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 first, some background, as Charles Goodyear had to discover the secret of vulcanization.  This is the process of “curing” rubber so it can be molded as needed.  Before Mr. Goodyear’s invention of the vulcanization process, rubber — in its natural state — was practically impossible to work with.It is sticky and would not stay set in any particular shape.  But with vulcanization, rubber, once cooled, would stay in the same the shape as its mold.

But poor Mr. Goodyear did not benefit financially from his invention, though he was publicly honored by the Emperor of France, Napoleon himself, and recognized with many prestigious decorations.  His invention, however, went on to find many applications that would change the world.  One of these was dentures.  Rubber was a superior material for dentures, which in those days were often made of metal or even wood.Dentists had long been making their own dentures, and one of these many dentists had a curious nephew that realized the potential of rubber and eventually wound up manufacturing rubber stamps for the U.S. Postal Service.  This nephew was a certain Mr. James Woodruff, is often credited with having invented the quality rubber stamp we know today.  But there are, actually, many different accounts for the invention 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 rubber devices which we today would most immediately recognize as being a rubber stamp.

Another very popular and generally acknowledged account of the invention the rubber stamp involves a Mr. L.F. Witherell, who went so far as to compose a document titled “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, a problem developed one day with the paint that was used to mark the pumps.  The paint would run and hide necessary information underneath blotches.  Mr. Witherell came upon the notion of making stencils out of the 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, with which he could make many impressions of the necessary marks.

The one account held least likely concerns a Mr. Henry C. Leland, who was actually championed at the time by none other than the “Stamp Trade News,” published by a manufacturer of rubber stamps.But whatever its origins, there is no doubt that the rubber stamp itself has left quite an impression on our lives.

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