While rubber is widely recognized today for its diverse applications across the chemical processing, energy, fluid power, aerospace, medical, electronics, and food and beverage industries, its history is less well known.
Where Did Natural Rubber Come From?
South and Central American indigenous peoples first created natural rubber by boiling syrup from the Hevea brasiliensis tree. Appreciating its lightweight, bouncy properties, they were quick to form rubber into balls used for sports such as Tlachtli and Ulama.
French naturalist Charles-Marie de La Condamine first brought rubber to Europe in 1736. He noticed it while on an expedition in the Esmeraldas River in Ecuador, bringing samples to introduce to the French Academy of Science. Upon returning to Paris, he wrote the first scientific paper detailing rubber’s properties.
In 1770, theologian and natural philosopher Joseph Priestly first discovered that rubber could effectively erase pencil markings on paper. Before this discovery, scribes had used moist, balled-up bread to erase pencil markings. This more efficient and cost-effective erasing method became the first practical use for natural rubber in European society, opening the door for new discoveries.
Rubber remained a curiosity during the European colonization of South America during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, in 1876, Henry Wickham smuggled 70,000 seeds of natural rubber trees from Brazil to the U.K., causing the tree to spread throughout the British Empire into some of the richest rubber-producing regions today in India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.
Everything changed when Charles Goodyear discovered how to vulcanize rubber in 1839. Through heating rubber and sulfur together, the materials gained strength while still maintaining elasticity. This innovation greatly boosted the fledgling bicycle and automobile industries, who now had an efficient and lightweight means to convey their products.
When Did Industries Begin Using Natural Rubber?
In 1888, Karl Benz designed the first self-propelled carriage, which featured the pneumatic tires made from vulcanized rubber. With this invention, sales of natural rubber skyrocketed as it became more useful by the Western world’s growing middle class. Natural rubber soon began appearing in aircraft and truck tires as these vehicles grew into prominence.
Rubber saw yet more massive growth in demand during World War II, when industrialized nations around the world faced a desperate need for everything from tires to amphibious dinghies. World militaries also used natural rubber to wrap all their wiring because of its insulating qualities, and manufacturers outfitted Sherman tanks and battleships with rubber elements.
The need for rubber was so great during this time that President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched a campaign urging citizens to collect and salvage extra rubber. War factories recycled and used the collected rubber material for their products.
As Japan seized rubber-producing areas throughout Southeast Asia, the U.S. began searching for alternative sources of rubber-like materials. Roosevelt sent natural resource experts around the world to find materials that could be fashioned into synthetic rubber and allocated funding to the War and Navy Departments to research new technologies.
Synthetic Rubber Decreases Demand for Natural Rubber
Nowadays, most products incorporate synthetic rubber instead of its natural counterpart. However, both varieties of rubber continue to be valued for their lightweight, protective, and insulating abilities. Today, many varieties of synthetic rubber offer cost-effective, easy-to-assemble solutions for a variety of industrial applications and products, ranging from seals to tires to surgical gloves.
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