“Jules Verne's story of travel to the moon would be as much science fiction if they went by rubber band."
Philip K. Dick, science fiction writer
Even though the Mesoamericans of Central America used rubber—made from the sap of the indigenous rubber tree—as early as 1600 B.C.E., it was not until the first half of the nineteenth century that American Charles Goodyear developed a chemical process to make commercially viable rubber. By adding sulfur to naturally milky latex and then heating the substance, he "vulcanized" the rubber, thereby making it harder and more durable. Six years later, in early 1845, Englishman Stephen Perry of Messrs Perry and Co. used this process to produce the world's first vulcanized rubber band.
Previously, fellow Englishman Thomas Hancock had produced rubber bands by cutting Central
American rubber bottles into sheets and slicing these into thin strips. In order to dispose of the resulting waste he invented a machine—the masticator—to shred it. However, the end result after the waste had ' gone through the machine was a homogeneous mass of rubber. Hence the masticator can be considered a forerunner of the modern rubber milling machine used to make rubber bands.
Unlike most rubber products, rubber bands are still made from natural rather than synthetic latex due to the former's superior elasticity. Rubber bands are used throughout all societies and industries, the U.S. Post Office being the biggest consumer worldwide.
