On July 27, 1869, U.S. Patent No.: 93,141 issued to Amos Tyler of Toledo, Ohio for "Improved Chewing-Gum Compound". It was the first U.S. patent to issue for chewing gum. Even though Tyler received a patent for his chewing gum composition, he did not invent chewing gum. Indeed, chewing gum had had been around for several thousand years before Tyler made his inventive composition, which consisted of white rosin mixed with olive oil. Tyler, together with his partner, Samuel D. Morse, manufactured and sold Tyler's chewing gum in the Toledo area, calling it the"Celebrated Tolu and White Rose" chewing gum. To supplement their revenue, Tyler and Morse also sold fruit jar wax.
Tyler and Morse were also not the first to commercially manufacture and sell chewing gum in the U.S. That distinction goes to John Curtis, who started selling "State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum" in 1848. Curtis capitalized on the habit of New Englander's to chew on spruce tree resin, which they had learned from Native Americans. Curtis, however, made the practice more refined by cleaning and packaging the spruce tree resin. Curtis first boiled the resin to melt it and removed any bugs, bark and detritus that may have been adhering thereto. The melted resin was then poured onto a slab and formed into sheets that were cut into strips. These strips were covered with corn starch, wrapped in tissue paper and then packaged in small wooden boxes that held twenty strips. Spruce gum made in this manner was sold in the U.S. well into the 1920s.
Five months after the '141 patent issued to Tyler, another patent issued for chewing gum. This patent (U.S. Patent No.: 98,304) issued to William F. Semple, who was ironically a dentist. Semple, was also from Ohio and made his home in Mount Vernon, which is about 40 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Semple's patent was the first to disclose adding sugar and other flavorings (e.g. licorice root and/or orris root) to chewing gum. This flavoring was most likely necessitated by Semple's use of unvulcanized rubber as the base component of his chewing gum. Being a dentist, Semple promoted his chewing gum as being a dentrifice having "scouring-properties". However, there is no evidence that Semple ever commercially sold his chewing gum.
While Curtis and Tyler had some success in their manufacture and sale of chewing gum, the popularity of chewing gum did not take off until the 1870s when a New York family headed by Thomas Adams Sr. started making chewing gum from chicle resin they obtained from the exiled former president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. But that is a story for another day.
Tyler and Morse were also not the first to commercially manufacture and sell chewing gum in the U.S. That distinction goes to John Curtis, who started selling "State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum" in 1848. Curtis capitalized on the habit of New Englander's to chew on spruce tree resin, which they had learned from Native Americans. Curtis, however, made the practice more refined by cleaning and packaging the spruce tree resin. Curtis first boiled the resin to melt it and removed any bugs, bark and detritus that may have been adhering thereto. The melted resin was then poured onto a slab and formed into sheets that were cut into strips. These strips were covered with corn starch, wrapped in tissue paper and then packaged in small wooden boxes that held twenty strips. Spruce gum made in this manner was sold in the U.S. well into the 1920s.
Five months after the '141 patent issued to Tyler, another patent issued for chewing gum. This patent (U.S. Patent No.: 98,304) issued to William F. Semple, who was ironically a dentist. Semple, was also from Ohio and made his home in Mount Vernon, which is about 40 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio. Semple's patent was the first to disclose adding sugar and other flavorings (e.g. licorice root and/or orris root) to chewing gum. This flavoring was most likely necessitated by Semple's use of unvulcanized rubber as the base component of his chewing gum. Being a dentist, Semple promoted his chewing gum as being a dentrifice having "scouring-properties". However, there is no evidence that Semple ever commercially sold his chewing gum.
While Curtis and Tyler had some success in their manufacture and sale of chewing gum, the popularity of chewing gum did not take off until the 1870s when a New York family headed by Thomas Adams Sr. started making chewing gum from chicle resin they obtained from the exiled former president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. But that is a story for another day.