Cork has been around for millennia. Corks have been found in tombs in ancient Egypt. In ancient Greece, many items, such as fishing net floats, sandals, and bottle caps, were made from cork. However, it was not until the end of the 19th century that the corkboard was invented.
Over the centuries, cork was produced the same as always, and much of the cork was wasted. In 1890, a German company began collecting waste cork particles and using a clay binder to create an agglomerated cork sheet. The following year, an American named John T. Smith improved the process. Instead of using a clay binder, Smith’s process used heat and pressure to combine the waste cork and create a pure agglomerated cork board.
Initially, corkboard was used mainly for insulation. All this changed in 1924 when George Brooks, a resident of Topeka, Kansas, patented a new use for the corkboard: as a bulletin board that could be tacked on. A simple yet brilliant idea that has impacted the way we post to this day. Also known as bulletin boards, bulletin boards, and of course cork boards, George Brooks’ invention is a mainstay in homes and offices around the world.
Unfortunately, little is known about these early boards, apart from the patent issued by Brooks. Most likely he manufactured and marketed it on a small scale for the Topeka area. However, history tells us that the news eventually spread to other parts of the country, and today corkboards are a universal phenomenon throughout the world.
In those days, the life of a patent was only 17 years. Thus, the patent for George Brooks’ invention expired in 1941. From then on, anyone could create and market their own versions of the product.
In 1940, the first great innovation in the corkboard concept emerged. Another George, George E. Fox, received a patent for a similar construction that could be hung on a wall. Instead of using a cork board, however, his bulletin board used foam rubber with a cardboard backing.
The popularity of cork boards and bulletin boards grew rapidly. By the mid-1950s, the use of thumbtack bulletin boards was fairly common among businesses in much of the United States, whether it was cork bulletin boards or the foam rubber version of George Fox. developed a new design update. Earl Knudson of Modern Display Co. took Fox’s design and replaced the foam with fiberboard.
As it grew in popularity in workplaces, the cork board soon began to become a common accessory in the home as well. Spouses could easily post notes to each other or notes to the kids. Today, as technology continues to progress with computers, the Internet, and more, bulletin boards are less and less ubiquitous, yet they remain a mainstay in offices and many homes around the world.
Copyright (c) 2008 Wes Fernley
