In which year was bubble wrap invented?

The trademarked brand product of Sealed Air Corporation is known today as bubble wrap. It was invented in 1957 by two engineers in Hawthorne, New Jersey in the U.S. Both Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed together two shower curtains, creating a smattering of air bubbles, which they originally tried to sell as wallpaper.

When that attempt was unsuccessful, the team marketed bubble wrap as greenhouse insulation. Then in 1960 bubble wrap’s protective use was discovered. The first client to use the product was IBM (International Business Machines) which used the product to protect their computers during shipment.

Today bubble wrap is used in the food packaging and other industries as a cushioning product.