Born on October 9th in 1900 Joseph B. Friedman would grow into quite an inventor. At the tender age of fourteen he had his first idea, a lighted pencil. Over the course of his life he would be issued nine patents. The first was for improvements to the fountain pen which he sold to Sheaffer Pen Company in the mid 1930s. He supported his family utilizing his education in optometry and real estate while inventing. While working as a realtor in the 1930s he would create his most successful invention, one that is still in use today across the globe.
While sitting in his brother's fountain parlor in San Francisco, Friedman watched his young daughter Judith struggling to drink a milk shake out of a paper straw. Inspiration struck and Friedman took the straw and inserted a screw. Using dental floss he impressed the grooves into the straw and handed it back. The world's first bendable straw had been created.
The Flexible Drinking Straw Corporation was formed in 1939, but the impact of WWII prevented Friedman from completing his drinking straw manufacturing machine until after the war. In 1947 the first sales of the flexible drinking straw were to hospitals. Soon the straws began to sell to the general public. On June 20, 1969, the Flexible Straw Corporation sold its patents, licensing agreements, and trademarks to the Maryland Cup Corporation whose current descendant is the Sweetheart Cup Company.
-Processor Walter
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