In the early 1940s plastics were still relatively new compounds and their practical applications had not yet been fully realized. Early plastics were brittle, greasy, and had a rather unpleasant odor. It would take an ex-tree surgeon by the name of Earl Tupper (1907-1983) to come up with the perfect plastic.
Tupper worked at the chemical company DuPont, where he learned about the design and manufacture of plastics. In 1938 he founded the Earl S. Tupper Company, which manufactured parts for gas masks during World War II. After the war, he turned his attention toward creating a peacetime product.
Tupper discovered a way of turning polyethylene slag—a by-product of crude oil refinement—into a strong, resilient, grease-free plastic that he called Tupperware®. By 1946 Tupperware® was on the market in an array of brightly colored incarnations: cigarette cases, water tumblers, and food storage containers. In 1947 he patented the Tupperware® seal, which was based on the lid of paint tins and was both airtight and watertight. Though Tupperware® was undoubtedly innovative, sales were sluggish and Tupper enlisted the help of the Stanley Home Products company; it came up with the idea of selling the containers at in-home parties.
The "Tupperware® party" was born, and by 1951 sales were so impressive that the product was taken off the store shelves to be sold exclusively in this way. Competitors launched products in an attempt to cash in on Tupper's success, but by then the Tupperware® brand had secured its place in the vocabulary of virtually every Western household.
