In 1885, cousins Edwin Binney and C.
Harold Smith took over the New York-based Peekskill Chemical Company known for
pigments such as the red oxide used to paint barns. They changed the name of
the company to Binney & Smith. A few years later, Binney and Smith moved
into producing school supplies like the very first dustless chalk.
The duo saw a need in schools for
safe and affordable wax crayons so they created new nontoxic, vibrant crayons.
In 1903, Edwin’s wife, Alice, named them Crayola, combining the French word craie meaning "chalk" and
the Latin root ola from
"oleaginous," meaning "oily." The first box of
Crayola crayons made in 1903 cost only a nickel and included the
colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, brown, and black. Here are a few more interesting facts about
crayons:
1.
A
study was done by Yale on the 20 most recognizable scents and crayons were
number 18 on the list. Unsurprisingly, coffee was number one. It wasn't
always this way though. Crayola crayons used to smell like food, brown
smelled like chocolate, red like cherry, etc. However, in 1995, parents
complained to the company that they were worried kids would eat their crayons
and so the scent was changed.
2.
Crayola
makes 3 billion crayons a year, which are enough crayons to circle the world
six times. The average child
wears down 720 crayons by their tenth birthday. The term used to describe
leftover Crayola crayons is "leftolas."
3.
In
1962, Crayola made a big statement by changing the name of flesh to peach
recognizing that like crayons, people come in different colors. The color
"Carmine" was unavailable from 1944 through 1948 due to
supply shortages caused by World War II. There is also a set of multicultural crayons
for different skin colors that came out in 1992.
4.
One
of Crayola's workers of 35 years was actually color-blind. He molded over 1.4
billion crayons for the company and Crayola even asked him to donate his
wax-covered work boots to their hall of fame.
5.
One
of the few independent buyers of Crayola crayons is artist, Herb
Williams. He's known for creating sculptures made up of hundreds of
thousands of crayons, which he buys from Crayola in packs of 3000.
6.
The
first time the term "crayon" was used in a literary sense, was in
Jane Austen's Pride and
Prejudice. More specifically, it's the part when Elizabeth
Bennet looks at some of Mr. Darcy's sister's crayon artwork.
“We
could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull,
while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live
together in the same box.” (Robert
Fulghum)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“10 Fascinating Facts You Didn't Know About
Crayons” by Ryan
Adelson
·
“13 Colorful Facts
about Crayola” BY
Jake Rossen
·
“The Fascinating History of Crayola's Iconic
Crayons” By Jennifer
Kopf
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