Lance Geiger of The History Guy talked about the origins of bubble wrap, noting that it was originally invented in the 1950s to be a tactile wallpaper. This design failed as wallpaper, but it did turn out to be the perfect lightweight protective material for shipping goods around the world.
Would the world of e-commerce today even be possible were it not for humble inventions from our past? Before the world could embrace online ordering, products needed protective packaging.