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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

-0001

1939

  • Work on this object began.

2014

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Sketch Of Dental Floss Cleaning Fork (USA)

This is a Sketch of dental floss cleaning fork. It was made by Earl Silas Tupper. It is dated April 7, 1939. Its medium is ink on paper.

The earliest designs of Tupperware inventor Earl S. Tupper reflect the flexibility of his ingenuity. Tupper’s ideas, including this dental floss cleaning fork, are clearly laid out in an invention notebook, capturing not only the idea, but his entire process. "Yesterday I made drawings, and the rough frame of my dental floss cleaning fork," he wrote in this sketch. "Today I completed the sample and cleaned my teeth with it. Such things are quickly made and I should have made it when I first conceived the idea."

It is credited Earl S. Tupper Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, 1992.3213.

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Its dimensions are

H x W (drawing): 27.8 x 21.1 cm (10 15/16 x 8 5/16 in.) H x W (mounted): 36.7 x 30 cm (14 7/16 x 11 13/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/51682555/ |title=Sketch Of Dental Floss Cleaning Fork (USA) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=11 February 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>