"Franklin D. Roosevelt was a 'TefIon® president' long before Teflon® was invented."
Robert S. McElvaine, historian
No one can dispute the value of the non-stick pan in today's kitchen. It is one of the best-selling utensils in kitchen history. Its story begins with the invention of Teflon" by the DuPont company in 1938. DuPont was researching refrigerants when it accidentally produced Poly Tetra Fluor Ethylene or PTFE The slippery substance was resistant to chemicals, temperature, electricity, mold, and fungus. DuPont used it to coat bread pans.
In the early 1950s, French engineer Marc Gregoire heard about Teflon'8 from a colleague who used it to coat aluminum for-'industrial applications. Gregoire managed to find a way..to make Teflon" adhere to aluminum, and he then used it as a coating to prevent his fishing gear from tangling. His wife Colette then asked him if he could coat her cooking pans. He did, and it worked so well and safely that he was awarded a patent in 1954.
The couple began producing the non-stick pans and selling them in 1955. Marc made the pans in the kitchen and Colette sold them on the street. Even traditional French cooks were buying them, and in 1956 Marc and Colette formed the now famous Tefal Corporation. The word Tefal comes from combining Teflon® and aluminum, the two components of non- stick pans. By 1958 the couple was selling one million non-stick items from their factory.
Thomas Hardie began manufacturing the pans in the United States in 1960 under the name T-fal after DuPont decided Tefal was too close to their brand name of Teflon* The companies have continued to sell non-stick products for decades and they are considered staples of the kitchen worldwide.
