bubble wrap (1965)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The earliest cite in the OED3 draft entry for "bubble wrap" is a 1971 U.S.
Patent Office listing for the proprietary name.  I see from the Trademark
Application and Registration Retrieval (TARR) system that the trademark
was filed by Sealed Air Corporation on June 9, 1969 and was registered on
Oct. 26, 1971:

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=72329516

According to the listing, the first commercial use of the product was Oct.
1968.  However, a newspaperarchive.com cite shows that Hallmark was using
the name for a similar product in 1965:

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Sheboygan (Wisc.) Press, October 11, 1965, p. 10
[Advertisement]
New Hallmark 'Bubble Wrap'
... Protects as it Beautifies
Wrap in it!  It's Pretty
Pack in it!  It Protects
Hundreds of tiny air cushions insure against damage.
Cookies won't crumble ... Jellies won't jar.
Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow wilts it.
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--Ben Zimmer