The Eraser

Most homes and offices have somewhere in them a rubber or eraser. But this useful device for removing an error is a fairly recent invention. Before the 18th century, people had to use bread, a tablet of wax and even stones (sandstone or pumice) for wiping out mistakes.

It was Joseph Priestley (1733 – 1804), chemist, grammarian and theologian, who discovered rubber’s erasing properties and who coined the term ‘rubber’. However, he didn’t make it popular. That was done by engineer Edward Nairne, who developed the first widely marketed rubber eraser for an inventions competition. However, raw rubber was perishable, and in 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered the process of vulcanisation, which would cure rubber and make it durable. The first patent for a rubber attached to the end of a pencil was issued in 1858 and was granted to Hymen Lipman, although the patent was later invalidated when it was decided the invention was simply a composite of two objects rather than a new invention on its own.

Today, rubbers come in a variety of shapes, colours and sizes. They are usually now made of synthetic rubber and synthetic soy-based gum. You can also find high-quality plasticised vinyl erasers, which are softer and remove marks more effectively than traditional rubber ones. Engineers and architects like them for technical drawings as they do not smudge. An electric eraser was invented in 1932. There are fibreglass erasers, artists use kneaded erasers (also called putty rubbers), and poster putty. Did you ever have a scented eraser? I remember having one of those in my school pencil case.

A rubber or eraser is not something I use often, but when you do need one, nothing else will do the trick quite as well. I’m sure millions of authors have used a rubber to remove words that are not quite right, spelling mistakes and other errors. A rubber is another important tool in the process of writing.