
64 Process Techniques for Engineering High-Performance Materials
In 1888, the inventor Marvin Stone patented a process for making paper
drinking straws. His vision created a totally new means of forming a tube,
winding a at strip of paper in a spiral wrap on a rotating shaft. A strip of
glue along one edge of the paper prevented it from uncoiling when released.
Coating the tube with parafn wax provided water resistance.
The early drinking straws that Stone improved upon were stalks of natural
straw, which came in limited sizes. Although wax-coated paper had existed
for years, no one used it to make waterproof products in three-dimensional