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Rubber Stamps: Denture Inspired, Business Approved

By Paul Wise

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Published: 27Aug2009
Word count: 439
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Rubber stamps have a very interesting history. Did you know that they were inspired by dentures? It's true! What happened was, first Charles Goodyear had to discover the process of vulcanization. He was the one who discovered how to "cure" rubber. In its natural state, rubber is not very practical to work with; it's sticky and does not stay set in a particular shape. With vulcanization discovered, people could mold rubber as they wish and, once cooled, the vulcanized rubber would hold its new shape.

Many applications were thus found for rubber (poor Mr. Goodyear, incidentally, did not benefit financially from his invention, however, though he was publicly recognized by the Emperor of France and decorated with highly prestigious medals). One of these was dentures. Rubber was found to be a most welcome replacement for the dentures of that era, which were often made out of metal or even wood! Dentists were making their own dentures, and one of these dentists, it eventually turned out, had a curious nephew who started manufacturing rubber stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. This nephew, James Woodruff, is credited with inventing the quality rubber stamp we have come to know. There are, actually, many different origins for rubber stamps, depending on exactly how a rubber stamp is to be defined, with some stretching back to Mayan civilization! The version just presented here is among the most widely accepted ones for those marking devices which we today would most immediately recognize as being rubber stamps.

Another very popular and widely accepted contender for the title of Inventor of The Rubber Stamp was L.F. Witherell, who even wrote a paper claiming the honor, titled "How I Came to Discover the Rubber Stamp." He claimed to have gotten inspiration from his work as a foreman at a wooden pump manufacturing facility. Apparently, there was an identification marking problem of some kind where the paint would run, creating blotches on these pumps. Witherell hit upon the idea of creating stencils out of thin sheets of rubber packing. But while making the stencil, he then thought to just create thick letters out of the rubber and glue them to a piece of wood, which he did, therewith making an impression of his own initials.

The candidate considered least likely to be the inventor of rubber stamps, Henry C. Leland, was actually championed, ironically, at the time by no other than in an issue of the "Stamp Trade News" from a manufacturer of rubber stamps. But whatever the actual origins, there is no doubt that the rubber stamp itself has left quite an impression on our lives.

Article written by Paul Wise. Paul has done extensive research on Rubber Stamps. If you need a Self Inking Stamp or any other type of rubber stamp, visit IdealStampShop.com.

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