Who was the crayons inventor?

Who was the crayons inventor?
There is no one inventor recorded for the history of the crayon. Crayons evolved from the original encaustic painting with wax done as far back as the Greeks. Later, pastels, chalk and colored pencils all contributed to a piece of the modern crayon puzzle. Conte crayons were developed in the late 1700s in Europe and served to move the pastels closer toward a wax crayon solution even though they themselves weren't actually a wax crayon. Lithographers came along and used wax based crayons for their trade. Eventually companies in Europe such as Couleurs formulated crayons in sticks but made them from toxic substances.

In the USA, Franklin Mfg Co, NY was one of the first manufacturers of crayons in 1876. They started out with industrial crayons but were one of the first to feature school crayons for children in decorative boxes in the 1880s and 1890s. Charles Bowley, out of the Boston, MA area did the same in the late 1880s and when production got too big, he partnered with American Crayon Company who put out his line of crayons in 1902. All of the major pencil manufacturers dabbled in crayons prior to 1903 as well (Eagle Pencil, Eberhard Faber, American Lead Pencil, Joseph Dixon).

Other companies got involved in making the modern was crayon or the modern pressed crayon for artist purposes. Companies like Standard Crayon Co. started around the late 1890s. Milton Bradley had crayons prior to 1900 as did Joseph Dixon and the Prang Educational Company.

Edward Binney and Harold Smith were the creator of the Crayola brand; launched in June 1903 and made toxic-free for kids. They actually produced 18 different crayon assortments with a color palate consisting of 38 different colors across their entire line right from their original beginnings. They focused initially on the Crayola line, targeted as a quality but inexpensive option for schools as well as a higher-end line called Rubens-Crayola which targeted artists. Most of their earliest assortments were phased out as the company moved from their original experimental boxes to a more consistant look with their "Gold Medal" design that they would use for over 50 years. The Gold Medal was won in 1904 during the St. Louis World's Fair and helped to create the famous No 8. box which actually debuted in early 1905. With this consistant method, Crayola was not only synonymous with the word "crayon" but consumers had a common box association with the product, something unique in the crayon industry.

While over it's 130 plus year history there have been over 300 known manufacturers of crayons, the company that Edward Binney and Harold Smith established, now named Crayola LLC, is still the world's biggest manufacturer of crayons.