The word “rubber” had a lively existence long before it became attached to the elastic substance we associate it with today.
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A “rubber” could be a hard brush (1664),
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A rough towel to stimulate the skin (1577),
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A horse towel (1598)
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A whetstone (1553)
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Tooth powder (1558)
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A polished brick (1744)
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A person who takes brass rubbings (1840)
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And a masseur at a Turkish bath.
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Erasing rubber
A “rubber” could be a hard brush (1664),
.
A rough towel to stimulate the skin (1577),
.
A horse towel (1598)
.
A whetstone (1553)
.
Tooth powder (1558)
.
A polished brick (1744)
.
A person who takes brass rubbings (1840)
.
And a masseur at a Turkish bath.
.
Erasing rubber
When samples of the dried sap of a South American tree began arriving in England in the late 18th century, they were soon being stocked in half-inch cubes in Edward Nairne’s scientific instrument shop at 20 Cornhill in London.
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Nairne claimed that while drawing he had picked up a piece of the substance instead of the breadcrumb that was traditionally used to erase pencil marks.
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The cube of sap proved more effective.
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The discoverer of oxygen and inventor of soda water, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), was an early customer, paying a hefty three shillings (£17 in today’s money) for a single cube.
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India rubber
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Nairne claimed that while drawing he had picked up a piece of the substance instead of the breadcrumb that was traditionally used to erase pencil marks.
.
The cube of sap proved more effective.
.
The discoverer of oxygen and inventor of soda water, Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), was an early customer, paying a hefty three shillings (£17 in today’s money) for a single cube.
.
India rubber
This substance became known as “India rubber”, although it came from South America rather than India (“Indian” just meant something exotic from abroad; Indian ink was actually from China).
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The rubber had found its way from Brazil to Europe via the French.
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In 1735, poet, mathematician and friend of Voltaire, Charles Marie de la Condamine, sent a sample back to the Académie Royale enclosing the local Indian word for the material, caoutchouc, and for the tree it came from, heve.
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La Condamine also coined the term latex for the white sap, from the French word for “milk”.
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Rubbery plants
.
The rubber had found its way from Brazil to Europe via the French.
.
In 1735, poet, mathematician and friend of Voltaire, Charles Marie de la Condamine, sent a sample back to the Académie Royale enclosing the local Indian word for the material, caoutchouc, and for the tree it came from, heve.
.
La Condamine also coined the term latex for the white sap, from the French word for “milk”.
.
Rubbery plants
The rubber tree isn’t the only plant with rubbery sap, but it is the only one that produces more latex each time it is cut.
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The wound stimulates its rate of photosynthesis, giving each tree a productive life of up to 35 years.
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It’s a large woody member of the Euphorbia family, which boasts over 7,500 species, many of them known as spurges, and almost all of them producing milky sap.
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The name “spurge” comes from the old French word espurgier – meaning “to purge”, because the plants were used as laxatives.
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Euphorbia itself comes from the name Euphorbus, the physician to Juba II, a Roman client king in North Africa during the time of Augustus.
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Euphorbus effected a cure by feeding the king a spurge and Juba was so impressed he named the plant after him.
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It means, literally, “well-fed”.
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Other high-profile members of the spurge family include cassava, the castor-oil plant and that Christmas favourite, the poinsettia.
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Stolen rubber
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Roughly 40 per cent of the rubber used today is from natural sources and of that
.
94 per cent comes from south-east Asia.
.
This is partly because the rubber tree is difficult to cultivate in South America (it quickly falls prey to blight), and partly through the audacious scam of a British entrepreneur called Henry Wickham (1846-1928).
.
Wickham collected rubber tree seeds from the Brazilian jungle (70,000 according to his own unreliable account) and smuggled them back to the Botanical Gardens at Kew.
.
Although fewer than four per cent germinated, this was enough to establish the British rubber plantations in south-east Asia.
.
Wickham was a fantasist and a terrible businessman.
.
His attempts to establish farms in the wilds of Brazil and the Pacific were miserable failures.
.
Nevertheless, he was eventually knighted and is still acclaimed as the “father of commercial rubber planting”.
.
Rubber boots
.
The wound stimulates its rate of photosynthesis, giving each tree a productive life of up to 35 years.
.
It’s a large woody member of the Euphorbia family, which boasts over 7,500 species, many of them known as spurges, and almost all of them producing milky sap.
.
The name “spurge” comes from the old French word espurgier – meaning “to purge”, because the plants were used as laxatives.
.
Euphorbia itself comes from the name Euphorbus, the physician to Juba II, a Roman client king in North Africa during the time of Augustus.
.
Euphorbus effected a cure by feeding the king a spurge and Juba was so impressed he named the plant after him.
.
It means, literally, “well-fed”.
.
Other high-profile members of the spurge family include cassava, the castor-oil plant and that Christmas favourite, the poinsettia.
.
Stolen rubber
Roughly 40 per cent of the rubber used today is from natural sources and of that
.
94 per cent comes from south-east Asia.
.
This is partly because the rubber tree is difficult to cultivate in South America (it quickly falls prey to blight), and partly through the audacious scam of a British entrepreneur called Henry Wickham (1846-1928).
.
Wickham collected rubber tree seeds from the Brazilian jungle (70,000 according to his own unreliable account) and smuggled them back to the Botanical Gardens at Kew.
.
Although fewer than four per cent germinated, this was enough to establish the British rubber plantations in south-east Asia.
.
Wickham was a fantasist and a terrible businessman.
.
His attempts to establish farms in the wilds of Brazil and the Pacific were miserable failures.
.
Nevertheless, he was eventually knighted and is still acclaimed as the “father of commercial rubber planting”.
.
Rubber boots
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, pioneered a new version of the slightly pointed, low-heeled, mid-calf short cavalry boot known as the Hessian boot (the style was popular with German officers from the Hesse region).
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Wellington extended it upwards to protect the knee.
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In 1853, the American businessman Hiram Hutchinson stole this popular style for his new rubber boot factory in France, called A l’Aigle (“To the Eagle”, in honour of the United States: and now just Aigle), and the rubber Wellington boot was born.
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It was an immediate hit with people working on the land.
.
So, a short history of the welly: designed by Germans, named by an Irishman, manufactured by an American and first worn by soggy-footed French peasants.
.
Wellington extended it upwards to protect the knee.
.
In 1853, the American businessman Hiram Hutchinson stole this popular style for his new rubber boot factory in France, called A l’Aigle (“To the Eagle”, in honour of the United States: and now just Aigle), and the rubber Wellington boot was born.
.
It was an immediate hit with people working on the land.
.
So, a short history of the welly: designed by Germans, named by an Irishman, manufactured by an American and first worn by soggy-footed French peasants.
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