Rubber Stamps

History of Rubber Stamps

Rubber stamps have been around for a long time.  Their heyday is most notably attributed to the civil war era where their usage was require on virtually all business paper work.  The discovery of the rubber in the stamps dates back to 1839 where Charles Goodyear had discovered when mixing sulfer and a little bit of rubber it cured (vulcanized).  The original inventor of the rubber stamp is unknown to this day, due to a lot of confusion and due to some individuals claiming that they had invented it.  Most believe that James Orton Woodruff is the original inventor, but there is no certainty.

Stamps – Form & Function

Rubber stamps were usually attached to another object (a piece of wood, or some other sort of block).  The stamps come in all different variations, colors, shapes etc.  There is probably a rubber stamp for most anything that you can think of.

Most commonly rubbers stamps are used for seals of official documents.  Stamps have become a foundational part of how businesses function daily, legitimizing various documents i.e. ‘paid’, ‘your copy’, ‘return to sender’, etc.  Companies also use rubber stamps to put their organizations address or their company’s logo.

The Future

With the advent of technology the use of rubber stamps is becoming less and less important.  You can easily arrive at ’similar’ results through the use of word processing programs or some other mechanical device.

Another sub group of the rubber stamp is the art category.  Many people in other countries believe that this is more of a ‘toy’ category and is mainly suited for children.  There are a good deal of collectors who have acquired a lot of different types of stamping equipment and would argue on the comment that they are toys.

Whatever the future of the rubber stamp, there is no doubt that it had played an important part in history.  Many people will continue to collect rubber stamps, and their usage is still going fairly strong in todays modern businesses.