On This Day: May 27th … Strange Holidays
Sunscreen Day
National Cellophane Tape Day
National Grape Popsicle Day
Talk about three things that aren’t even closely related, but hey, there’s only three again! So let me get to it!
National Grape Popsicle Day
Summer is almost here. Warmer weather means going to the beach, and when it gets too hot, it also means cooling off with a cold drink in a lot of cases.
In San Francisco, California, in 1905, 11-yr-old Frank Epperson was outside on his porch, mixing water with a white powdered flavoring to make soda. Upon going inside, he left it there on the porch with the stirring stick still in it. That night the temperature reached a record low and the following morning, Frank discovered the drink had frozen to the stick.
Years later, in 1922, Epperson introduced his treat at a fireman’s ball where it was a huge success. Then in 1923, he made and sold his frozen treat-on-a-stick at an amusement park in Alameda, California. Epperson applied for a patent in 1924 for his frozen confectionery, which he called “Epsicle” ice pop. He then renamed it “Popsicle“.
Popsicles are one of summertime’s favorite treats for kids of all ages. National Grape Popsicle Day honors one of the most popular flavors.
National Cellophane Tape Day
In the early 1920s, Richard Gurley Drew worked at the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, now known as 3M, which at the time made sandpaper. Drew delivered sandpaper samples to auto body shops and saw the frustration that car painters had when painting two-tone color cars. Surgical adhesive tape, library pastes, and homemade glues were used to hold newspapers on cars when painting, and as the papers were removed, sticking residues often remained, that ripped off some of the paint when they were peeled off.
Drew invented masking tape, and created it with crêpe paper, cabinetmaker’s glue, and glycerin. It adhered well to cars when painting, and also came off easily afterward without taking paint away. It was marketed as Scotch Masking Tape in 1925. The name “Scotch” stems from an ethnic stereotype that said Scottish people were stingy. Some stories claim that the tape didn’t adhere well at first, or didn’t have adhesive in the middle of it. The stories purport that Drew was told to go back to his “Scotch” bosses and to tell them to add more adhesive, or that they asked him why he was being so “Scotch” with the adhesive. It is unclear if Drew actually had these conversations, but nonetheless, the name stuck, as did the final version of the tape.
In 1929, Drew came up with the idea of using DuPont’s recently invented cellophane to make tape. Cellophane was moisture proof and was used to wrap baked goods and grocery items. He wanted to invent a tape made of cellophane that would seal cellophane packaging while blending in, so as to not be seen. The machinery that had been used for applying adhesive to masking tape didn’t work with the cellophane tape, and the glue that was used in masking tape didn’t look good on the transparent tape. New machines were made, and a new, clear adhesive made of oil, rubber, and resins helped create a successful clear cellophane tape. It was originally given the name Scotch Cellulose Tape and later became Scotch Transparent Tape. It was revealed and began being marketed on January 31, 1930, and its patent was published on May 27 of the same year. This is why Cellophane Tape Day is celebrated today.
At first, it did not seem that the new tape would be needed. DuPont had come up with a cellophane that could be sealed with heat, so the new tape was no longer needed to seal packages. The Great Depression also was beginning, which did not seem like the best time to begin marketing a new product. But in an era when being thrifty was a necessity, Scotch tapes’ wide range of applicability made it popular. It was perfect for making simple repairs around the house. It could be used to mend books, curtains, sheet music, clothing, fingernails, cracked eggs, cracked ceiling plaster, and for many other things. It eventually was used as an “anti-corrosive shield” in the Goodyear Blimps. As the company prospered and was one of the few that didn’t lay off workers during the Great Depression-they continued to innovate. A dispenser with a cutter blade was marketed in 1932, and in 1939 the now popular snail-shaped handheld tape dispenser was created.
Richard Gurley Drew is now in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Today many manufacturers make transparent adhesive tape out of cellophane, but most people still call it “Scotch tape.” It is believed that transparent tape is now used in 90 percent of homes.
Sunscreen Day
As I said earlier, summer is around the corner, and this means hotter weather, and it can also mean you need to protect your skin from the effects from UV rays from the sun, so you won’t get a serious sunburn like I did when I was a kid. And that’s a story for a later time (way later).
Ultraviolet rays from the sun is a serious risk to your health. With the steady depletion of the ozone layer above the earth, more and stronger UV rays get through.
Overexposure to the sun can cause a number of health problems. It can cause skin cancer, and sunspots. It can also result in premature aging of your skin.
Doctors and medical professionals advocate the use of sunscreen, to guard against health problems. They recommend a Skin Protection factor (SPF) of 15 or more. The higher the SPF value, the better the lotion is at protecting you against harmful UV rays. Sunscreens should be used for all outdoor activities, including swimming.
And yes, sun screens should be used on cloudy days. UV rays can penetrate through the clouds.
Sunscreen, also known as suntan lotion, sun screen, or sun block is usually a cream or spray that is applied to bare skin in order to protect it from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays, and from sun burn.
Medical professionals recommend that people apply sunscreen to skin exposed to sunlight to prevent skin cancer.
There are many types of sunscreens available in the market these days - some only prevent sunburns while others prevent both sunburns and the Sun’s harmful UV rays from entering the skin. Use this unofficial, but important, holiday to understand which type of sunscreen to use when going out to enjoy the summer sun.
This may seem odd, but even though long-term exposure to UV rays is harmful to our bodies, the human body needs UV rays to form Vitamin D.
The first sun tan lotion was Coppertone, but who invented sun tan lotion. Not to worry, here is the answer.
Sunbathers lathering up with suntan lotion have a pharmacist to thank for the original Coppertone formula.
The first effective suntan lotion was developed around 1938 by a Swiss chemistry student named Franz Greiter, who got sunburned as he climbed Mount Piz Buin in the Alps, according to The New York Times.
However, pharmacist Benjamin Green came into the picture in 1944, when he served as an airman in World War II. Green used red veterinary petrolatum, or “red vet pet,” as a physical barrier from the sun to prevent ultraviolet rays from hitting his skin, according to The New York Times.
Coppertone’s history webpage said Green was a pharmacist from Miami, Florida, who sought to protect himself and his fellow soldiers from sunburn.
The New York Times described Green’s first sunscreen product as “heavy and unpleasant.”
After the war, however, Green developed a more pleasing product by adding cocoa butter and coconut oil to the red vet pet. This combination would later become Coppertone suntan lotion.
Meanwhile, in 1946, Greiter started to market his product, Piz Buin, named in honor of the mountain he was climbing when he first got the idea for suntan lotion. His invention had originally been known as Gletscher Crème (Glacier Cream).
A decade later, in 1956, Coppertone introduced its famous logo of a dog and a little girl in a bathing suit, also known as “The Little Miss Coppertone.” The New York Times reported the illustrator, Joyce Ballantyne, drew the little girl to look like her 3-year old daughter, Cheri.
Sun protection factor (SPF) was developed by Greiter in 1962, according to an article published in Photobiology. Greiter is also credited with having developed the first sunscreens that absorbed UVA and UVB light, as well as water-resistant sunscreens.
A 1978 FDA document noted overexposure to the sun can cause premature skin aging and skin cancer. This was also the first year the FDA began regulating sunscreen as OTC products.
“I never expected to see the day when girls get sunburn
in the places they now do.”—Will Rogers
More Strange Holidays Coming!