TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: Popping bubble wrap can be pretty addicting and a stress reliever for some, but 366 students in Hawthorne, New Jersey took the activity to a whole new level. So much so that this high school set the world record for the most people popping bubble wrap at one time. And it was all the fun you could have with 8,000 square feet of packaging material lining the gymnasium floor. Guinness World Record's Kimberly Patrick was there to make it official.
KIMBERLY PATRICK, ADJUDICATOR, GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS: "This record attempt today was incredible; officially amazing. The sound was amazing, the energy in the room was amazing. It was just an incredible thing to watch."
REPORTER: The record coincides with the anniversary of bubble wrap, which was invented 50 years ago.
HISTORY OF BUBBLE WRAP
Bubble wrap was invented in 1957 by engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes. Fielding and Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together, creating a smattering of air bubbles, which they originally tried to sell as wallpaper. When the product turned out to be unsuccessful as wallpaper, the team marketed it as greenhouse insulation. Although Bubble Wrap was branded by Sealed Air Corporation (founded by Fielding and Chavannes) in 1960, it was not until a year later that its use in protective packaging was discovered. As a packaging material, Bubble Wrap's first client was IBM, which used the product to protect the IBM 1401 computer during shipment. Fielding and Chavannes were inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993. Sealed Air celebrated Bubble Wrap's 50th birthday in January 2010. [Wikipedia]
