Written by S. Thompson | Posted in Shopping and Products |

Cellophane as a product was first invented over a hundred years ago. It was, like a lot of products, invented somewhat by accident, and its end product turned out quite differently from what the inventor had originally intended.

Cellophane is widely used all over the world, in many different industries and many different applications. But it is arguably most commonly used in packaging. For instance, cellophane bags are very commonly employed in the shipping and storage of packaged food. One of its best qualities in this regard is the material’s pretty good resistance to air, oil and grease, and bacteria.

The first version of cellophane was invented around 1900 by a Swiss chemist by the name of Jacques E. Brandenberger, who was working for Blanchisserie et Teinturerie de Thaon at the time. He was inspired by a wine spill on a restaurant tablecloth, and decided to create a cloth that would repel liquid instead of absorbing it.

Brandenberger first tried to spray a waterproof coating of viscose on to fabric. The coating turned out to be too stiff, but it lifted off the fabric in one piece as a sheet of film. When he saw this a light bulb came on in Brandenberger’s head as he realized the possibilities of this new material.

Brandenberger eventually added glycerin to soften the film. This was his chief improvement over earlier versions of cellophane, and it took ten years for him to perfect it. By 1912 he had built a machine to produce the film, and cellophane was patented that same year. The year after, another company, Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels (CTA), bought out the Thaon firm’s interest and Brandenberger was given his own subsidiary to head.

Eventually, DuPont got into the game with their own cellophane manufacturing plant and developed a coating that would make cellophane moisture-proof as well. That’s when sales tripled. By the 1930’s multiple companies were producing it and it is produced to this day, where it is used to produce Scotch tape, as well as food packaging because pure cellophane is 100% biodegradable. Also, in its natural state without the moisture-proof coating, cellophane can be used to package food that benefits from being allowed to breathe.

Production has, however, declined since the 1960’s because alternative packaging options have become available. As well, the byproducts of production contribute to pollution. Even so, cellophane remains heavily used in specific industries such as food packaging.

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