<P> Colin Snedeker, a chemist for Binney & Smith (the then - parent company of Crayola), developed the first washable crayons in response to consumer complaints regarding stained fabrics and walls . A patent for the washable solid marking composition utilized in the washable crayons was awarded to Snedeker in 1990 . </P> <P> The history of the crayon is not entirely clear . The word "crayon" dates to 1644, coming from craie (chalk) and the Latin word creta (earth). </P> <P> The notion to combine a form of wax with pigment actually goes back thousands of years . Encaustic painting is a technique that uses hot beeswax combined with colored pigment to bind color into stone . A heat source was then used to "burn in" and fix the image in place . Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar, was thought to describe the first techniques of wax crayon drawings . </P> <P> This method, employed by the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks and even indigenous people in the Philippines, is still used today . However, the process wasn't used to make crayons into a form intended to be held and colored with and was therefore ineffective to use in a classroom or as crafts for children . </P>

How many crayola crayons does it take to circle the world