environmental awareness with the latest trendy fashion.
Reimagining the straws design and usability, and that of all consumer plastics, has become big business, following consumer dining habits, social conscience, and most importantly, the very serious concerns over the destructive impact on the earth’s ecosystem and overarching environment and all that it entails.
The future of the straw may just be, A Resurrection of the Past…
