Research Paper

A container is something you need in your house. You need to have a container because if there are leftovers you need somewhere to store the food. Containers help you save food instead of wasting it. Imagine if we didn't have any, what would you do without good and sturdy plastic containers. That is why Earl Tupper created the line of plastic containers called Tupperware. Tupperware is better than the usual containers you can buy at any store because they are sturdier than all those other ones.

Early Life/Childhood

Earl Tupper was born in Berlin, New Hampshire on July 28, 1907. He was the only child of Lulu and Ernest Tupper. His mother managed a boarding house to help increase the farm earnings, and his father was a farmer (Earl Silas Tupper). When Tupper was young he loved inventing new things, Earl was always helping his dad around the farm. His dad was always inventing new gadgets to help with work around the farm, which probably inspired Earl to keep inventing things. When earl was 10 he started to sell his family produce door-to-door. Eventually his family built a greenhouse in Shirley, Massachusetts. There they sold geraniums (A type of flower) (Earl Tupper). Tupper was around 17 years old when he barely graduated from high school in 1925 (Earl Tupper). Not much is known about his education years or what schools he went to but despite that his company name is world famous. He worked at his parents farm after he graduated. He also took a course in advertising, and tried to convince his parents to advertise about the farm, but was unsuccessful (Earl Tupper).

Beginning of Career/Impact on the World

Ernest, Earl’s father, was a big influence in Tuppers life. Earl spent many years watching his dad invent things to help do work on the farm(Source 4: Earl Silas Tupper).Earl took a course in tree surgery in 1928, which he then started a business in tree surgery and landscaping called Tupper Tree Doctors. It succeeded which allowed him to keep inventing. He met Bernard Doyle in 1936 and the head of the Viscoloid Corporation, where he started to learn about plastics. In 1938 he started the Earl S. Tupper company doing contract work with DuPont(Source 2: Earl S. Tupper). He mostly worked on improving the plastic because it smelled bad and it was hard to work with. He also didn’t like to call his creations “plastic”, he liked to call them “Poly-T” because he felt like plastic had a bad reputation and he wanted to emphasize the difference between his plastic and the other plastic(Source 4: Earl Silas Tupper). Tupper purified black polyethylene slag which was flexible, tough, and translucent. It was way more affordable and he could make it into multiple colors. He also found that pure polyethylene pellets work the best. He had to overcome many challenges when it came to figuring out what type of plastic would work best, but he eventually figured everything out and was successful(Source 2: Earl S. Tupper).

Significant Accomplishments

Years after Tupper created the Tupperware company he met Brownie Mae Humphry. Brownie Mae Humphrey, also known as Brownie Wise, took a sales position with the Stanley Home products, a company that sold Tupperware products along with other things. Wise had to advertise the Tupperware products so they could sell. In 1948 she made parties so she could demonstrate the products to the customers. Earl heard about the saleswoman and hired her so she could extend her sales method with the whole company. She became vice president of Tupperware Home Products in 1951. The company became so successful that with Wise's help, he was able to build a headquarters on 1,100 acres in Orlando, Florida (Earl Silas Tupper). A couple years later, Tupper got uncomfortable with her selling method, he disliked the amount of credit she got for the company's success, and they would argue a lot (Earl Tupper). In 1957 Wise published her autobiography, Tupper fired her the next year. After Wise got fired she went to work for several other companies, but never got the same amount of fame that she had while working with Tupper (Earl Silas Tupper). Tupper created many things for example, he made toys, plates, cups, kitchen tools, food storage, bowls, etc. In the 1960 Tupper started making things like Traveling Desks, Drawer Organizers, and Plastic Carrying Case because more people were often pursuing career opportunities. Around that same time people started to have babies and needed something nice and sturdy for the kids to entertain themselves with. So Tupperware created a toy just for that, I was called the Shape-O toy. It was an educational toy for babies and toddlers. When microwaves were first being introduced. Tupper started making microwavable containers so you could reheat meals or cook frozen meals. He called them the Microwave Reheatables (Tupperware). Tupper created many useful things, and the company is still creating other stuff. He started a surprisingly successful company.

Impact on the World

Earl had a positive impact on the world because he created something that can store your food and keep it airtight so it won’t go bad too early. Even though someone else had already invented the plastic container, Earl made it better and sturdier. He changed the world because now we don’t have to waste the leftover food by throwing it away, now we can store it and it won’t go bad so early. He also made his plastic more translucent because it used to not be translucent.