As the time went, limited amounts of honey and very low production of sugar almost destroyed this tradition of our ancestors, but all of that changed in the 17th century when sugar became more plentiful and boiled sugar treats were quite popular at this time. People would use sticks to eat the boiled sugar confections, which were more like a soft candy on a stick.
American candy maker George Smith of New Haven, Connecticut claimed to be the first to invent the modern style lollipop in 1908. He used the idea of putting candy on a stick to make it easier to eat, and initially lollipops were a soft, rather than hard, candy. He named them after his famous racehorse of the time, Lolly Pop - and trademarked the lollipop name in 1931. It was officially registered to the Bradley Smith Company of New Haven.
Employees at the Bradley Smith Company first produced Lolly Pops by cutting off a chunk of warm hard candy and jabbing, or pegging, in a stick by hand. In the process of inserting the stick the candy was formed and slightly flattened out by the palm.
With the massive push towards industrialization, in 1908, the Racine Confectionery Machine Company in Racine, Wisconsin, introduced the first automated lollipop production with a machine that put hard candy on the end of a stick at the rate of 2,400 sticks per hour.
However, others claim Samual Born was the first to automate the lollipop-making process. Around 1912, Russian immigrant Samuel Born invented a machine that inserted sticks into candy, called the Born Sucker Machine.
History of Lolly Pop
