Liquid Paper facts for kids
Liquid Paper is a well-known American brand. It is part of the Newell Brands company. This brand sells products like correction fluid, correction pens, and correction tape. In the past, people mostly used Liquid Paper to fix mistakes when using a typewriter. Today, these products are often used to correct mistakes made when writing by hand.
The Story of Liquid Paper
The first correction fluid was invented in 1956. A woman named Bette Nesmith Graham created it in her kitchen. She was the mother of Michael Nesmith, who later became a guitarist for the band The Monkees.
Bette worked as a typist and often made mistakes. She wanted a way to fix them easily. She started by mixing tempera paint with a regular kitchen blender. She called her new fluid "Mistake Out." She began giving small bottles of it to her co-workers. The bottles had her brand's name on them.
By 1958, Graham started her own company, the Mistake Out Company. She kept working from her kitchen and later her garage. She made small batches of correction bottles at night and on weekends. She was fired from her typist job at Texas Bank and Trust. This happened after she accidentally used her own company's name on her employer's paper. After that, she decided to focus all her time on Mistake Out.
Graham offered her correction fluid to IBM, a big technology company. But IBM did not want it. (IBM later released its own special typewriter in 1973 that could correct mistakes.) By 1968, her product was making good money. It was renamed Liquid Paper. In 1979, the company was sold to the Gillette Corporation for a lot of money.
Who Owns Liquid Paper Now?
In 2000, the Liquid Paper product and brand name were bought by Newell Rubbermaid. This company is now called Newell Brands. In some parts of the world, Liquid Paper products are now sold alongside Papermate items. Papermate is another popular brand that makes writing tools. It is also owned by Newell Brands.
What's Inside Liquid Paper?
Liquid Paper products contain several ingredients. These include titanium dioxide, which makes it white. They also have special liquids like solvent naphtha and mineral spirits. Other ingredients are resins, which help it stick, and things that help mix it all together. There are also fragrances to make it smell better.
In the 1980s, people became concerned about a certain chemical in Liquid Paper. This chemical was called 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA). It was used to make the fluid thinner. Some studies linked this thinner to health problems.
Because of these concerns, the Gillette company changed the formula for Liquid Paper in 1989. They removed TCA from the product. This change was made to ensure the product was safer.
See also
In Spanish: Liquid Paper para niños
- Correction fluid
- Correction tape
- Pentel
- Wite-Out
- Tipp-Ex
