Rubbers (white oval)

Rubbers are often thought of as a simple piece of stationery: the little blob we turn to as a last resort when we’ve made a mistake. However, there are an enormous variety of different erasers for different jobs: sticky putty rubbers for lifting charcoal dust and blotting colour, soft gum rubbers that crumble as soon as you look at them, hard and gritty rubbers that can remove ink but will shred a soft paper surface given half a chance, and those cheap and squeaky rubbers that seem to only smear and make more mess. This profusion of different deleting tools is the result of the variety and versatility of the materials they’re made from.

Confusingly, even though rubber-the-material is named after rubber-the-tool-for-erasing-pencil-marks, not all erasers are made from rubber. The original eraser, developed in 1770 by British engineer Edward Nairne, was made from natural rubber, otherwise known as caoutchouc, latex or gum elastic. Until the discovery of the process of vulcanization, these natural rubbers tended to degrade quickly. However, the invention of non-perishable natural rubber allowed it to successfully take over all pencil-rubbing-out duties from its mouldy, short-lived precursor: moist, balled-up bread (which you can still use at a pinch for soft writing and drawing materials). Latex is still used in some rubbers to this day, and can be recognised by its distinctive dusty feel. However, many of the rubbers you’ll find in WHSmith are made from synthetic rubber or plastic. Gradual advances in the manufacture of synthetic elastomers over the course of the 20th century eventually led to much more control over their hardness, elasticity, shape, colour and scent, making possible novelty rubbers that are shaped like, and smell like, a banana. These three rubbers are made from just such a soft, synthetic rubber.

Read more about rubbers on our blog in this long form ode to erasers.