AP&T Product History

We invite you to take a walk down memory lane to see how products and trends have evolved over time.

          Products from the 1920s

Before tape was invented in the 1930s, twine was used to wrap packages.

The hand washboard was a very popular product before the advent of the automatic washing machine.
 
he early 1920s saw the introduction of the first pallets. Prior to this, wooden crates, boxes, kegs and barrels were used to gather, protect and move merchandise.
The spiral notebook was invented by Edward Podosek in 1924.
 
 
Introduced in 1924, Kleenex was the first facial tissue. It was a disposable substitute for face towels or cotton wool.
During Prohibition, AP&T sold glass bottles to local establishments...for legal purposes.
 
The Band-Aid was invented in 1920 by Thomas Anderson and Johnson & Johnson employee Earle Dickson for his wife Josephine, who frequently cut and burned herself while cooking.
In 1926 the Hoover Company developed a positive agitation vacuum that greatly increased dirt removal efficiency.
 
          Products from the 1930s

The first soda bottle vending machines were introduced in 1937. After depositing a nickel in the coin box, you turned a handle to rotate the lid, and pulled the next available bottle out through the opening.

Dreft Laundry Detergent was introduced by Proctor & Gamble in the 1930s and became a popular household detergent by 1941.
 
Bendix Corporation introduced the first domestic automatic washing machine in 1937.
The current version of the board game Monopoly was first published by Parker Brothers in 1935.
 
 
The ballpoint pen was designed by the Bíró brothers in 1935 when they became frustrated by the amount of time wasted filling fountain pens and cleaning up ink smudges. They began manufacturing the pens in Argentina in 1943.
Windex was invented in 1933 by Harry R. Drackett and introduced in the heart of the depression as an automobile windshield cleaner.
 
In 1931, the Scott Paper Company of Philadelphia, PA, introduced their paper towel rolls for kitchens.
3M introduced the first Celluloid Tape in 1930, and Scotch Tape was born.
 
          Products from the 1940s

Originally invented in 1921, the electric hand dryer was later popularized in 1948 by George Clemens.

The Western Union “Deskfax” fax machine, announced in 1948, was a compact machine that fit comfortably on a desktop, using special spark printer paper.
 
During World War II, Johnson & Johnson developed a water resistant tape made from a rubber-based adhesive applied to a durable duck cloth backing.
The first modern air freshener was introduced in 1948. Its function was based on a military technology for dispensing insecticides and adapted into a pressurized spray using a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellant.
 
 
In 1942, Earl Tupper developed his first bell shaped container. Tupperware brand products were introduced to the public in 1948.
Percy Spencer invented the modern microwave oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war. Named the “Radarange”, it was first sold in 1946.
 
The VELCRO brand of hook and loop was invented by George de Mestral in the 1940s while hunting in Switzerland when he realized that the tiny hooks of the cockleburs were stuck on his pants.
In 1941 Dow Chemical Company found a way to make foamed polystyrene, a closed cell foam that resists moisture.
 
          Products from the 1950s

Super Glue, also known as cyanoacrylate, was originally discovered in 1942 by Dr. Harry Coover, but it was not until the 1950s that it found commercial potential. Super Glue was put on the market in 1958 by Eastman Kodak.

Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 by engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes in Hawthorne, New Jersey.
 
Dow Chemical created Saran Wrap in 1953.
Xerographic office photocopying was introduced by Xerox in 1959.
 
 
In late 1953, the FCC adopted the RCA compatible system, commonly referred to as the NTSC system. The first color television sets for this system were sold in 1954.
In 1951, Bette Nesmith Graham (mother to Michael Nesmith, of the 1960s band The Monkees) invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen.
 
Plastic utensils were introduced in the 1940s, but did not start being mass produced until the 1950s.
The first McDonald's restaurant opened on April 15, 1955 and was part of the explosion of family restaurants during the 1950s when take-home meals became popular.
 
          Products from the 1960s

Ziploc resealable zipper storage bags were originally developed and test marketed by The Dow Chemical Company in 1968.

The modern lightweight shopping bag is the invention of Swedish engineer Sten Gustaf Thulin in the early 1960s.
 
The first disposable latex medical gloves were manufactured in 1964 by Ansell.
The floppy disk drive (FDD) was invented at IBM by Alan Shugart in 1967.
 
 
Polystyrene-based packing peanuts were invented in 1965 and have been used ever since.
The Sharpie marker was introduced in 1964 as the first ever permanent marker that writes like a pen.
 
The mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964 and consisted of a wooden shell, circuit board and two metal wheels.
In 1968, 3M was attempting to develop a super-strong adhesive. Instead they accidentally created a “low-tack”, reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive that was later used to create Post-it Notes.
 
          Products from the 1970s

In the 1970s people began using stretch film to help stabilize unit loads.

In December of 1972, Texas Instruments filed a patent application for the hand-held calculator.
 
The first commercial implementation of a laser printer was the IBM 3800 in 1976.
The first ever red Solo cup was released during the 1970s.
 
 
The first personal computers, introduced in 1975, came as kits: The MITS Altair 8800, followed by the IMSAI 8080, an Altair clone.
Although first invented in 1908, the disposable spork was patented by the Van Brode Milling Company on October 27, 1970. It was first widely used by Kentucky Fried Chicken.
 
Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing email (electronic mail) in 1972 while working on ARPANET for the US military.
In 1972, 3M introduced the first NIOSH-approved disposable filtering facepiece respirator.
 
          Products from the 1980s

In 1987, Dennis W. Weatherby received the first patent for automatic dishwashing detergent. The detergent was labeled as Cascade and quickly became a household brand.

Purell was introduced in 1988. However, hand sanitizers were first invented in 1966 by Lupe Hernandez, a registered nurse.
 
The disposable camera was developed by Fuji film in 1986.
Chemical dispensing systems were introduced in the 1980s.
 
 
The first commercial compact disc was produced on August 17, 1982. It was a recording from 1979 of Claudio Arrau performing Chopin waltzes.
Automatic paper towel dispensers were invented in the 1980s. This new design meant that users could retrieve paper towels without ever having to actually touch the dispenser.
 
IBM started using the 720 KB double-density 3.25" microfloppy disk on its Convertible laptop computer in 1986 and the 1.44 MB high-density version with the PS/2 line in 1987.
In the 1980s rising public interest in the environment led to a demand for more green products and services. Manufacturers responded by labeling hundreds of new products "environmentally friendly".
 
          Products from the 1990s

In 1990, Sir Tim Berners-Lee wrote the three fundamental technologies that remain the foundation of the World Wide Web - HTML, URL and HTTP.

Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California.
 
In the 1990s, ride-on scrubbers were introduced for increased productivity, along with more ergonomic features to help reduce operator fatigue and to improve their comfort and safety.
The first baby wipe products appeared on the market in 1990, including Kimberly-Clark’s Huggies baby wipes.
 
 
In 1999 Deb launched the world’s first generic foaming soap system, followed by the first foaming alcohol hand sanitizer in 2003.
In 1993 Shuji Nakamura introduced the color blue to the LED color spectrum, which eventually led to creating a white LED. In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act was signed initiating the phase out of incandescent light bulbs for vastly more energy efficient LEDs.
 
Issued in 1991, the patent for the first automatic soap dispenser was submitted by Guey-Chaun Shiau under the name “Automatic Cleaning-liquid Dispensing Device.”
In 1991 the Edge Crush Test (ECT) was added as an alternative to the Bursting (Mullen) Test as a way to measure the strength of corrugated material.
 
          Products from the 2000s

In 2014, Kimberly-Clark released Scott Naturals Tube-Free bath tissue in an effort to help consumers take small steps to make a big impact on the environment.

Social networking service Facebook was launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University student Eduardo Saverin.
 
On January 9, 2007 Steve Jobs announced the iPhone at the Macworld convention.
The iPod portable media player was first released by Apple Inc. on October 23, 2001.
 
 
Marketing of microfiber to the professional cleaning industry began around 2001.
Clorox wipes were first introduced at the national level on January 4, 2000.
 
YouTube began in 2005 when PayPal employees created a video-sharing website on which users could upload, share, and view content.
Proctor & Gamble launched Mr. Clean Magic Eraser in 2003. The water-activated micro-scrubbers reach into surface grooves, lifting away the toughest soils with water alone.