Crayola Crayons
(1903)
Edwin Binney (left) and C. Harold Smith (right)
The history of the crayon is not entirely clear. The word "crayon" dates to 1644, coming from
(chalk) and the Latin word creta (Earth).
The notion to combine a form of wax with pigment actually goes back thousands of years. The
Egyptians perfected a technique using hot beeswax combined with colored pigment to bind color
into stone in a process known as encaustic painting. A heat source was then used to "burn in" and
fix the image in place. This method, also employed by the Romans, the Greeks and even
indigenous people in the Philippines around 1600-1800, is still used today. However, the process
wasn’t used to make crayons into a form intended to be held and colored with and was therefore
ineffective to use in a classroom or as crafts for children.
In 1864, Joseph W. Binney founded the Peekskill Chemical Company in Peekskill, N.Y. This
company was responsible for products in the black and red color range, such as lampblack,
charcoal and a paint containing red iron oxide which was often used to coat the barns dotting
America's rural landscape. Around 1885, Joseph's son, Edwin Binney, and nephew, C. Harold
Smith, formed the partnership of Binney & Smith. The cousins expanded the company's product
line to include shoe polish and printing ink. In 1900, the company purchased a stone mill in
Easton, PA, and began producing slate pencils for schools. This started Binney's and Smith's
research into nontoxic and colorful drawing mediums for kids. They had already invented a new
wax crayon used to mark crates and barrels, however, it was loaded with carbon black and too
toxic for children. They were confident that the pigment and wax mixing techniques they had
developed could be adapted for a variety of safe colors.
Binney & Smith Company (later to be named Crayola LLC) developed their own famous line of
wax crayons beginning on June 10, 1903. Edwin Binney & C. Harold Smith had been long
established in the coloring marketplace through Binney’s Peekskill, NY chemical works factory
making lampblack by burning whale and carbon black and later instrumental in the coloring of
automobile tires.
In 1902 they developed and introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Edwin Binney, working
with his wife, Alice Stead Binney, came up with their famous Crayola brand of crayons. Alice
came up with the name Crayola by combining the French word for chalk, craie, with the first part
of oleaginous, the oily paraffin wax used to make the crayon. The brand's first box of eight
Crayola crayons made its debut in 1903. The crayons were sold for a nickel and the colors were
black, brown, blue, red, purple, orange, yellow, and green. Today, there over one hundred
different types of crayons being made by Crayola including crayons that: sparkle with glitter,
glow in the dark, smell like flowers, change colors, and wash off walls and other surfaces and
materials.
Binney & Smith were quick to capitalize on their creation by offering 19 different boxes with 30
different colors including the Crayola No 51 which featured their largest selection of colors with
28. The Rubens Crayola line started in 1903 directly targeted toward artists.
By far the most recognizable brand was their Crayola “Gold Medal” line in the familiar yellow
boxes. The Gold Medal referred to a Gold Medal the company earned with their An-du-Septic
dustless chalk during the March 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Over 39,000 awards were given out
using the medals designed by Adolph A. Weinman. Receiving a medal at an Exposition was and
still is something of importance with many companies featuring their medal on their products.
Two companies to use the 1904 medal were Jack Daniel's whiskey (which still use it on their
bottles to this day) and Binney & Smith. They used the award to design an entirely new line of
crayons featuring the medal on the front of their box. Initially, they developed and introduced the
No. 8 box of eight assorted colors (this famous box is usually depicted on most historical
material associated with Crayola; it was even featured on a postage stamp) in early 1905 using
the side of the medal depicting an Eagle but quickly changed to the other side showing the 1904
date their medal was won. From there they began to transition and phase out other Crayola
crayon boxes used earlier until eventually their entire line of Crayola crayons featured the Gold
Medal design. They would use this design to identify their brand for over 50 years, permanently
infusing their crayons into the consciousness of consumers and catapulting the Crayola brand
into the world's leading crayon brand. The Crayola brand is currently owned by Hallmark Cards
of Kansas City, Missouri.
Standard crayons are 3.5 inches in length and made mostly of petroleum paraffin wax. Paraffin
wax is heated and cooled to achieve the correct temperature in which a usable wax substance can
be dyed and then manufactured for use around the world. Paraffin waxes are used for cosmetics,
candles, for the preparation of printing ink, fruit preserving, in the pharmaceutical industry, for
lubricating purposes, and crayons.
A March 1905 ad from Crayola.
A 64 pack of crayons from Crayola.