Crayola

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Crayola logo 2002–present
Crayola logo 2002–present
Crayola past logo, 1996–2002
Crayola past logo, 1996–2002

Crayola is a brand of marking utensils, such as markers, chalk, crayons, and colored pencils manufactured by Crayola LLC (formerly Binney & Smith). The Crayola company was one of the first to make its crayons, chalk, markers, and colored pencils as well as other writing utensils and artistry tools non-toxic.

It is primarily popular in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Guatemala and the United Kingdom among other countries.

Contents

[edit] 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 produced another innovation, the first child-friendly crayons, which it sold under the brand name "Crayola". 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.

[edit] 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) are displayed and put in.

[edit] Timeline

Main article: Timeline of Crayola

[edit] Crayola colors

Main article: List of Crayola crayon colors
The colors in the 8, 16, and 24 packs.
The colors in the 8, 16, and 24 packs.
Retired colors.
Retired 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 limited a number of these have been produced since 2005.

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

[edit] External links