Rubber Stamps have an interesting history for those who don’t know that they might have been inspired by dentures. Yes, it’s true: dental dentures! But now, some background, because Charles Goodyear had to first discover the secret to vulcanization. This is the process of “curing” rubber so it can be molded as needed. Before Mr. Goodyear’s discovery, rubber — in its natural state — was jsut about impossible to work with.It is sticky and does not stay set in any one particular shape. But with vulcanization, rubber, once cooled, would stay in the shape of its mold.
But poor Mr. Goodyear did not benefit financially from his invention, though he was publicly recognized by the Emperor of France, Napoleon himself, and prestigiously decorated with many prestigious honors. His invention, however, went on to find many applications that would change the world. One of these was dentures. Rubber was an excellent replacement material for the dentures of the day, which were often made of metal or even wood.Dentists had long been making their own dentures, and one of these many dentists had an inquisitive nephew who realized the potential of rubber and eventually wound up manufacturing rubber stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. The nephew was Mr. James Woodruff, is often credited with the invention of the quality rubber stamp we know today. But there are, actually, many different accounts of the origins of rubber stamps, depending on exactly how a rubber stamp is defined, with one even stretching all the way back to the ancient Mayans! This version just presented is among the most widely accepted accounts for the marking devices which we today would most immediately recognize as being a rubber stamp.
Another very popular and widely acknowledged version of the invention the rubber stamp involves a Mr. L.F. Witherell, who went so far as to compose “How I Came to Discover the Rubber Stamp,” in which he claimed to have been inspired during work as a foreman at a wooden pump manufacturing facility. According to Mr. Witherell, there was a problem one day that concerned the paint that was used to mark the pumps. The paint would run and obscure necessary information. Mr. Witherell stumbled on the idea of creating stencils out of some thin sheets of rubber packing laying around. But while making the stencil, he thought further and decided to simply create thick letters out of the rubber, then glue them to a backing of wood, by which he could make repeated impressions of the necessary marks.
The account considered least plausible involves a Mr. Henry C. Leland, who was even championed at the time by none other than the “Stamp Trade News,” published by a rubber stamp manufacturer.But whatever its actual origins, there is no doubt that the rubber stamp itself has left quite an enduring impression on our lives.
