Thomas Adams (chewing gum maker)
Thomas Adams was a 19th-century American scientist and inventor who is regarded as a founder of the chewing gum industry. He eventually joined with well-known chewing gum maker William Wrigley. Wrigley's Chewing Gum Factory was built on Staten Island in 1909 when local chemist Louis A. Dreyfus enhanced the product.
Adams conceived the idea while working as a secretary to former Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna, who chewed a natural gum called chicle. Adams first tried to formulate the gum into a rubber suitable for tires. When that didn't work, he made the chicle into a chewing gum called Chiclets.
