Here in Australia we call it fairy floss, in America it's cotton candy, and almost nowhere else on Earth uses either name. But the strangest fact of all might be who invented the fluffy pink and blue stuff in the first place: a dentist. Yes, really, a dentist decided the world needed more spun sugar, and somehow he wasn't even wrong.
The story of how a Tennessee tooth doctor ended up inventing one of the fair-ground's most iconic treats is a genuinely fun one, and it involves a patent, a World's Fair, and roughly 68,000 boxes of sugar sold in a single event.
Meet the Unlikely Inventor: A Dentist Named Morrison
William James Morrison was an American dentist practising in Nashville, Tennessee, having graduated in 1890. You might expect a dentist to be the last person actively trying to get more sugar into the world, but Morrison had a side interest in mechanical invention, and in 1897 he teamed up with a local confectioner, John C. Wharton, to solve a very specific problem: how to spin melted sugar into something light, fluffy and fun.
Their solution was an electric machine that melted sugar crystals and then used centrifugal force and a rotating drum to fling the liquid sugar through a fine wire screen, where it cooled almost instantly into thin, delicate threads. Bundled together, those threads formed the fluffy nest we now instantly recognise. Morrison and Wharton filed for a patent on 23 December 1897, which was formally granted on 31 January 1899.
1904: Fairy Floss Takes the World's Fair by Storm
Having a working machine and a patent is one thing; getting the public to actually try your strange new spun-sugar invention is another. Morrison and Wharton got their chance at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair, one of the biggest public events of the era, attended by an estimated 20 million people.
They introduced their creation under the name "Fairy Floss" and sold it in boxes for 25 cents each, a fairly premium price for the time. It was a runaway success: over the course of the fair, the pair reportedly sold around 68,655 boxes of fairy floss, cementing spun sugar as a permanent fixture of fairs and carnivals from that point on.
- The 1904 World's Fair drew an estimated 20 million visitors in total.
- Morrison and Wharton sold roughly 68,655 boxes of fairy floss at the fair.
- 25 cents in 1904 was a genuinely premium price for a fairground snack.
Another Dentist Renames It "Cotton Candy"
Remarkably, the second dentist-inventor also shows up in this story. In 1921, a New Orleans dentist named Joseph Lascaux developed his own version of a spun-sugar machine, and it was Lascaux who coined the term "cotton candy", the name that eventually became standard across the United States, largely replacing "fairy floss" in American English.
Further refinements followed. In 1905, Albert D. Robinson of Lynn, Massachusetts, patented an improved electric candy-spinning machine, and the basic design of his machine remains recognisably close to the cotton candy machines used at fairs and carnivals today. By the 1970s, fully automatic machines had emerged that could both spin and package cotton candy, making it far easier for vendors to sell at scale.
Why Do Australians Still Say "Fairy Floss"?
While most of the English-speaking world eventually settled on "cotton candy", Australia and New Zealand are the notable holdouts, still using the original 1904 World's Fair name, fairy floss, more than a century later. It is a lovely bit of linguistic stubbornness, and if you ask us, a much better name for something that looks exactly like a cloud spun by a fairy godmother.
A Quick Fairy Floss Timeline
- 1897 - Dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton invent the first cotton candy machine in Nashville, Tennessee.
- 23 December 1897 - The pair file their patent application.
- 31 January 1899 - The patent is officially granted.
- 1904 - "Fairy Floss" debuts at the St Louis World's Fair, selling roughly 68,655 boxes.
- 1905 - Albert D. Robinson patents an improved electric spinning machine.
- 1921 - New Orleans dentist Joseph Lascaux popularises the name "cotton candy" in the United States.
- 1970s - Automatic spin-and-package machines arrive, streamlining sales at fairs.
From a Dentist's Workshop to Every Fair on Earth
There is something wonderfully absurd about the fact that the world's fluffiest, most purely fun-loving treat was co-invented by not one, but two dentists. Whatever their professional opinions on sugar, Morrison, Wharton and later Lascaux gave the world a treat that has barely changed in over a century: spun sugar, a stick, and a lot of joy.
So next time you see that impossibly light cloud of pink sugar at a show or carnival, tip your hat to a couple of dentists from Tennessee and Louisiana, who figured out how to spin sugar into something magical, and named it exactly right the first time.
References
- Wikipedia. Cotton Candy.
- Guinness World Records. First Cotton Candy / Candy Floss.
- History Hit. The Unlikely Story of the Dentist Who Invented Cotton Candy.
- Wikipedia. William Morrison (dentist).