{{Short description|American inventor (1842-1899)}} {{for|the basketball player|Marvin Stone (basketball)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Marvin Stone | image = Marvin Stone Photo.png | caption = Stone during the Civil War | birth_name = Marvin Chester Stone | birth_date = {{Birth date|1842|4|4}} | birth_place = Portage County, Ohio, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1899|5|17|1842|4|4}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | resting_place = Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | spouse = Jane "Jennie" Platt | occupation = Inventor }} '''Marvin Chester Stone''' (April 4, 1842 – May 17, 1899)<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Lawrence |date=1907 |title=Itinerary of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861-1864: With Roster, Portraits and Biographies |url=https://archive.org/details/compandeditin00wilsrich |location=New York and Washington |publisher=Neale Publishing Company |pages=[https://archive.org/details/compandeditin00wilsrich/page/440 440]–441}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Obituary>{{cite journal|title=Obituary, Marvin Chester Stone|publisher=Home Furnishing Review, Volume 15|page=323|date=1899|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmsoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA323}}</ref> During the Civil War, Stone served in the 7th Ohio Regiment.<ref name=EveningStar>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Death of Marvin C. Stone |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1899-05-18/ed-1/seq-16 |work=Evening Star |location=Washington, D.C. |date=May 18, 1899 |access-date=July 23, 2018}}</ref> He was injured in the Battle of Lookout Mountain, and sent to Washington D.C. on special duty with the Veteran Reserve Corps.<ref name=EveningStar />
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.<ref name=Obituary />
== Career ==
thumb|upright|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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86053573/1886-09-11/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1830&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=C+Marvin+Stones&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=16&state=&date2=1904&proxtext=%22marvin+c.+Stone%22&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=5|title=Untitled Article |publisher=National Republican |location=Washington, D.C. |date=September 11, 1886 |accessdate=July 23, 2018}}</ref> to produce cigarette holders for the company's Cameo brand of cigarettes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92073231/1886-10-21/ed-1/seq-1/|title=A Cigarette Holder Factory |publisher=The Weekly Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.) |date= October 21, 1886 |accessdate=July 23, 2018}}</ref>
Later, Stone developed the modern drinking straw.<ref name=Obituary /> Prior to Stone's invention, people used natural rye grass straws, which imparted an undesirable grassy flavor in beverages.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Atlantic |last=Thompson |first=Derek |title=The Amazing History and the Strange Invention of the Bendy Straw |date=November 22, 2011 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/the-amazing-history-and-the-strange-invention-of-the-bendy-straw/248923/}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Lemelson /> Next he experimented with paraffin wax-coated manila paper, so that the straw would not get soggy when used. Stone's straws were 8 ½ inches long<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/disposable-america/563204/|title=Disposable America |last=Madrigal |first=Alexis |date=June 21, 2018 |magazine=The Atlantic}}</ref> and had a diameter just wide enough to prevent things like fruit pips from getting lodged in the tube.<ref name=Bisset />
Stone received the patent of the "artificial straw" on January 3, 1888. It was made out of paper.<ref name=Bisset /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://shop.driehausmuseum.org/products/1888-heavy-duty-paper-drinking-straws-pack-of-24|title=1888 Heavy-Duty Paper Drinking Straws (Pack of 24)|access-date=10 August 2021|archive-date=10 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810034026/https://shop.driehausmuseum.org/products/1888-heavy-duty-paper-drinking-straws-pack-of-24|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stonestraw.com/history/|title=History – StoneStraw|access-date=10 August 2021|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206050702/https://stonestraw.com/history/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tembopaper.com/news/history-of-paper-straws|title = A History of Paper Straws}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/suck-on-this-the-drinking-straw-was-invented-in-washington/2018/11/03/f6050bae-deb8-11e8-b3f0-62607289efee_story.html |title=Good to the last drop: The drinking straw was invented in Washington |date=2018-11-04 |orig-date=2018-11-03 |author1=John Kelly |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}{{WaPoCheckDates}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/history-of-the-straw|title = A Brief History of the Straw| date=23 October 2014 }}</ref><ref name="intowner_stone">{{cite web |url=http://intowner.com/2015/07/18/washington-dc-center-of-manufacturing/ |title=What Once Was Washington DC, Center of Manufacturing |publisher=TheInTowner |date=July 18, 2015 |accessdate=August 8, 2018 |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010210001/http://intowner.com/2015/07/18/washington-dc-center-of-manufacturing/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> By 1890, Stone's factory was producing more drinking straws than cigarette holders.<ref name=Lemelson>{{cite magazine|last=Broda-Bahm |first=Chris |publisher=Smithsonian Museum of American History, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation |title=The Straight Truth About the Flexible Drinking Straw |url=http://invention.si.edu/straight-truth-about-flexible-drinking-straw}}</ref>
Stone invented a number of other items during his career, including a kind of fountain pen<ref name=EveningStar /> and an umbrella.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1884-01-01/ed-1/seq-1|title=Patents Issued |publisher=Evening Star |location=Washington, D.C. |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=January 1, 1884 |accessdate=July 23, 2018}}</ref>
== 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.<ref name=Bisset /> He furnished lodging for his female employees, including a large library, music room, meeting room, and dancing floor.<ref name=Obituary /> In addition, he and several others built two blocks of tenement houses for African American residents of Washington, D.C.<ref name=Bisset>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/bydesign/4985518|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |last=Bisset |first=Colin |title=How the drinking straw created a fairer America |date=September 30, 2013}}</ref>
Stone died at his home on Columbia Road in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 1899, after a long illness. He was buried in Green Mount Cemetery.<ref name=Obituary /><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-marvin-c-stone-19-ma/191943699/ |title=Marvin C. Stone |date=1899-05-19 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |page=7 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=2026-02-22}}{{Open access}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Marvin}} Category:1842 births Category:1899 deaths Category:People of Ohio in the American Civil War Category:People from Portage County, Ohio Category:Inventors from Ohio Category:Inventors from Washington, D.C. Category:Burials at Green Mount Cemetery Category:19th-century American inventors