Wednesday, January 20, 2010

TRIVIA BITS ... CRAYOLA CRAYONS

TRIVIA BITS ...

CRAYOLA CRAYONS

In 1885, cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith formed the partnership of Binney & Smith.

In 1900, the company purchased a stone mill in Easton, PA, and began producing slate pencils for schools.

This started Binney's and Smith's research into nontoxic and colorful drawing media for kids. They had already invented a new wax crayon used to mark crates and barrels; however, it was loaded with carbon black and too toxic for children.

Binney and Smith were confident that the pigment and wax mixing techniques they had developed could be adapted for a variety of safe colors, and in 1903, a new brand of crayons with superior qualities was introduced - Crayola crayons.

The Crayola name, coined by Edwin Binney's wife Alice, comes from craie, the French word for chalk, and ola, meaning "oleaginous."

The original eight colors were: black, blue, brown, green, orange, red, violet, and yellow.

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