We encounter foil almost every day, most often without even noticing it. It happens household and technical. The first is used for packaging products, making blisters for tablets, baking meat and vegetables. It is non-toxic, odorless and perfectly retains heat. The second is used in electronics and industry. Such a foil is plastic, heatproof and has a high reflectivity.
Who invented the foil? To whom and when did it occur to turn a piece of metal into a sheet as thin as paper?
Truth and fiction
Sometimes you can find a mention that Percy Spencer invented the foil. In fact, this is not so. According to legend, Percy Spencer invented the microwave when he noticed that the included magnetron melted the chocolate bar in his pocket. But the chocolate was just wrapped in foil, which may have contributed to the heating process.
But who actually invented the foil? In reality, opinions differ radically. The first foil was gold; it is also called gold leaf. It appeared a very long time ago, even among the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. This is due to the fact that gold is the most ductile and malleable metal, that is, flattening it into the thinnest sheet is not difficult. Used it to decorate jewelry and gilding.
In Japan, craftsmen forged and stretched a piece of gold until it turned into a leaf of foil. When the leaves become very thin, no thicker than 0.001 mm, the foil is again beaten between the layers of paper. This art has existed only in Japan for many centuries.
You can even eat gold foil. In the food industry, this is additive E175, used to decorate various dishes, for example, ice cream.
Now gold foil is valued not only for its artistic value, but also for its high electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. And these are important qualities for electrical engineering.
Who invented the foil? Actually, the aluminum product has a long and controversial history. His ancestor was tin foil, a stanyol, which was widely used until the twentieth century in the manufacture of mirrors, in the packaging of products and in dentistry. But the stanyol was toxic and had an unpleasant tin smell, so it did not take root in the food industry.
Brilliant invention
Who invented the foil? Interesting facts tell about this "brilliant" invention. In 1909, a young engineer from Zurich, Robert Victor Neer, watched the international balloon race and accidentally overheard the fans ’debate over which aircraft would last longer in the air. It occurred to Neer that for a better result it would be worth covering a silk balloon with a thin layer of aluminum foil.
Unfortunately, a balloon designed by Neer could not fly. But a machine for the production of the thinnest strips of aluminum, that is, foil, has already been built. After several trial and error, not without the help of colleagues (Edwin Laubert and Alfred Moody), Neer still managed to succeed. A patent for the production of aluminum foil was obtained on October 27, 1910.
Neer and the Chocolate Factory
Confectioners were the first to appreciate the benefits of the new packaging material. Before that, chocolate was sold in pieces by weight. Further opinions differ. Some historians say that the first contract with Neher for the supply of foil was concluded by the Tobler chocolate factory. Others claim that they thought of using aluminum foil to protect consumers from melted chocolate at Nestlé factories. Still others attribute the idea of chocolate wrappers from this material to Franklin Mars, the owner of the Mars factory. Aluminum wrap has become a successful innovation savvy entrepreneur. In the United States, Life Savers candies were first wrapped in foil in 1913.
So who invented the foil? Some argue that Thomas Edison did this so that his favorite sweets do not spoil so quickly.
Later, they began to use foil for packaging medicines, cigarettes, butter, coffee and even juice. Then the first rolls of household foil appeared for packing anything.
Color matters
So after all, who invented the foil? Until today, this is a moot point. It is only known for sure that in 1915, Neer came up with a way to make the foil colorful. But in 1918 he was drafted into the army, where he died from a Spanish woman on November 27 of that year. But his idea did not disappear, and in 1933 Konrad Kurtz became the pioneer of the method of cathodic deposition. This method made it possible to apply a thin even layer of gold on an aluminum base. Such foil was used for hot stamping. World wars and total economic decline forced manufacturers to change the layer of real gold to a layer of yellow varnish with a metallized base. So there was a modern multi-colored foil. Color variety and cheaper production have expanded the scope of the material.
Other story
The question has not been resolved: who invented the foil? There is another version of its appearance, and it is associated not with balloons, but with the tobacco industry. It often happens that discoveries come to the heads of several people almost simultaneously. Until the beginning of the 20th century, cigars and cigarettes were packaged for protection against moisture in thin sheets of tin. Richard Reynolds, who worked at the time in his uncle's tobacco factory, thought of using aluminum instead of tin, a cheaper and lighter material. He made the first sample of aluminum foil in 1947.
Foil and lotus
On April 16, 2015, German scientists announced the invention of a material to which liquid does not stick, in this case, yogurt. The new material is aluminum foil coated with microscopic cavities in which air collects and prevents liquid from entering. Scientists spied this idea on a lotus leaf that repels water and dirt.
Japanese companies are ready to put the invention into practice by developing special caps for yogurt.