Marvin Chester Stone ( – ) was an American inventor. He is best known for inventing the modern

drinking straw A drinking straw is a utensil that is intended to carry the contents of a beverage to one's mouth. Straws are commonly made from plastics but environmental concerns and new regulation have led to rise in reusable and biodegradable straws. These ...

Early life

Stone was born in

Portage County, Ohio Portage County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,791. Located in Northeast Ohio, Portage County is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Cleveland– ...

in 1842. The son of an inventor, Stone made many useful articles in his boyhood. He was a graduate of

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest coeducational liberal arts college in the United States and the second oldest continuously operating coeducational institute of highe ...

, although his course of study was interrupted by his service in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

. During the Civil War, Stone served in the 7th Ohio Regiment. He was injured in the

Battle of Lookout Mountain The Battle of Lookout Mountain also known as the Battle Above The Clouds was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Cha ...

, and sent to Washington D.C. on special duty with the Veteran Reserve Corps. After college, Stone began a theological course, but abandoned it to go to Washington, D.C. where he was employed as a newspaper correspondent for several years.

Career

Stone began his career as an inventor by creating a machine to make paper

cigarette holder A cigarette holder is a fashion accessory, a slender tube in which a cigarette is held for smoking. Most frequently made of silver, jade or bakelite (popular in the past but now wholly replaced by modern plastics), cigarette holders were consid ...

s. Stone secured a contract with the W. Duke Sons & Co. and opened a factory in Washington, D.C. to produce cigarette holders for the company's Cameo brand of cigarettes. Later, Stone developed the modern drinking straw. Prior to Stone's invention, people used natural rye grass straws, which imparted an undesirable grassy flavor in beverages. To combat the problem, Stone made the first

prototypes by spiraling a strip of paper around a pencil and gluing it at the ends. Next he experimented with

paraffin wax Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal, or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between 20 and 40 carbon atoms. It is solid at room temperature and begins t ...

-coated

manila paper Manila paper is a relatively inexpensive type of paper, generally made through a less-refined process than other types of paper, and is typically made from semi-bleached wood fibers. It is just as strong as kraft paper but has better printing qu ...

, so that the straw would not get soggy when used. Stone's straws were 8 ½ inches long and had a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like fruit pips from getting lodged in the tube. Stone received the

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

of the "artificial straw" on January 3, 1888. It was made out of paper. By 1890, Stone's factory was producing more drinking straws than cigarette holders. Stone invented a number of other items during his career, including a kind of

fountain pen A fountain pen is a writing instrument which uses a metal nib (pen), nib to apply a Fountain pen ink, water-based ink to paper. It is distinguished from earlier dip pens by using an internal reservoir to hold ink, eliminating the need to repeat ...

and an

umbrella An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is usually mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is designed to protect a person against rain or sunlight. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally use ...

Personal life

Stone was married to Jane "Jennie" Platt.

Later life and death

Stone used the newfound wealth from his straw business for a variety of philanthropic causes. He furnished lodging for his female employees, including a large library, music room, meeting room, and dancing floor. In addition, he and several others built two blocks of tenement houses for African American residents of Washington, D.C. Stone died in his home in Columbia Road, Washington, D.C., on after a long illness. He was survived by his wife, Jane "Jennie" Platt. Stone is buried at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. Memorial ID 35496022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Marvin 19th-century American inventors 1842 births 1899 deaths People of Ohio in the American Civil War