Marvin Stone

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American inventor (1842-1899)

title: "Marvin Stone" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["19th-century-american-inventors", "1842-births", "1899-deaths", "people-of-ohio-in-the-american-civil-war", "people-from-portage-county,-ohio", "inventors-from-ohio", "inventors-from-washington,-d.c."] description: "American inventor (1842-1899)" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Stone" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American inventor (1842-1899) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameMarvin Stone
imageMarvin Stone Photo.png
captionStone during the Civil War
birth_date
birth_placePortage County, Ohio, U.S.
birth_nameMarvin Chester Stone
death_date
death_placeColumbia Road, Washington, D.C., U.S.
spouseJane "Jennie" Platt
occupationInventor
burial_placeGreen Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
::

| name = Marvin Stone | image = Marvin Stone Photo.png | caption = Stone during the Civil War | birth_date = | birth_place = Portage County, Ohio, U.S. | birth_name = Marvin Chester Stone | death_date = | death_place = Columbia Road, Washington, D.C., U.S. | spouse = Jane "Jennie" Platt | occupation = Inventor | burial_place = Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. Marvin Chester Stone ( – ) was an American inventor. He is best known for inventing the modern drinking straw.

Early life

Stone was born in Portage County, Ohio in 1842. The son of an inventor, Stone made many useful articles in his boyhood. He was a graduate of Oberlin College, although his course of study was interrupted by his service in the Civil War. During the Civil War, Stone served in the 7th Ohio Regiment. He was injured in the Battle of Lookout Mountain, and sent to Washington D.C. on special duty with the Veteran Reserve Corps.

After college, Stone began a theological course, but abandoned it to go to Washington, D.C. where he was employed as a newspaper correspondent for several years.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Stone's_Patent_Paper_Julep_Straws.png" caption="1895 advertisement for Stone's paper straws"] ::

Stone began his career as an inventor by creating a machine to make paper cigarette holders. Stone secured a contract with the W. Duke Sons & Co. and opened a factory in Washington, D.C. to produce cigarette holders for the company's Cameo brand of cigarettes.

Later, Stone developed the modern drinking straw. To combat the problem, Stone made the first drinking straw prototypes by spiraling a strip of paper around a pencil and gluing it at the ends. and had a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like fruit pips from getting lodged in the tube.

Stone received the patent of the "artificial straw" on January 3, 1888. It was made out of paper. By 1890, Stone's factory was producing more drinking straws than cigarette holders.

Stone invented a number of other items during his career, including a kind of fountain pen

Personal life

Stone was married to Jane "Jennie" Platt.

Later life and death

Stone used the newfound wealth from his straw business for a variety of philanthropic causes.

Stone died in his home in Columbia Road, Washington, D.C., on after a long illness.

References

References

  1. Wilson, Lawrence. (1907). "Itinerary of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1864: With Roster, Portraits and Biographies". Neale Publishing Company.
  2. (1899). "Obituary, Marvin Chester Stone". Home Furnishing Review, Volume 15.
  3. . (May 18, 1899). ["Death of Marvin C. Stone"](https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1899-05-18/ed-1/seq-16). *Evening Star*.
  4. (September 11, 1886). "Untitled Article". National Republican.
  5. (October 21, 1886). "A Cigarette Holder Factory". The Weekly Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.).
  6. Thompson, Derek. (November 22, 2011). "The Amazing History and the Strange Invention of the Bendy Straw".
  7. Madrigal, Alexis. (June 21, 2018). "Disposable America".
  8. "1888 Heavy-Duty Paper Drinking Straws (Pack of 24)".
  9. "History – StoneStraw".
  10. "A History of Paper Straws".
  11. (2018-11-04). "Good to the last drop: The drinking straw was invented in Washington". [[The Washington Post]].
  12. (23 October 2014). "A Brief History of the Straw".
  13. (July 18, 2015). "What Once Was Washington DC, Center of Manufacturing". TheInTowner.
  14. Broda-Bahm, Chris. "The Straight Truth About the Flexible Drinking Straw". Smithsonian Museum of American History, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.
  15. . (January 1, 1884). ["Patents Issued"](https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1884-01-01/ed-1/seq-1). *Evening Star*.

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19th-century-american-inventors1842-births1899-deathspeople-of-ohio-in-the-american-civil-warpeople-from-portage-county,-ohioinventors-from-ohioinventors-from-washington,-d.c.