| Rubber stamps have an interesting history for those | | | | such geneses could even stretch back to Mayan |
| who don't know that they might have been inspired by | | | | civilization! The version just presented here is among |
| dentures. Yes, it's true: dental dentures! But first off, | | | | the most widely accepted ones for those marking |
| Charles Goodyear had to discover the secret to | | | | devices which we today would most immediately |
| vulcanization. This is the process of "curing" rubber | | | | recognize as being rubber stamps. |
| such that it can be molded as needed. Before | | | | Another very popular and widely accepted contender |
| Goodyear's discovery, rubber -- in its natural state -- | | | | for the title of Inventor of The Rubber Stamp was L.F. |
| was not very practical to work with. It is sticky but | | | | Witherell, who went so far as to compose a |
| would not stay set in any one particular shape. With | | | | document with the name of "How I Came to Discover |
| vulcanization, rubber, once cooled, would hold the | | | | the Rubber Stamp". He claimed to have gotten |
| shape in which it had been molded. | | | | inspiration from his time as a foreman at a |
| Many applications were thus found for rubber (poor | | | | manufacturing facility of wooden pumps. Apparently, |
| Mr. Goodyear, incidentally, did not benefit financially | | | | there was an identification marking problem of some |
| from his invention, however, though he was publicly | | | | kind where the paint would run, creating blotches on |
| recognized by the Emperor of France and decorated | | | | these pumps. Witherell hit upon the idea of creating |
| with highly prestigious medals). One of these was | | | | stencils out of thin sheets of rubber packing. But while |
| dentures. Rubber was found to be a most welcome | | | | making the stencil, he thought to simply create thick |
| replacement for the dentures of that era, which were | | | | letters out of the rubber, then gluing them to a backing |
| often made out of metal or even wood! Dentists were | | | | of wood, with which he could make repeated |
| making their own dentures, and one of these dentists, it | | | | impressions of his own initials. |
| eventually turned out, had a curious nephew who | | | | The candidate considered least likely to be the inventor |
| started manufacturing rubber stamps for the U.S. | | | | of rubber stamps, Henry C. Leland, was actually |
| Postal Service. This nephew, James Woodruff, is | | | | championed, ironically, at the time by no other than in |
| credited with inventing the quality rubber stamp we | | | | an issue of the "Stamp Trade News" from a |
| have come to know. There are numerous, in fact, | | | | manufacturer of rubber stamps. But no matter the |
| numerous origins claimed of rubber stamps, and | | | | actual origins, there is no doubt that the rubber stamp |
| depending on how a rubber stamp is to be defined | | | | itself has made quite an impression on history. |