Editing Liquid Paper

{{short description|Brand of correction fluid}}
[[File:Liquid paper products Womens Museum.jpg|thumb|Liquid Paper products at [[The Women's Museum]] in Dallas, Texas]]
'''Liquid Paper''' is an American [[brand]] of the [[Newell Brands]] company marketed internationally that sells [[correction fluid]], [[Correction fluid|correction pen]]s, and [[correction tape]]. Mainly used to correct [[typewriting]] in the past, correction products now mostly cover [[handwriting]] mistakes.

==Product history==
[[File:Liquid paper, picture and eraser.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Liquid Paper]]
In 1956, [[Bette Nesmith Graham]] (mother of future [[The Monkees|Monkees]] guitarist [[Michael Nesmith]]) invented the first [[correction fluid]] in her kitchen. Working as a typist, she used to make many mistakes and always strove for a way to correct them. Starting on a basis of [[tempera]] [[paint]] she mixed with a common [[Blender (device)|kitchen blender]], she called the fluid "Mistake Out" and started to provide her co-workers with small bottles on which the brand's name was displayed.<ref>{{citation | last = Blattman | first = Elissa | title = Three Every-day Items Invented by Women | publisher = National Women's History Museum | year = 2013 | url = https://www.womenshistory.org/articles/three-every-day-items-invented-women}}</ref>

By 1958, Graham founded the Mistake Out Company and continued working from her kitchen (and eventually garage) nights and weekends to produce small batches of correction bottles. She was fired from her typist job as executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust after she accidentally put her own company’s name on a sheet of her employer’s company letterhead. She subsequently decided to devote all her time to Mistake Out.<ref name="BetteNesmith">{{cite web |url=http://www.celebratingtexas.com/tr/lsl/94.pdf |title=Bette Nesmith Graham |access-date=2010-03-18 |publisher=Celebrating Texas }}</ref>

Graham offered her correction fluid to [[IBM]], which declined the offer (the company announced its own [[Selectric#Correcting_Selectric_II|Correcting Selectric]] with an integrated lift-off tape in 1973). By 1968, the product – now renamed Liquid Paper – was profitable, and in 1979 the company was sold to the [[Gillette Corporation]] for $47.5 million with royalties.

==Acquisition==
In 2000, the Liquid Paper product and brand name was acquired by Newell Rubbermaid (now Newell Brands). In some regions of the world, Liquid Paper is now endorsed by [[Papermate]], a widely known writing instruments brand (also owned by Newell).

==Ingredients==
[[File:liquid paper.png|thumb|right|155px|A traditionally shaped bottle of Liquid Paper]]
{{asof|2009}} [[MSDS]]s list Liquid Paper as containing [[titanium dioxide]], solvent [[naphtha]], [[mineral spirits]], [[resins]], dispersant, and fragrances.<ref name="Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid">{{Cite web|url=http://www.liquidpaper.com/res/Fast%20Drying.pdf|title=Paper Mate Liquid Paper Fast Drying Correction Fluid|access-date=2009-08-18|publisher=Sanford NA|year=2003|work=MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET - MSDS #: 56401|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227085832/http://www.liquidpaper.com/res/Fast%20Drying.pdf|archive-date=2012-02-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Liquid Paper came under scrutiny in the 1980s, due to concerns over recreational [[Inhalant|sniffing]]. The organic solvent [[1,1,1-trichloroethane]] (TCA) was used as a thinner in the product.<ref name="LiquidPaper1985">{{Cite web|url=http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MSDS/LIQUID%20PAPER%20CORRECTION%20FLUID%20THINNER.htm |title=Liquid Paper Correction Fluid, White. Material Safety Data Sheet |date=1 January 1985 |publisher=Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100621021044/http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/safety/MSDS/LIQUID%20PAPER%20CORRECTION%20FLUID%20THINNER.htm |archive-date=21 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Liquid Paper containing TCA was thought to be toxic and [[carcinogenic]], but later studies showed that although the thinner was toxic there was no evidence of carcinogenicity.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Sullivan
 |first1=John Burke
 |last2=Krieger
 |first2=Gary R.
 |title=Clinical environmental health and toxic exposures
 |publisher=[[Lippincott Williams & Wilkins]]
 |year=2001
 |isbn=978-0-683-08027-8
 |location=Philadelphia
 |oclc=41606485
 |page=497
 |quote=Trichloroethane generally is less toxic than methylene chloride ... is not teratogenic and carcinogenicity and mutagenicity testing has proven inconclusive.
}}</ref> There were several studies linking fatalities<ref>{{cite journal
 |first=Gregory S. |author2=Smialek, John E. |author3=Troutman, William G.
 |title=Sudden Death in Adolescents Resulting From the Inhalation of Typewriter Correction Fluid
 |journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association
 |volume=253
 |issue=11
 |pages=1604–6
 |date=15 March 1985
 |pmid=3974043
 |quote=We describe four cases of sudden death in adolescents associated with recreational sniffing of typewriter correction fluid occurring during the period 1979 through mid-1984.
 |doi=10.1001/jama.253.11.1604
 |last1=King
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 |author2=Gunasekera, NP
 |title=Fatal cerebral oedema following trichloroethane abuse
 |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
 |volume=83
 |issue=8
 |pages=533–534
 |date=August 1990
 |pmid=2231588
 |pmc=1292788
 |last1=D'costa
 |first1=DF
|doi=10.1177/014107689008300823
 }}</ref> to the TCA  contained in correction fluids, including Liquid Paper.

In 1989, Gillette reformulated Liquid Paper without TCA, in response to a complaint under [[California Proposition 65 (1986)|California Proposition 65]].<ref>{{cite news
 |last=Paddock
 |first=Richard C.
 |title=Gillette Agrees to Remove Toxics From Its Paper Correction Fluid
 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-09-29-mn-252-story.html
 |work=Los Angeles Times
 |location=Sacramento
 |date=29 September 1989
 |access-date=23 July 2009
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120715051020/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-09-29/news/mn-252_1_liquid-paper-correction-fluid
 |archive-date=15 July 2012
 |url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Estrin
 |first1=Norman F.
 |last2=Akerson
 |first2=James M.
 |title=Cosmetic regulation in a competitive environment
 |publisher=[[Marcel Dekker]]
 |year=2000
 |isbn=978-0-8247-7516-2
 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8z3Nn9HzKIC&pg=PA138
 |access-date=23 July 2009
 |location=New York, New York
 |page=138
 |chapter=Proposition 65
 |quote=Gillette agreed to reformulate the product so that it would not pose a risk requiring a Proposition 65 warning
}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Correction fluid]]
* [[Correction tape]]
* [[Pentel]]
* [[Wite-Out]]
* [[Tipp-Ex]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/|Newell Rubbermaid official website}}
* [http://www.papermate.com/ Papermate US website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060804095845/http://liquidpaper.com/ Official Web site]
* [https://archive.today/20120712050653/http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blliquid_paper.htm Liquid Paper on inventors.about.com]

[[Category:Correction instruments]]
[[Category:Newell Brands]]
[[Category:1979 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:2000 mergers and acquisitions]]