register > > India rubber

India rubber

raw materials, minerals, geology

A rubbery substance harvested from the latex of rubber trees.

Rubber can be processed to make different products, including automobile tires, clothing, chewing gum, gloves, erasers, etc. The name India rubber was used particularly in the English-speaking world. The substance was brought to the West from India in the 18th century by travellers, who gave it the name India. It was called rubber becuase of its ability to rub pencil marks from paper.

It is also known as Amazonian rubber, caoutchouc or natural rubber.

Traveljournal 1845

Traveljournal 1846

Traveljournal 1851

  • Fischer, Johann Conrad: Tagebücher. Bearbeitet von Karl Schib. Schaffhausen 1951.
  • Kautschuk. In: Lueger, Otto: Lexikon der gesamten Technik und ihrer Hilfswissenschaften 2. Auflage, Band 5. Stuttgart, Leipzig 1907, S. 412–416 (Zeno.org, Stand 25.2.2023). Siehe auch Eisenbibliothek Aa 182x.

Cite as: India rubber. In: Travel Reports of a Pioneer: Digital Edition of the Travel Journals of Johann Conrad Fischer 1794–1851. Published by Franziska Eggimann. Edited by Franziska Eggimann, Nicolau Lutz, Valerija Rukavina und Christopher Zoller-Blundell. Schlatt 2023, Version 1.2, https://johannconradfischer.com/en/keywords/gfa-keywords-8442, viewed on 6 January 2025.

[[title]]
Tapping a rubber tree for rubber in India (photograph by DelwarHossain, 2019)