When Was Rubber Invented?
Last Updated Apr 3, 2020 2:26:24 AM ET
Rubber was invented in 1839 by Charles Goodyear. He accidentally dropped Sulphur and white latex from a rubber tree on a hot stove. This resulted in the formation of a dark elastic substance which came to be called vulcanized rubber.
Charles Goodyear experimented with rubber even while in jail in Philadelphia. He was bankrupt but continued to work with rubber until the day he discovered vulcanized rubber. Initially, the white sap from the Hevea tree in South America was used to produce vulcanized rubber. In Britain, it was used to rub out pencil marks, and the term rubber gradually stuck. The invention of vulcanized rubber brought sweeping changes in the industrial sector.
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