In around 1000AD the native peoples of central and South America were already making clothes and footwear from latex from rubber trees, thanks to its waterproof qualities. It was in South America in 1731 that a French explorer sent back samples to Europe for the first time.

This created much scientific interest and in 1770, the English scientist Joseph Priestly discovered that pencil could be erased with the use of small pieces of rubber. This is why in the UK we still refer to erasers as ‘rubbers’.

During the early 1800s, a rubber coated cloth is used to make raincoats for the first time. This discovery led to Charles Macintosh refining the process and making a name for himself in the field of rubberised and waterproof coats.

In 1839 in the US, Charles Goodyear discovers how to vulcanise rubber, purely by accident! He dropped a piece of rubber that had been treated with sulfur onto a hot stove. For modern day Rubber Mouldings, visit Meadex

In 1882, John Dunlop becomes the inventor of the pneumatic tyre, a rubber tyre filled with air. With the advent of the motorised car not long after, there is now a huge demand for rubber tyres across the globe.

By 1910, an English chemist is the first person to deduce that rubber consists of long isoprene chains. During the 1930s, in Germany and the US there are further developments in the production of synthetic rubber.

During the 1940s, synthetic rubber is made for the first time in America by now world-famous names such as Goodyear, Goodrich and Firestone.