Lunchbox

For the Marilyn Manson single, see Lunchbox (single).

Lunch box and vacuum bottle owned by Harry S. Truman.

The lunch box, also referred to as a lunch pail or lunch kit is a container meant to store a meal for consumption, usually at work or school. The essential idea of a food container has been around for a very long time, but it wasn't until people began using tobacco tins to haul meals in the early 20th century, followed by the use of lithographed images on metal, that the containers became a staple of youth, and in turn, a marketable product in the eyes of manufacturers.

The lunch box has historically most often been used by schoolchildren to take packed lunches, or a snack, from home to school. The most common modern form is a small case with a clasp and handle, often printed with a colorful image that can either be generic or based on children's television shows or films. Use of lithographed metal to produce lunch boxes in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s gave way in the 1990s to use of injection-molded plastic. Nowadays they’re generally made of insulated vinyl filled with foam.

A lunch kit comprises the actual "box" and a matching vacuum bottle. However, pop culture has more often embraced the singular term lunch box, which is now most commonly used.

History

The lunch box was first made at INCO mines in Sudbury, Ontario.

In 1935, Geuder, Paeschke and Frey produced the first licensed character lunch box, Mickey Mouse. It was a lithographed oval tin, with a pull-out tray inside. It had no vacuum bottle, but did have a handle.

In 1950, Aladdin Industries created the first children's lunch box based on a television show, Hopalong Cassidy. The Hopalong Cassidy lunch kit, or "Hoppy," quickly became Aladdin’s cash cow. Debuting in time for back-to-school 1950, it would go on to sell 600,000 units in its first year alone, each at a modest $2.39 USD. Aladdin Industries moved to Nashville, Tennessee from its home in Chicago. While television was experiencing amazing growth during the 1950s, manufacturers saw a potential for sales. Manufacturers grew to include ADCO Liberty, American Thermos (later King Seeley Thermos, or KST), Kruger Manufacturing Company, Landers, Frary and Clark (Universal), Okay Industries, and a large number of other producers through the 1980s.

Lunch boxes have been manufactured using various materials. Originally all steel, the lunch box migrated to plastics over time. The first use of plastics accounted for the lunch box handle, but later spread to the entire box, with the first molded plastic boxes produced during the 1960s. Vinyl lunch boxes debuted in 1959.

During the 1960s, the lunch box had few changes. The vacuum bottle included in them, however, steadily evolved during the course of the decade and into the 1970s. What was originally a steel vacuum bottle with glass liner, cork or rubber stopper, and bakelite cup became an all-plastic bottle, with insulated foam rather than vacuum. Aladdin produced glass liners into the 1970s, but they were soon replaced with a basic plastic.

In 1971-72, a concerned group of parents decided that metal lunch boxes could actually be used as weapons in school-yard brawls. With petitions signed, they marched all the way to the Florida State Legislature, and demanded safety legislation be passed. It eventually was passed, and other counties in Florida adopted this legislation, which eventually was also accepted in other states.

Today

Today, lunch boxes are generally made of vinyl, with foam insulation, and a aluminum/vinyl interior. As a result they’re usually much better at retaining their temperature, but are less rigid/protective.

Lunch box collecting is a popular hobby. Many lunch boxes, including those from the 1950s and 1960s sell for hundreds of dollars, some even into the thousands of dollars. In December 2003, a mint Isolina lunch box was auctioned for $11,500.00 at Chickens Go Moo, Inc. auctions. With the 15% buyer's premium, the total price of this lunch box was $13,225.00.

Health concerns came to light in August 2002, when the Center for Environmental Health discovered that many popular vinyl lunch boxes contained dangerously high levels of lead.[1] Many, though not all, were pulled from the shelves In 2001, most major manufacturers began testing their lunch boxes for lead levels, remedied the issue, and labeled their boxes as lead free.

See also

• Bento - Japan
• Tiffin-wallah and Dabbawala - India
• Packed lunch

External links

• History
• Center for Environmental HealthLead in lunch boxes press release, Aug 2005.
• Creative, inspirational and healthy lunchbox ideas
• Resource for vintage lunch boxes from the 1950s through the 1980s