History of rubber being discovered

In Central and South America, rubber has been collected long ago. Central American croquet games use rubber balls. Some of the rubber balls unearthed there can be traced back to 1600 BC. According to the literature, the elasticity of these balls is excellent, and the visiting Spaniards have even thought that these balls have possession of evil spirits.

Rubber is also used as a strap for bolting a wooden handle to a stone or metal fixture, as well as a filler for the handle. The Mayans know how to make shoes from rubber.

Although Native Americans do not officially vulcanize rubber like modern people, they can still use organics to achieve similar effects, such as mixing unprocessed emulsions into different types of sap or some vine juices (special It is a certain species of Convolvulaceae).

Some indigenous people in Brazil use rubber to make waterproof fabrics. There have been rumors that the Portuguese brought these clothes back to the motherland, frightened the fellow countrymen, and were accused of witchcraft and tried.

After the rubber was introduced into the UK, it was found that this material was very effective in erasing the traces left by the pencil. So now the rubber English rubber is also used to describe the eraser. Interestingly, Americans nowadays use the eraser as an eraser, but rubber is used to describe condoms.

In 1493, the great Spanish explorer Columbus led the team to the South American continent for the first time. Here, the Spaniards saw Indian children and young people playing a game, singing songs throwing each other a small ball, which can rebound very high after landing, such as pinching in the hand will feel sticky And have a smoky flavor. The Spaniards also saw that the Indians applied some white thick liquid to the clothes, and the clothes were not rainy on rainy days; they also applied this white thick liquid to the feet, and the rain would not wet the feet. . As a result, the Spaniards initially learned about the elasticity and water resistance of rubber, but did not really understand the source of rubber.

In 1693, the French scientist Lacan reached South America and saw the indigenous people playing this kind of ball. The thinking and vision of scientists and soldiers are different. After searching for this kind of ball, it is known that this kind of ball is a kind of chopping. The Indians call it a "rubber" tree and the thick liquid that flows out is not made.

In 1736, French scientist Kang Damin brought back detailed information about rubber trees from Peru and published the "Travel History of South America in the Mainland". The book details the origin of rubber trees, the method of collecting latex and the utilization of rubber, which caused people's Pay attention to it.

In 1763, the French Mecca invented a solvent that softened the rubber.

In 1770, the British chemist J. Priestley discovered that rubber could be used to erase pencil writing. At that time, the material used for this purpose was called rubber, and the term has been used until now.