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History
The company was founded in New York City in 1885 as Binney & Smith. The founders were cousins Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith. Binney & Smith's initial products were colorants for industrial use, including red oxide pigment and carbon for making tires black. In 1900 the company added production of slate school pencils. Binney's experimentation with industrial materials including slate waste, cement, and talc, led to the invention of the first dustless white chalk, for which the company won a gold medal at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1902.
In 1903, the company's Crayola produced another innovation, the first child-friendly crayons, which it sold under the brand name "Crayola" The Crayola name was coined by Alice Binney, wife of company founder Edwin and a former school teacher. It comes from "craie," the French word for "chalk," and "ola," for "oleaginous," or "oily." The crayons that had existed previously were made from wax, dull in color, and used mainly in industry.
Since 1984, the company has been a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. On January 1, 2007, the company changed its name from "Binney & Smith" to "Crayola". Information released by the company stated that the new name was adopted to showcase the company's well-known brand, which was in use in more than 80 countries and had 99% name recognition in U.S. consumer households.
Headquarters
The company's main plant is in Easton, Pennsylvania. The "Crayola Factory" is six miles from the real plant and is open to kids of all ages. A "discovery center" was built that showcases the manufacturing process of crayons. There is also a "Crayola Hall of Fame" in which the retired crayon colors (Blue Gray, Lemon Yellow, Orange Red, Orange Yellow, Violet Blue, Maize, Green Blue, Raw Umber, Thistle, Blizzard Blue, Mulberry, Teal Blue and Magic Mint)citation needed are displayed and put in.
Timeline
Crayola colors
Crayola crayon packs have come in a variety of sizes from 2 crayons up to 800 for the bulk boxes. The colors contained in a packagehave ranged from 2 up to 200 (although a 200 color package includes "special effect" crayons such as glitters or neons, etc.). In general, though, the most common packages are multiples of eight: 8, 16, 24, 32, (40), 48, (56), 64, 72, 80, (88), 96, (104), (112), and 120 packs. The 120 pack is sometimes a package composed of two 48 pack containers and a 24 pack container, but they are nevertheless different colors. There have been 240 pack Crayola Cases that simply house two of the 120 crayon cases, although a limited number of these have been produced since 2005. A 150 crayon pack featuring a plastic telescope-like case was made in 2008.
The most popular color is blue of which they produce 6 shades.
Here are the colors in the 8, 16, and 24 packs as of 2005 (color values are approximate):
| 8 pack | +8 = 16 pack | +8 = 24 pack |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Carnation Pink | Violet Red |
| Orange | Red Orange | Scarlet |
| Yellow | Yellow Orange | Dandelion |
| Green | Yellow Green | Green Yellow |
| Blue | Blue Green | Cerulean |
| Violet (purple) | Blue Violet | Indigo |
| Brown | Red Violet | Apricot |
| Black | White | Gray |
External links
- The Crayola Official Website
- A crayon collectors site with extensive info on Crayola crayons and boxes
- Tiona Marco has made a small but growing splash in the visual art scene by her artwork; she uses crayola crayons to create fine art drawings on construction paper.
- Orange: A Crayola raw materials data sheet from the 1970s Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- Binney & Smith Timeline
- Color Chronology from Crayola.com
- Color Chronology from FactMonster.com
- Crayola Crayon History - About.com
- Antique Crayola color lists - Antique Crayola colors found in old Crayola boxes. Many are not on Crayola's own Chronology.
- 2004 State-Your-Color contest - gave equivalent state, Washington DC and patriotic color names for a limited edition 64 crayon box. They are added as equivalents to the Crayola alphabetic color list in the wiki main article above. This list is also on the Crayola site, but the linked web page is more compact and has a reviewer comment.
- Color Icon: Crayola Crayons
