Ingrid Kosar (born 1948) is an American inventor and creator of the

thermal bag A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

Early life and education

Kosar grew up in

Des Plaines, Illinois Des Plaines () is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 60,675. The city is a suburb of Chicago and is located just north of O'Hare International Airport. It is situat ...

. Her father was an accountant and ran his own company. He died when she was young, and her mother turned the property into a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

. Losing her father made her passionate about preserving food. Kosar attended

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

, where she majored in journalism.

Career

Kosar started her career as a buyer for an engineering company. She says that at that age she was eating a lot of pizza. At the time,

Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., commonly referred to as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware General Corporation Law, Delaware-domiciled and headquartered ...

dominated the United States pizza delivery market, and their innovative new

pizza box The pizza box or pizza package is a folding packaging box usually made of corrugated fiberboard in which hot pizzas are stored for take-out. The pizza box also makes home delivery and takeaway substantially easier. The pizza box has to be highl ...

was keeping pizza secure. Kosar was inspired by a padded cotton lunch bag she had seen at a craft fair. She was challenged by

to create a bag that could keep a temperature of 140 degrees

Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a scale of temperature, temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accou ...

. Kosar invented a

used to keep pizza warm. She launched her insulated pizza bag company, "Thermal Bags by Ingrid", in 1983. She ensured the bag was big enough to hold multiple cartons, flexible enough to handle without difficulty, and able to endure any spillages. Her 1984 patent application describes the bag as "soft-sided thermally insulated carrying cases". The bag combined a breathable, food-safe layer of

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

, 1,000 denier Cordura nylon and a thin nylon lining. It incorporated

Thinsulate Thinsulate is a brand of synthetic fiber thermal insulation used in winter clothing. The word is a portmanteau of the words ''thin'' and ''insulate'', trademarked by 3M. The material is made by the 3M Corporation and was first sold in 1979. It wa ...

fabric. The breathable layer ensures steam can escape so that the crust stays crispy.

were Kosar's largest customer. The same bag technology was used by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

, who deployed the bag in outer space to study crystalization. It was listed as the world's largest pizza bag by the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

in 2000. Kosar's patents expired in the early 2000s, and cheaper bags from China started to infiltrate the market. Kosar filed for personal bankruptcy in 2010, but managed to maintain the company, and work her way out of bankruptcy within four years. She has continued to develop

s for a range of customers, including a European stem cell bank. She created a series of covers for bun racks for bakers, with customers including

Panera Bread Panera Bread is an American multinational chain of bakery-café fast casual restaurants with over 2,000 locations, all of which are in the United States and Canada. Its headquarters are in Fenton, Missouri. The chain operates as Saint Louis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosar, Ingrid 1948 births People from Des Plaines, Illinois 21st-century American inventors Northern Illinois University alumni Living people