On March 17, 1845, Stephen Perry (a British inventor and businessman) received a patent for the first rubber band.
Rubber band has been holding things together for the past 170 years. Cheap, reliable, and strong, the rubber band is one of the world’s most ubiquitous products.
Perry came up with the invention after Charles Goodyear introduced rubber to the world in 1839.
Perry invented the rubber band to hold papers or envelopes together.
Stephen Perry’s company Messers Perry and Co, Rubber Manufacturers of London made early products from vulcanized rubber.
Rubber bands are made by extruding the rubber into a long tube to provide its general shape, putting the tubes on mandrels, curing the rubber with heat, and then slicing it across the width of the tube into little bands. This causes the tube to split into multiple sections, creating a rubber band.
