http://www.zihala.com/stencil-paint/
Enjoy Rubber Stamping? Here Is Some Interesting Information
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 first, some background, as Charles Goodyear had to discover the process of vulcanization. This is the process of “curing” rubber such that it can be molded as needed. Before Mr. Goodyear’s discovery, rubber — in its natural state — was not very practical to work with.It is sticky and does not stay set in a particular shape. But with vulcanization, rubber, once cooled, would stay in the shape in which it had been set.
Unhappily, poor Mr. Goodyear did not 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 soon change the world. One of these was dentures. Rubber was deermed 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 a nephew who realized the potential of rubber and eventually wound up manufacturing rubber stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. The nephew, Mr. James Woodruff, is often credited with having invented the rubber stamp we recognize today. But there exists, actually, many different stories about 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 very popular and widely acknowledged version of the invention the rubber stamp concerns a Mr. L.F. Witherell, who went so far as to compose “How I Came to Discover the Rubber Stamp,” in which 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 obscure necessary information with blotches. Mr. Witherell stumbled upon the notion of making stencils out of some thin sheets of rubber packing laying around. But while creating the stencil, he thought further and decided to simply create thick letters out of the rubber, then glue them to a backing of wood, with which he could make repeated impressions of the necessary marks.
The account held least likely involves a Mr. Henry C. Leland, who was even championed during his time by none other than the “Stamp Trade News,” published by a rubber stamp manufacturer.But whatever its actual origins, there can be no doubt that the rubber stamp itself has left quite an enduring impression on our world.
Stencil con paint.