As is typically the case, I get to wondering about things, and though we are all familiar with Crayola, it struck me that I don't know the origin of the word Crayola, so, I looked it up,
Originally the Binney & Smith Company was founded by cousins in 1885. Initial products were colorants for industrial use, including red iron oxide pigments used in barn paint and carbon black chemicals used for making tires black and extending their useful lifespan.
Binney & Smith's new process of creating inexpensive black colorants was entered into the chemistry industries competition at the 1900 Paris Exposition under the title "carbon gas blacks, lamp or oil blacks, 'Peerless' black" and earned the company a gold medal award in chemical and pharmaceutical arts.
Also in 1900, the company added production of slate school pencils. Binney's experimentation with industrial materials, including slate waste, cement, and talc, led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk, for which the company won a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Binney's wife, Alice, a former schoolteacher, created the brand name Crayola from French words for "chalk oily". The suffix "-ola" was also popular in commercial use at the time, lending itself to products such as granola (1886), Victrola (1905), Shinola (1907), and Mazola (1911).
All Crayola-branded products are marketed as nontoxic and safe for use by children. Most Crayola crayons are manufactured in the United States
Since 1984, Crayola has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Hallmark Cards.
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