Old West Rubber

[Two-Step]

I have posted this at other forums and sites and thought that some of you all might be interested in it too.

Knowing that there are a lot of people who doubt the dubiousness of using rubber for period costuming and attire, I decided to do some research into rubber, it's uses, and history of this wonderful "modern" marvel.

I was very surprised by a lot of what I discovered, as will probably most of you who happen to read this will be. While I am sure that there will always be those who disdain rubber and anything remotely modern, rubber is one of those things that probably should be readily added to any reenactors arsenal of goodies.
The thing that surprises me the most is that there are a great deal of historians and history buffs here, yet none seem to recognize the history of rubber and how it has played a very large role in the very history that they claim to be so very passionate about.

While I am sure that this essay will stir up a ruckus and my offends some sensibilities, I hope that it will also serve to educate us all and settle at least some disputes regarding this wonderful and miraculous modern marvel.

The word ‘rubber’ itself did not come into use until the 1770’s and it was another hundred or more years before it was adopted by scientists who preferred the ‘classical’ caoutchouc.

Natural rubber, Indiarubber or Caoutchouc are all names for the solid elastic material isolated, one way or another, from the ‘milk’ or latex of various plants.

Frenando Hernandez produced a survey regarding the natural resources of Mexico in the 1570’s which was only published in 1649. In that essay he he wrote a great deal about the rubber-producing tree which is now known as Castilla elastica. He wrote: "When the bark is tapped a gum flows out which is called 'holli' by the Indians....the gum is so resilient that, properly prepared and shaped into round balls these balls can be used for the same purpose as our Spanish inflated leather balls.

Natural rubber is often vulcanized, a process by which the rubber is heated and sulfur, peroxide or bisphenol are added to improve resilience and elasticity, and to prevent it from perishing. Vulcanization greatly improved the durability and utility of rubber from the 1830s

The early uses of the material were quite limited. Initially the problem of natural rubber was its sensitivity to temperature changes, which altered its shape and consistency. In 1839 Charles Goodyear improved the process called vulcanization, which modified rubber so that it would support extreme temperatures. It was then that natural rubber became suitable for producing hoses, tires, industrial bands, sheets, shoes, shoe soles, and other products.

A timeline of rubber, as relavent to its use in the "old west" era

- 1803 The first known ‘Rubber Factory’ (to make elastic bands) built near Paris.
- 1810 John Bright & Bros was founded to supply cloth and fabric for rubber belting manufacturers.
- 1813 first patent for making inflatable articles from rubber interior-coated fabrics – beds, cushions etc.
- 1819 first started using rubber solutions to coat fabrics and manufactured articles – gloves, etc.
- 1820 First patent for dry rubber; cut strips for elasticating clothes, braces etc. Opened a factory in London which became ‘James Lyne Hancock’.
- 1820 Dipped shoes, which where made in South America, appeared in the USA
- 1824 UK Obtained the first authenticated sample of latex in the UK and proposed using it to saturate fibres and compress to make ‘artificial leather’. First rubber belting from these materials.
- 1825 First native rubber shoes sold in the US.
- 1828 Water beds containing warm water used in Wales to assist miners with hypothermia.
- 1828 Patent granted for rubber thread wrapped with fabrics to give elastic woven webs.
- 1830 Use of latex for dresses and ornaments.
- 1831 Rubber/turps/lampblack paint to waterproof leather.
- 1832 Roxbury India Rubber Co. began manufacture of rubber footwear in the US.
- 1833 Patent granted for sticking shoe and boot soles on with rubber.
- 1835 Introduceion of rubber billiard table cushions.
- 1841 First commercial vulcanized material – rubber thread for “shirred” cloth.
- 1843 1st US vulcanization patent applied for by Charles Goodyear
- 1845 Patent granted for elastic bands as well as Girths, Belts and Bandages
- 1851 Vulcanized rubber shoes being manufactured at a rate of over 5,000,000 pairs annualy.
- 1853 Rubber sole with leather edging (to sew to uppers) appeared.
- 1856 Scotland UK manufacture of vulcanized rubber shoes began in Scotland to avoid Hancock’s English patent.
- 1868 shoes where produced with a vulcanized rubber sole fused to a canvas upper. Reputedly known as the ‘felonies’ and also ‘brothel creepers’.
- 1877 Patented was granted for rubber golf balls.
- 1884 Producion of a light-weight four stroke petrol engine which would fit in a ‘horseless carriage’
- 1885 Daimler & Benz Manufactured the first motor car. ( relavent because of the "boom" for the rubber industry it caused).
- 1896 Introducion of the first pneumatic motor car tyre (now tire) in the US.

I hope that you enjoyed reading my FYI post about old west rubber.

[Delmonico]

A couple catalogs from Goodyear from the period:

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?eaa:1:./temp/~ammem_KaTz::

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?eaa:5:./temp/~ammem_KaTz::

[Forty Rod]

I'm not getting anything Del.

[Advertising]

[Delmonico]

Stupid Security Links, Annie Lee asked them folks about them and she explained it to me.  go to:

.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/advertising/

Type rubber into the search, catalog 1 and 5.

[Forty Rod]

What a gold mine.  I'll be back there a lot.

Thanks to both of you.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Thanks, pards.

Slim