Bubble Wrap

Happy birthday bubble wrap! Bubble wrap was invented by Marc Chavannes and Alfred Fielding in 1957, making it 50 years old this year (unless you are reading this blog later than 2007, in which case I am delighted, not to say a little surprised, by its longevity). Technically the term ‘bubble wrap’ is trademarked by the Sealed Air Corporation and to avoid any legal wrangling I should refer to it as ‘air cellular cushioning material’ but then you wouldn’t have a clue what I was talking about.

Originally the inventors were trying to come up with a new type of wallpaper but ended up with a versatile packing material. Little did they know at the time that they had actually created one of the most pleasurable and hypnotic stress relieving devices known to man, which is, of course, the real reason for its inclusion in this blog.

The Sealed Air Corporation seem to have a sense of humour about this aspect of their product and even have a personality test on their website which determines the sort of person you are by examining the way in which you pop the bubbles. For example, an extroverted and self-motivated person tends to throw bubble wrap on the floor and stamp all over it. I prefer to pop them one at a time which makes me pragmatic and self-assured, apparently.