Paper cup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A paper cup is a disposable cup made out of paper and often lined with plastic or wax to prevent liquid
from leaking out or soaking through the paper.[1][2][3] It may be made of recycled paper[4] and is widely
used around the world.

Paper cups have been documented in imperial China, where paper was invented by 2nd century BC.[5] Paper
cups were known as chih pei and were used for the serving of tea.[6] They were constructed in different sizes
and colors, and were adorned with decorative designs. Textual evidence of paper cups appears in a description
of the possessions of the Yu family, from the city of Hangzhou.[6]
The modern paper cup was developed in the 20th century. In the early 20th century, it was common to have
shared glasses or dippers at water sources such as school faucets or water barrels in trains. This shared use
caused public health concerns. One notable investigation into their use was the study by Alvin Davison, biology
professor at Lafayette College, published with the sensational title "Death in School Drinking Cups" in
Technical World Magazine in August 1908, based on research carried out in Easton, Pennsylvania's public
schools. The article was reprinted and distributed by the Massachusetts State Board of Health in November
1909.[7]
Based on these concerns, and as paper goods (especially after the 1908 invention of the Dixie Cup) became
cheaply and cleanly available, local bans were passed on the shared-use cup. One of the first railway companies
to use disposable paper cups was the Lackawanna Railroad, which began using them in 1909. By 1917, the
public glass had disappeared from railway carriages, replaced by paper cups even in jurisdictions where public
glasses had yet to be banned.[8]
Paper cups are also employed in hospitals for health reasons. In 1942 the Massachusetts State College found in
one study that the cost of using washable glasses, re-used after being sanitized, was 1.6 times the cost of using
single-service paper cups.[9] These studies, as well as the reduction in the risk of cross-infection, encouraged the
use of paper cups in hospitals.

Dixie cups
Dixie Cup is the brand name for a line of disposable paper cups that were first developed in the United States in
1907 by Lawrence Luellen, a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts, who was concerned about germs being spread
by people sharing glasses or dippers at public supplies of drinking water. Luellen developed an ice-cooled
water-vending machine with disposable cups,[7] and with another Bostonian, Hugh Moore, embarked on an
advertising campaign to educate the public and to market his machine, principally to railroad companies.
Professor Davison's study was instrumental in abolishing the public glass and opening the door for the paper
cup. Soon, the devices, which would dispense cool water for one cent, became standard equipment on trains.
The Dixie Cup was first called "Health Kup", but from 1919 it was named after a line of dolls made by
Alfred Schindler's Dixie Doll Company in New York. Success led the company, which had existed under a
variety of names, to call itself the Dixie Cup Corporation and move to a factory in Wilson, Pennsylvania. Atop
the factory was a large water tank in the shape of a cup.[10]

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