National Drinking Straw Day

Are you a fan of convenience gadgets? Do you often drink cocktails? Will you use the cocktail directly in the cup; bring it to your mouth to drink? You are lucky if you are not interesting in such direct drinking. In 1888, the paper straw created by Marvin Chester Stone of Washington D.C was patented to solve these inconvenience problems. Since then, many types of straws have been created and used. In addition, every January 3rd is the anniversary of the date that Marvin Chester Stone received the patent for the paper straw, also known as National Drinking Straw Day.

When Marvin Chester Stone was drinking a mint when his natural straw, a rye reed, began pouring into his drink. Instead of accepting this as a common occurrence, he decided to do something about it. First, he created a straw be rolling paper around a pencil and holding them together with glue. He improved on this by making a trawl out of paraffin-coated Manila paper, and this is the straw hw patented.

It is believed that the first natural straws date back to around 3000 BCE. During 3000 BCE, at a Sumerian tomb, archeologists found a seal. The underside of the seal shows two men drinking what looks like beer from a pitcher with straws. In that ancient tomb, archeologists also found a golden pipe that looks like a straw. The Argentines have been using metal straws called bombillas to drink alcohol for hundreds of years.

Nowadays, a variety of reusable straws were created. With so many different shapes and colors, manufacturers make reusable straws from common materials such as silicone, bamboo or stainless steel.

Joseph B. Friedman is known for making one of the main innovations to the Marvin Chester Stone straw patent. When he saw his young daughter having trouble drinking milkshakes, he decided to make a bendable straw. Friedman used a screw and dental floss to create a straw that could bend to his liking. First, he used a screw to attach to the suction nozzle and he used dental floss to trace its grooves. Then, he pulled out the floss as well as the screw, the curved straw was born. In 1939, Friedman founded the Flex-Staw company and first sold the straws produced be the company to hospitals for use by bedridden patients. Over the years, based on the original patent of Marvin Chester Stone, there have been many different changes to the shapes and type of the straw, such as the straw that can be twisted and rotated , that was called “ Crazy Straw “

Today, there are many variations of drinking straws and they are manufactured using a variety of materials such as plastic material, reusable material, biodegradable material, edible material.

The most common form of drinking straw that you see everywhere today is usually made from the thermoplastic polymer Polypropylene. In fact, this plastic is strong, lightweight, and can be produced at a low cost. Traditional plastic straws became popular thanks to the above attributes. In particular, due to its ability to withstand many temperatures without deformation, plastic straws are really used a lot in fast food establishments and orders all over the world.

Although plastic straws have many advantages, they have the disadvantage of being difficult to decompose in the environment. With drinking straws being used only once, they can cause environmental pollution problems. Therefore, a reusable straw was researches and produced. They are usually made of stainless steel metal, bamboo tubes. Metal straws are the most reusable, but they have high thermal conductivity, so they are only suitable for cold drinks, not for hot drinks.

Society is increasingly developing, so people have continuously created more natural straws with environmentally friendly properties, which can be decomposed in the environment or right during use. These are paper and cardboard straws, or edible straws made from materials such as rice, seaweed and rye.

It is too easy to celebrate the National Drinking Straw Day. You can select to drink all the cold drinks and of course using a straw. You can enjoy a familiar cocktail with a colorful straw in the afternoon, or drink a cup of nutritious mild in the morning. You can request relatives, friends, and colleagues to use straws to drink any water all day. In addition, share chill moments together on social media with the line hashtag #NationalDrinkingStrawDay.