Cotton Candy Machine for Non Stop Fun

When you walk through a fair or an amusement park, chances are you will be greeted by the sweet smell of cotton candy wafting from the cotton candy machine. Cotton candy is indeed a sweet treat that is favored and enjoyed by both children and adults. For many people the cotton candy is the highlight of visiting the fair or amusement parks. However many of us do not really know the machine works or when it first came about. Truly the story of the cotton candy machine all started with the simple idea of creating a lovely sweet treat made from a very basic ingredient - sugar.

No one really knows who the very first person to discover or to come up with the cotton candy was. Going through history, you could find about four people who more or less had the same idea with the sugary treat, out of which three applied for patents for their idea and for their designs on the first cotton candy machine. The record for the first patent filing was made by two people; John Wharton and William Morrison, who were from Tennessee. The duo had created a cotton candy machine which was patented officially in 1899. This version of their machine worked somewhat similar to the versions that we still use today.

After getting the patent for their candy machine, Wharton and Morrison brought their new invention to the World’s Fair in St Louis in 1904. People were clamoring to get their sweet sugary candy treat and they were overwhelmed by the response. At the time, visitors paid 50 cents to get into the fair. The two of them then decided to charge 25 cents for their sweet concoction. This was actually quite a high price to pay for a treat back in those days. Even so, the response was great and their machine ran overtime. At the end of it all, Wharton and Morrison sold over 68,000 boxes of the sweet stuff for a whopping $17,000 in sales!

The other person who filed the patent for such a machine was Thomas Patton. Patton however used a completely different technique in creating the cotton candy. His machine utilized gas which rotated a plate. The rotating plate spun the sugar and thus formed threads. This sugar threads is what is often referred to as floss. Patton would always be credited as the first person to ever collect the candy threads or floss and form a ball out of it. This ball resembled a ball of cotton, thus earning the sugary treat its name, the cotton candy.

Patton’s machine received its patent in 1900. He however went on a different path altogether to make money from his cotton candy machine. Instead of selling cotton candy himself, he decided to sell the machine to the circus. So he approached the Ringling Brothers’ Circus and they in turn loved his machine. They used the cotton candy machine in their shows together with popcorn. Their investment in the machine paid off as the cotton candy was a huge hit with all their customers.

One thing about these older versions of the cotton candy machine was that they were loud and made rough rattling noises. The machines also did not last very long and constantly broke down or burned up. This of course affected their sales. This all changed when a company known as The Medal Products came up with a machine which used a slightly different system. Their machine was based on a spring base, and this eliminated the previous problems with the older machines. This advancement helped make the cotton candy machine really popular.

Today, you can find cotton candy machines at every fair, carnival, circus or amusement park that you go to. Shops offering cotton candy machine rental make it easier for small entrepreneurs to try their hand at selling cotton candy at these places. For the slightly more serious entrepreneur, a cheap cotton candy machine provides a chance to easily make a part time income by selling cotton candy.

You don’t need to start a business to be able to enjoy your very own cotton candy. You too can make cotton candy at home with the home cotton candy machine available in stores and online. Just purchase a cheap cotton candy machine and you're good to go. All you would need are some basic ingredients like sugar and you can enjoy this sweet treat right in the comfort of your own home.

A cotton candy machine can be used for many occasions. For Christmas, the white sugary cotton candy is reminiscent of warm snow, making it a great dessert to serve for Christmas lunches. For birthday parties, soft pink and purple bubble gum flavored cotton candy will surely be loved by little girls. Perfect for theme parties, the cotton candy colors and flavors can be custom made and entirely up to you and your imagination. And imagine a sleepover for little ten year olds. They would surely enjoy making their own cotton candy.

The cotton candy machine has indeed come a long way since its conception. The sweet sugary cotton candy will always be associated with a childhood memory for most of us. Although no one can say exactly who invented the first cotton candy machine, we all agree that the idea of the cotton candy was one of the best ideas ever.