{"id":829,"date":"2014-04-15T19:53:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T19:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/?p=829"},"modified":"2014-04-21T16:26:40","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T16:26:40","slug":"april-15th-is-eraser-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/april-15th-is-eraser-day\/","title":{"rendered":"April 15th is Eraser Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ERASER<\/a><\/p>\n

April 15th is National Rubber Eraser Day!<\/strong><\/p>\n

When\u00a0 celebrating the invention of the eraser, the names and stories of several European scientists intertwine: Frenchman Charles Marie de la Condamine, Portuguese Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, and Englishmen Edward Nairne and Joseph Priestley are collectively responsible for its discovery and use.<\/p>\n

Condamine was sent to South America in 1735 by the French Academy of Science to calculate the diameter of the Earth at the equator.\u00a0 In his travels through Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil, he was fascinated by caoutchouc, a milky white elastic substance produced under the bark of a tropical tree.\u00a0 He returned with samples in 1745.\u00a0 By 1752, Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, a Portuguese scientist who corresponded with internationally known scientists of his day, is thought to have been the person responsible for suggesting that caoutchouc be used as an eraser in the Proceedings of the French Academy<\/i>.\u00a0 Until that time, pieces of bread had been used to eliminate marks on paper. According to Inventors and Inventions<\/a>, Sir John Priestly noted the erasing properties of vegetable gum:\u00a0 “I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black pencil lead.”\u00a0By 1778, Priestley suggested that caoutchouc be called \u201crubber\u201d for its properties. A decade later, by 1790, the word \u201ceraser\u201d was in use and referred to the object used to remove pencil marks.<\/p>\n

In 1839, American Charles Goodyear developed and patented a process to keep the rubber material from rotting.\u00a0 The process, vulcanization which is named after the Roman god of fire, cured and stabilized the rubber.\u00a0 Today, erasers are made from synthetic rubber or vinyl.\u00a0 The engineering and production process involved can be seen in a short You Tube video by the Staedtler Corporation http:\/\/youtu.be\/FocX6Fews6k<\/a>\u00a0or in the article Eraser:\u00a0 Raw Materials and Manufacturing Process are described in detail at a site called: http:\/\/www.madehow.com\/Volume-5\/Eraser.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ERASER<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"ERASER<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources:<\/b><\/p>\n

Hyacinthe Magellan (2014) retrieved from\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.amphilsoc.org\/exhibits\/magellan\/magellan.htm<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Innovateus<\/a>, Edward Nairne (2006-2013) retrieved from\u00a0\u00a0http:\/\/www.innovateus.net\/inventor\/edward-nairne<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Online Etymology Dictionary (2001-2014) retrieved from http:\/\/etymonline.com\/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=eraser&searchmode=none<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, Charles Marie De La Condamine (1999)\u00a0http:\/\/www.phfawcettsweb.org\/condam.htm<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Patents:<\/p>\n

Combination of Lead-pencil and eraser (US 19783A) https:\/\/www.google.com\/patents\/US19783?dq=eraser&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_GVNU4qLL4KE2wXRhIHQAg&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April 15th is National Rubber Eraser Day! When\u00a0 celebrating the invention of the eraser, the names and stories of several European scientists intertwine: Frenchman Charles Marie de la Condamine, Portuguese Jean Hyacinthe de Magellan, and Englishmen Edward Nairne and Joseph Priestley are collectively responsible for its discovery and use. Condamine was sent to South AmericaContinue reading “April 15th is Eraser Day!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"syndication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":845,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}