MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Who came up with the idea for bubble wrap anyway?

Macro of hands with bubble wrap

MUNDANE MYSTERIES: Who came up with the idea for bubble wrap anyway?

We use it all the time. To ship things, wrap valuables in, or just as a fun time waster popping those bubbles… bubble wrap! But who thought of it in the first place?

Back in the 50s two engineers were trying to design textured wallpaper so they glued two shower curtains together trapping tiny bubbles of air in between them. The product never took off so they scrapped it. A few year’s later they tried to make it into greenhouse insulation. That didn’t sell either. Then in 1960 IBM needed something to ship computer parts so they wouldn’t break during the delivery process… finally a use for their invention!

The rest is history…. bubble wrap was born.

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