Rubberband History

The rubberband has been used in many ways for many things: It has been a tool, a toy, a piece of jewelry, a musical band title, a musical instrument, part of a song title, and a weapon over the years.

Little known to most people who recognize March 17th as St. Patrick's Day, the great Irish holiday, it was on this day in 1845 that Stephen Perry patented the rubberband. Patented in England, it is also spelled as rubber band.

The rubberband is manufactured when rubber material is extruded into a long tube then cured with heat. After this process, it is sliced into little bands. There are many forms of synthetic rubber, but for the most part rubberbands are made from natural rubber because natural rubber is more elastic.

Today's rubberbands are different from Mr. Perry's in that the rubber is vulcanized--no, not turned into Mr. Spock, but made stronger, less sticky, more elastic and moderately temperature resistant. Vulcanization is a process involving high heat and the addition of sulfur resulting in the production of rubber molecules.

The rubberband is called several different things depending where you come from in the world. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA where it was commonly called a gum band. Other names include binder, elastic band and lackey band. No matter what you call it, the rubberband is one of the world's greatest inventions and has an endless number of uses.