Chewing gum patentedIn 1869, William Finley Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio, was issued the first U.S. patent for chewing gum (No. 98,304), made of "the combination of rubber with other articles adapted to the formation of an acceptable chewing gum", but he never commercially produced gum. That was done by Thomas Adams of Staten Island, N.Y., who knew that chicle could be chewed. His first experiments to vulcanize chicle for use as a rubber substitute were unsuccessful until he boiled a small batch of chicle in his kitchen and created the first chicle-based chewing gum. Testing sales at a local store, he found people liked his gum. In 1871, Adams patented a gum-producing machine so he could increase production. |
