Marvin Stone
Encyclopedia
Marvin Chester Stone is best known as the inventor of the modern drinking straw
. He was born in Portage County, Ohio in 1842. His father, Chester Stone, was a well-known inventor of many machines, including the cheese press and washings machines. Marvin C. Stone inherited his father's inventive genius, and made many useful articles in his boyhood. He was a graduate of [Oberlin College], but his course was interrupted by the [Civil War], in which he took part with credit and won promotion. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
After college he began a theological course, but abandoned it to go to Washington where he was employed as a newspaper correspondent for several years. Later in his life, he invented a machine for making paper cigarette holders and made a contract with the Duke Company. After that he started a factory in Ninth Street, Washington. Next he invented a machine to wind paper straws, which were popularly used for drinking cold beverages. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Prior to this, people used natural rye grass straws, which were undesirable because they imparted a grassy flavor in beverages. In response to this, Marvin C. Stone made the first drinking straw
prototypes by spiraling a strip of paper around a pencil and gluing it at the ends. Next he experimented with paraffin
-coated manila paper, so that it would not get soggy when used. This first model was 8 1/2 inches long and had a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like lemon seeds from getting lodged in the tube. Marvin Stone patented his invention on January 3rd, 1888. By 1890, his factory was producing more drinking straws than cigarette holders. In 1906 a machine was invented by Stone's "Stone Straw Corporation" to automatically wind the straws. http://www.stonestraw.com/History.aspx
His next invention was a method for color fine china in imitation of the celebrated "peachblow vase" of the Walters collection. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Stone was spoken of as "the friend of the working class," in that he looked after the moral and social condition of this working girls, and furnished a large library of standard fiction and other works, a music room, and meeting room for debates, and a dancing floor in the building. He was also well known for his philanthropy in other areas. He and several others built two blocks of tenement houses for African American residents of Washington. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Marvin Chester Stone died in his home in Columbia Road, Washington, D.C., on May 17th, 1899 after a long illness. He was survived by a wife and a son, the former being the daughter of the head of Platt & Co., of Baltimore.http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Drinking straw
A drinking straw is a short tube intended for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker by use of suction. A thin tube of plastic or other material, straight or with an accordion-like living hinge, it is employed by being held with one end in the mouth and another end...
. He was born in Portage County, Ohio in 1842. His father, Chester Stone, was a well-known inventor of many machines, including the cheese press and washings machines. Marvin C. Stone inherited his father's inventive genius, and made many useful articles in his boyhood. He was a graduate of [Oberlin College], but his course was interrupted by the [Civil War], in which he took part with credit and won promotion. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
After college he began a theological course, but abandoned it to go to Washington where he was employed as a newspaper correspondent for several years. Later in his life, he invented a machine for making paper cigarette holders and made a contract with the Duke Company. After that he started a factory in Ninth Street, Washington. Next he invented a machine to wind paper straws, which were popularly used for drinking cold beverages. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Prior to this, people used natural rye grass straws, which were undesirable because they imparted a grassy flavor in beverages. In response to this, Marvin C. Stone made the first drinking straw
Drinking straw
A drinking straw is a short tube intended for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker by use of suction. A thin tube of plastic or other material, straight or with an accordion-like living hinge, it is employed by being held with one end in the mouth and another end...
prototypes by spiraling a strip of paper around a pencil and gluing it at the ends. Next he experimented with paraffin
Paraffin
In chemistry, paraffin is a term that can be used synonymously with "alkane", indicating hydrocarbons with the general formula CnH2n+2. Paraffin wax refers to a mixture of alkanes that falls within the 20 ≤ n ≤ 40 range; they are found in the solid state at room temperature and begin to enter the...
-coated manila paper, so that it would not get soggy when used. This first model was 8 1/2 inches long and had a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like lemon seeds from getting lodged in the tube. Marvin Stone patented his invention on January 3rd, 1888. By 1890, his factory was producing more drinking straws than cigarette holders. In 1906 a machine was invented by Stone's "Stone Straw Corporation" to automatically wind the straws. http://www.stonestraw.com/History.aspx
His next invention was a method for color fine china in imitation of the celebrated "peachblow vase" of the Walters collection. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Stone was spoken of as "the friend of the working class," in that he looked after the moral and social condition of this working girls, and furnished a large library of standard fiction and other works, a music room, and meeting room for debates, and a dancing floor in the building. He was also well known for his philanthropy in other areas. He and several others built two blocks of tenement houses for African American residents of Washington. http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false
Marvin Chester Stone died in his home in Columbia Road, Washington, D.C., on May 17th, 1899 after a long illness. He was survived by a wife and a son, the former being the daughter of the head of Platt & Co., of Baltimore.http://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA323&ots=syXCqVYosS&dq=how%20many%20different%20straws%20came%20after%20marvin%20chester%20stones%3F&pg=PA323#v=onepage&q&f=false