Christmas Inventions
When the holidays come around we bring in an evergreen tree and adorn it with lights and shiney ornaments. We hang stockings over the fireplace, bake cookies, wrap presents, and eat candy canes. Why? Why have these inventions and adaptations of the Christmas season come about? So often we are so steeped into the tradition and habit of it all that we forget to stop and ask why it is that we do these things. How did the holiday evolve, especially with modern times? Inventors have looked at the age old practice of Christmas for ages and have improved upon it throughout the ages. Let’s take a look at those.
Christmas Lights
In the 17th century, placing lights on a Christmas tree became popular within society. Since electricity wasn’t invented at the time, they would decorate using lit candles, nestled within the branches, and held together with pins. You can see where the hazard would be with this heritage….trees get dry and be caught on fire. This is why they were only lit on Christmas Eve to avoid fire incidents. In 1882, Edward Johnson and Thomas Edison created the first prototype with interchanging colored lights. Because of the light’s expense, they were only really used in early 1900’s department stores to get customers through the doors. It wasn’t until 1917, with the tragic aftermath of a tree fire, that Albert Sadacca started selling home string lights to the public. His company went on to become the largest producer of lights until the 1960’s. Now Christmas lights are an American and world pastime.
Candy Canes
There is debate about how the classic treat came to become famous for Christmas. The first time candy canes have been mentioned was in 1670, where choirmasters would bend sticks of sugar to look like shepherds staffs for children. Fast forward to the 1920’s Georgia where a businessman named Bob McCormack started making candy canes as Christmas treats for his community. This was very time consuming because every cane had to be pulled, bent, and twisted into shape BY HAND. Then, as most products do, it became mass produced by machines in the 1950’s. Accompanied by packaging that would hold the fragile treats, they successfully were able to ship them to everywhere around the world. Because of his innovative spirit for changing with the times, he created the largest company to produce candy canes in the world.
Sticky Tape
We all use tape to wrap gifts for Christmas, but do any of us know how it came to be? Adhesive tape was invented by Richard Drew, an employee of 3M, in 1923. At first, he placed strips of adhesive only on the sides of the tape, instead of adding it to the middle as well. According to the archives, the tape fell off a car during a trial run and one annoyed coworker yelled at Richard to “take your tape back to your scotch bosses and tell them to add more adhesive!” That’s how the combination of oil, rubber, and resins, came to be known as Scotch tape.
Wrapping Paper
Before the use of industrial printing, people mostly used plain brown paper, or tissue paper to wrap gifts for family and friends. It wasn’t until the 1920’s, when the technology came up to speed, that they were able to make the paper colorful and artistic. Hallmark eventually jumped on the money bandwagon. Today, we don’t even think twice when we pick out a tube at the store, but this was a genius marketing plan. Today, Hallmark is one of the biggest gift giving companies in the world.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
One little tidbit that I actually have never heard…..Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is actually not in the original lineup of Santa’s sleigh. It was invented as a story by Robert May for a department store. He took some elements from the ugly duckling story and added in some of his personal childhood experiences. The story took off and is now included in songs, movies, imagery, and has become a noticeable character to people of all ages.
Do you know any inventions that came about for the Christmas season? I would love to hear them!