In 1957, inventors Al Fielding and Marc Chavannes were experimenting with different materials in order to create a new type of textured wallpaper. One of their first prototypes was made by sealing two shower curtains together, and in that process, air bubble formed in between the plastic sheets. Unfortunately, people weren't too happy with a translucent, bumpy looking wallpaper, so the product did not sell too well. Fielding and Chavannes then decided to try and sell it as insulation material to greenhouses, and they then discovered how it acted as a "cushion" for the beams inside a wall. However, that wasn't as effective as they had hoped. Upon almost giving up on their invention entirely, they were contacted by a marketer at Sealed Air (company which now mass produces bubble wrap), Frederick W. Bowers, to think about another potential use. In 1959, the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) released its latest model of a computer, and Bowers had the idea of using the inventors' product to protect these fragile pieces of technology when being shipped with its supportive makeup. After Bowers, Fielding, and Chavannes made a demonstration to IBM, the corporation began purchasing the material to ship with not just their computers, but also every product that they were making. Eventually, the product was refined so that it was not just two shower curtains that happened to form air bubbles, but rather a meticulous process of melting down resin pellets to form a sheet of plastic, that is then run through metal rollers with holes (holes allow the plastic to push through and create the "bubbles"). The only ethical issues that arose with re-purposing this invention was the excessive use of plastic with every package that contributed to pollution. Fortunately, there are many new versions of bubble wrap that are beginning to be manufactured out of either a recycle material (since the original type of plastic resin is not) or a biodegrade material.
https://www.rajapack.co.uk/blog-uk/how-is-bubble-wrap-made/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/13092/bubble-wrap-was-originally-supposed-be-wallpaper
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