Elmers glue who is elmer

The adhesive was a one-of-a-kind invention by man and it took thousands of years to get to what we are using in our day to day life. Now, this is a million-dollar industry with so many different types and applications. It's interesting to see how it was developed from horse glue to Elmer's and now, to Nano-tech. Thousands of years went by with no significant development in this field.

Perhaps, people couldn't realize the need of adhesives in their life back then! In the tombs of the Faraos, the wooden artifacts still show their work of art with different types of adhesives. They first introduced animal products to produce liquid adhesives which came from extracts from bones, skin, blood, brain and connective tissue of the animals. The ranchers started disposing their old horses to the glue factories; which was why the animal glues are widely termed as horse glues.

With the advent of synthetic and plant-derived glue in the commercial industries, the animal glues started disappearing from the factories. As there are now strict laws and regulations about protecting animals, no living animals can be used for such commercial purposes. However, the proteins from milk and other extracts are still being used for preparing animal glues for specific purposes.

The manufacturer Elmer's Products Inc. This simply represents the use of animal extracts in producing glues. The formula now of Elmer's All-Glue doesn't involve use of any animal product. The product is made of PVA-based synthetic glue. Borden called their product, Cascorez Glue. The early packaging was a glass bottle with a separate ice cream pop-type wooden applicator. It was attached to the side of the bottle with a rubber band. Elmer, the bull, was not featured on the original product.

Consumers liked the fact that liquid glue was easier to use that paste, and they liked the white glue better than the other glues on the market. It was also smelly because it was made from fish byproducts. In contrast, the white glue from Borden spread nicely and dried clear. The glue could be washed off school desks and cleaned from hands as well. Consumers complained about the breakable glass bottle and the separate stick applicator that could easily be lost.

Borden soon remedied those problems. By the time, glue was being manufactured by Borden, the Borden Company was a relatively big conglomerate. Instead of one sole inventor, a team of chemists worked on the development of the glue.

Ashton Stull , vice president of the chemical division from , oversaw the team. Borden never patented the glue perhaps to keep the ingredients under wraps , and Stull was never listed as the inventor. To understand how a bull named Elmer came to sell glue for Borden, we need to look at the dairy business. The Borden Company had learned the importance of a strong marketing campaign with their milk products.

Milk in the early 20th century often carried disease. Tuberculosis was common as were various illnesses that the cows picked up from the unsanitary conditions on farms.

Borden was one of the first dairies to purchase a farm where the milk was being pasteurized. It was more expensive to produce milk that was processed, so Borden needed a way to convince people that the pasteurized milk was worth it.

In the mids, all of Borden advertising was overseen by Stuart Peabody. Together the two men came up with the image of Elsie.

Elsie was a cartoon cow with kindly big brown eyes, and an open and welcoming face. She wore a daisy chain around her neck. Elsie was introduced in , and became popular quickly. A survey done in the s found that 98 percent of the American public recognized Elsie. Reference Collections. Asian Textiles.

Dye Analysis. Fiber Reference Image Library. Forbes Pigments. Uemura Dye Archive.