The industrial Revolution - Universitat per a Majors

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10. RubberToday we take modern materials for granted and do notrealize that many are relatively recentdiscoveries or inventions. Rubber, forexample, is a vital component of carsand also supplies us with manydomestic items (hot waterballoons, etc.), officeerasers, etc.) and articles for(footballs, golf balls, tennisbottles, mattresses, toyproducts (rubber bands,leisure and entertainmentballs, etc.).Rubber was discovered by theSpanish invaders of SouthAmerica in the 15th – 16thcenturies, but despite this it wasnot until about 1730 that rubberwas introduced into Britain andnot until 1791 that its use for themackintosh (rubber raincoat) wasintroduced. Rubber was not widelyused as, with time, it deterioratedin air, becoming very sticky andunmanageable. This changeddramatically with the invention of“vulcanization”, in 1834.Taking latex from a rubber treeGoodyear found that cooking the material with raw sulphur stabilized itand also stiffened the products made with the substance. It came to be usedfor an increasing number of products, such as tyres, Wellington boots andimproved mackintoshes, and rubber and textile were combined to producewaterproof fabric. It took over 40 years to develop the heavy duty car tyreswe have today.As yet Brazil was the only supplier and growing demand made the pricesoar, creating rich entrepreneurs who exploited the natives that collectedthe raw latex from the rain forest. This commodity monopoly was brokenby taking young trees raised, from seeds collected in Brazil by Sir HenryWickham, in 1876, in greenhouses in London’s Kew Gardens andtransplanting them in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Malaysia in large36
plantations. <strong>The</strong>se countries were able to meet the rising demand of therubber industry, and the price of raw rubber fell dramatically.With the Second World War much of world’s natural rubber productionwas lost to the Japanese, resulting in the invention of synthetic rubber, ofwhich there are many types, made from gas or oil.Lots different types of synthetic rubber are available to designers today,many for special tasks requiring, for example, very high or lowtem<strong>per</strong>atures. Natural rubber is still a valuable international commodity,helping many developing countries to earn hard currency.Rubber plantation (Malaya)37
Page 1 and 2: Susan Edson1
Page 3 and 4: Indice:I. General Concept………
Page 5 and 6: 2. The Second Industrial Revolution
Page 7 and 8: culture ruled for themselves a comm
Page 9 and 10: II. Europe1. EnglandCan the term In
Page 11 and 12: 2. ScotlandThe Scottish Industrial
Page 13 and 14: particularly in coal-rich regions s
Page 15 and 16: Southern and eastern Europe, while
Page 17 and 18: III. U.S.A.1. The growth of U.S. in
Page 19 and 20: Although the conclusion was challen
Page 21 and 22: 3. AgricultureSince the founding of
Page 23 and 24: Then in 1920 the post war deflation
Page 25 and 26: 2. ApprenticeshipsAttitudes towards
Page 27 and 28: 3. Science and technologyThe histor
Page 29 and 30: 4. Machine toolsThe making of machi
Page 31 and 32: The invention of the sewing machine
Page 33 and 34: 7. The Steam Locomotive and the Ste
Page 35: 9. ArchitectureHenry Bessemer (1813
Page 39 and 40: Through the Victorian era, there wa
Page 41 and 42: Because of the gradual improvement
Page 43 and 44: Perhaps the next course to take sho

The industrial Revolution - Universitat per a Majors

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