Binney was born in
Shrub Oak,
New York. In 1885, he took control of his father's business, Peekskill Chemical Co. While experimenting with a mixture of
slate waste,
cement, and
talc, Binney created the first dustless
white chalk. The invention was awarded a gold medal at the
St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. He co-founded the firm Binney & Smith, which in 1902 had created a new wax crayon used to mark crates and barrels, but it was loaded with
carbon black and too toxic for use by children. They were confident that the pigment and wax mixing techniques they had developed could be adapted to make safe wax crayons in a variety of colors. Binney also put forward the idea of black
tires, again using carbon black, which strengthens the rubber and makes it more thermally conductive. Binney produced the first box of "
Crayola" crayons in 1903. His wife, Alice Binney, created the
portmanteau name of the brand by combining elements of two words:
craie (French for
chalk) and
ola for "oleaginous" (meaning "oily"), since the crayons were made using a petroleum-based wax. Around 1914, Binney began spending more time in southeastern Florida, as he was an avid fisherman, and the family soon began to winter there after purchasing a large acreage north of the city of
Fort Pierce, Florida. Binney was a community
activist. He was responsible for Fort Pierce becoming a port city in 1921, funding a channel to be cut across Hutchinson Island. In 1929, he helped to keep the St. Lucie County Bank from succumbing to the poor economic conditions prevalent at that time. ==Personal life==