Liquid Paper
Liquid Paper is an American brand of the Newell Brands company marketed internationally that sells correction fluid, correction pens, and correction tape.
Liquid Paper is an American brand of the Newell Brands company marketed internationally that sells correction fluid, correction pens, and correction tape.
Product history
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In 1956, Bette Nesmith Graham (mother of future Monkees guitarist Michael Nesmith) invented the first correction fluid in her kitchen. Working as a typist, she used to make many mistakes and always strove for a way to correct them. Starting on a basis of tempera paint she mixed with a common kitchen blender, she called the fluid "Mistake Out" and started to provide her co-workers with small bottles on which the brand's name was displayed.[1]
Graham formed the Mistake Out Company in 1956.[2] [3] She developed alternative formulas for quicker drying times and better application brushes. Sales were about 100 bottles per month in 1957; however, they increased fivefold when the correctional liquid appeared in The Office magazine, which led to a large corporate order from General Electric.[4]
Graham was fired from her typist job after she accidentally put her own company’s name on a sheet of her employer’s company letterhead. She subsequently decided to devote all her time to Mistake Out.[5] In 1958, Graham renamed her business the Liquid Paper Company and applied for a patent and trademark.[6] By 1968, the company "had become a multimillion-dollar organization, breaking ground on a huge business and manufacturing facility in Dallas, Texas. LPC scaled internationally and eventually opened offices and manufacturing plants in Canada, England, Belgium and Australia".[2] By 1975, "Liquid Paper was producing 25 million bottles a year and holding a vast share of a multimillion-dollar market that had spawned several competitors, like Wite-Out".[6]
Graham sold Liquid Paper to Gillette Corporation in 1979.[6][a]
Acquisition
[edit]In 2000, the Liquid Paper product and brand name was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid (later Newell Brands). In some regions of the world, Liquid Paper is endorsed by Papermate, a widely known writing instruments brand also owned by Newell.[citation needed]
Ingredients
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As of 2009[update], MSDSs list Liquid Paper as containing titanium dioxide, solvent naphtha, mineral spirits, resins, dispersant, and fragrances.[8]
Liquid Paper came under scrutiny in the 1980s due to concerns over recreational sniffing. The organic solvent 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) was used as a thinner in the product.[9] Liquid Paper containing TCA was thought to be toxic and carcinogenic, but later studies showed that although the thinner was toxic there was no evidence of carcinogenicity.[10] There were several studies linking fatalities[11][12] to the TCA contained in correction fluids, including Liquid Paper.
In 1989, Gillette reformulated Liquid Paper without TCA in response to a complaint under California Proposition 65.[13][14]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Blattman, Elissa (2013), Three Every-day Items Invented by Women, National Women's History Museum
- ^ a b c Tarr, Tanya (April 22, 2020). "How This Former Secretary Built A Multimillion-Dollar Corporation (Without Any Capital)". Forbes.
- ^ "Correcting History: Uncovering Who Invented White Out". historycooperative.org. January 18, 2024.
- ^ "Bette C. Graham, invented paper correction fluid". The News. 1980-05-15. p. 77. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
- ^ "Bette Nesmith Graham" (PDF). Celebrating Texas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
- ^ a b c d "Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper". The New York Times. July 11, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-13.
- ^ Pandil-Eaton, Whitney. "Perseverance, thy name is Bette". www.uspto.gov. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
- ^ "Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid" (PDF). MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET - MSDS #: 56401. Sanford NA. 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-27. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ "Liquid Paper Correction Fluid, White. Material Safety Data Sheet". Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences. 1 January 1985. Archived from the original on 21 June 2010.
- ^ Sullivan, John Burke; Krieger, Gary R. (2001). Clinical environmental health and toxic exposures. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 497. ISBN 978-0-683-08027-8. OCLC 41606485.
Trichloroethane generally is less toxic than methylene chloride ... is not teratogenic and carcinogenicity and mutagenicity testing has proven inconclusive.
- ^ King, Gregory S.; Smialek, John E.; Troutman, William G. (15 March 1985). "Sudden Death in Adolescents Resulting From the Inhalation of Typewriter Correction Fluid". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 253 (11): 1604–6. doi:10.1001/jama.253.11.1604. PMID 3974043.
We describe four cases of sudden death in adolescents associated with recreational sniffing of typewriter correction fluid occurring during the period 1979 through mid-1984.
- ^ D'costa, DF; Gunasekera, NP (August 1990). "Fatal cerebral oedema following trichloroethane abuse". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 83 (8): 533–534. doi:10.1177/014107689008300823. PMC 1292788. PMID 2231588.
- ^ Paddock, Richard C. (29 September 1989). "Gillette Agrees to Remove Toxics From Its Paper Correction Fluid". Los Angeles Times. Sacramento. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
- ^ Estrin, Norman F.; Akerson, James M. (2000). "Proposition 65". Cosmetic regulation in a competitive environment. New York, New York: Marcel Dekker. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-8247-7516-2. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
Gillette agreed to reformulate the product so that it would not pose a risk requiring a Proposition 65 warning