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, as Charles Goodyear had to discover the secret to vulcanization first. This is the process of “curing” rubber so it can be molded as needed. Before Mr. Goodyear invented the process of vulcanization, rubber — in its natural state — was not easy to work with at all.It is sticky and would not stay set in any given shape. But with vulcanization, rubber, once cooled, would hold the shape in which it had been set.
But unfortunately, poor Mr. Goodyear never did benefit financially from his invention, though he was publicly recognized by the Emperor of France, Napoleon himself, and prestigiously decorated with many honors. His invention, however, went on to find many applications that were to change the world. One of these was dentures. Rubber was deemed to be a great substitute 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 saw the potential of rubber and eventually wound up making rubber stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. The nephew was Mr. James Woodruff, is often credited with having invented the modern 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 generally popular and widely acknowledged account 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,” wherein 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 with the paint that was used to mark the pumps. The paint would run and hide necessary information underneath blotches. Mr. Witherell hit upon the notion of making stencils out of some 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, by which he could make repeated impressions of the necessary marks.
The one account considered least plausible involves a Mr. Henry C. Leland, who was actually championed, ironically, at the time by none other than the “Stamp Trade News,” published by a manufacturer of rubber stamps.But no mater its actual origins, there can be no doubt that the rubber stamp itself has left quite an impression on all our lives.