Edwin Binney (November 24, 1866 – December 17, 1934) was an American entrepreneur and inventor, who created the first dustless

white chalk ''White Chalk'' is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter and musician PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 on Island Records. Work on the album started in 2006, with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her '' ...

, and along with his cousin C. Harold Smith (born London, 1860 - died, 1931), was the founder of handicrafts company "Binney and Smith", which marketed his invention of the

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of w ...

. The Binney family lived in

Old Greenwich, Connecticut Old Greenwich is an affluent coastal village in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 6,611. The town of Greenwich is one political and taxing body, but consists of several distinct secti ...

, as well as

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

Biography

Binney was born in Shrub Oak,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. In 1866, he took control of his father's business, Peekskill Chemical Co. While experimenting with a mixture of

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

waste,

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixe ...

, and

talc Talc, or talcum, is a clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thickening agent a ...

, Binney created the first dustless

. The invention was awarded a gold medal at the

St. Louis World's Fair The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds totaling $15 milli ...

in 1904. Co-founding the firm "Binney & Smith", he produced the first box of '

' crayons in 1903. His wife created the

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordscarbon black Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...

and too toxic for use by children. They were confident that the pigment and wax mixing techniques they had developed could be adapted to make safe wax crayons in a variety of colors. Binney also put forward the idea of black

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

s, again using carbon black, which strengthens the rubber and makes it more thermally conductive. Around 1911, Binney began spending more time in southeastern Florida, as he was an avid fisherman, and the family soon began to winter there after purchasing a large acreage north of the city of

. Binney was a community

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

. He was responsible for Fort Pierce becoming a port city in 1921, funding a channel to be cut across Hutchinson Island. In 1929, he helped to keep the St. Lucie County Bank from succumbing to the poor economic conditions prevalent at that time. Their land holding was called Fort Pierce Farms, but wife Alice renamed it (again, with a portmanteau) "Indrio", from ''Indian'' (for the nearby Indian River) and ''rio'' (Spanish for river).

Personal life-home

Binney was married to Alice Stead Binney (1866-1960), a London school teacher. They had four children:

Dorothy Binney Dorothy Binney Putnam Upton Blanding Palmer (July 20, 1888 – May 9, 1982) was an American explorer, socialite, and friend to Amelia Earhart. Early life Palmer, born Dorothy Binney on July 20, 1888, was the daughter of Edwin Binney, the manu ...

Helen Binney Kitchel Helen Binney Kitchel (September 9, 1890 - February 11, 1990) was an American politician. She is best known for her fight against billboards. She was elected in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1931 to 1939. She was the first woman in C ...

, Mary, and Edwin Jr. Their daughter Helen became a four-time member of the Connecticut legislature. Their daughter Mary married a

tree surgeon An arborist, tree surgeon, or (less commonly) arboriculturist, is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants in den ...

, James A.G. Davey. Their son Edwin Jr was an international swimmer and Professor at Yale.Can you tell me the birth dates of the founders Edwin Binney and , crayola.co.uk
Retrieved 2014-09-30.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binney, Edward 1866 births 1934 deaths American arts and crafts industry businesspeople 19th-century American inventors 20th-century American inventors Businesspeople from New York (state) Crayola People from Yorktown, New York Engineers from New York (state)