What sticks to history - chewing gum patent 150 years ago

22-Jul-2019 - USA

It is only a piece of mass in the mouth, and yet it has penetrated to the furthest corners of civilization. Sometimes as a pose, sometimes as a saviour in need, chewing gum became the companion of our lives.

To claim that chewing gum has changed the course of the world might be too much. But it has undoubtedly stuck to the heels of the history of humanity - rather glued - and from now on can neither be got away nor imagined without it. A milestone in its history was 27 July 1869, exactly 150 years ago, when a certain Amos Tyler from Ohio was granted a patent for an "improved chewing gum compound". It is regarded as the first industrial property right for the sticky mass.

But the world had chewed long before that.

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The oldest known chewing gum precursor is more than 9000 years old, as nutrition sociologist Pamela Kerschke-Risch from the University of Hamburg explains. At that time, people in today's Scandinavia bit around on the resin of birches. "The chewing instinct in particular will probably have been satisfied," says the expert. When man eats, his survival is assured - so chewing already calms him down. Even today.

It serves the concentration and helps with stress. Not without reason one sees many sportsmen before important plays, how they work themselves off smacking at its petroleum derivative. Because this is the basic substance of modern chewing gums - mixed with flavours, sweeteners, plasticizers and colorants, among other things.

But chewing gum not only made it to the world's biggest sporting events, but also to exhibition halls, conference rooms, concerts and the last corners of the world. Even in space, bubbles were blown until they banged. Soldiers got the rubber between their teeth during the war. And after the victory over Nazi Germany, US fighters distributed not only cigarettes but also chewing gum to the population.

The adhesive compound has the habit of not only clinging to history: No sidewalk can do without the small spots, which are only white for a short time and will soon be black. Countless trousers were ruined by chewing gum. And anyone who has ever had one in their hair knows: the scissors have to do it (oil or butter are supposed to do it, too). So it's no wonder that in clean Singapore the import and sale of rubbers is forbidden.

But as is well known, bans are only more irritating, and so chewing gum in school was also an expression of rebellion against the whole front seater and finger-snipping. The rebelliously malignant jaws in the last row signaled to the nerds: "Go on with your nonsense, I'm too cool for you anyway. Finally the chewing gum landed under the table, as an extended middle finger to the school establishment.

But it's not just about posing, it's also about taste. Peppermint has long been a longstanding favourite - but there are pretty much all varieties. Some you only need to smell, and already you feel transported back to the holiday camp. One chewed one after the other and hoped that fate would catapult you to the seat next to the girl with the cute pony.

Smooch. This is then as now one of the best reasons to buy chewing gum. "You take it with you, even before the first date, because you make sure you have a fresh breath," says sociologist Kerschke-Risch. It is also a professional overdriver of smells, for which you don't want to open your mouth. Onion and alcohol flags or cold coffee, not to mention cigarette smoke.

Special chewing gums also help people to quit smoking or alleviate dizziness when travelling. And when the pressure in the airplane is equalized to the ears, chewing can work wonders.

There are those who regard the golden years of chewing gum as history. However, expert Kerschke-Risch does not want to derive this from the reports on lower sales figures: "There may be a slight decline, but that can be fluctuations," she says. It's not that easy to get rid of chewing gum. (dpa)

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1162031/what-sticks-to-history-chewing-gum-patent-150-years-ago.html