Chase, Oliver

Chase, Oliver (1821–1902) set up an apothecary business in Boston, Massachusetts, as a young English immigrant in 1847. His trade involved cutting out medicinal lozenges by hand from a mixture of sugar paste and bitter medicines. See medicinal uses of sugar. Soon he began making candy lozenges from a basic recipe of sugar, gelatin, and flavorings. To improve the process, he patented the first American candy-making machine, a lozenge cutter. Chase’s wafers were round to distinguish them from other lozenges that were generally diamond shaped.