If you have come to this page from a search engine please click here for  a full site map and access to all  site pages

Home > Serendipity             

 

Serendipity: the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.

 

Here you will find bits and pieces related to rubber which do not fit into the main structure of the site but which I have come across and jotted down. All will be unexpected and hopefully some will be happy experiences.

 

             Charles Macintosh & Co. – The story of the business.

             Conrad Poppenhusen – Who? you may well ask.

             Eva Hesse. A short biography of the German-American artist who used latex in many

of her artworks.

             Gutta Percha. The rise and fall of Gutta Percha during the 19th century

             Marlborough Cottage. The London Home of Thomas Hancock and family

             Photo Galleries:

This link takes you to an index of high resolution pictures of famous people

 in the story of rubber

Follow this for illustrations from the turn of the 18/19th centuries showing the

treatment of rubber in Amazonia and its shipment to the US.

                                The story of natural rubber production told in words and pictures.

             Rubber in steam railways. This link takes you to a review by an ex-colleague.

             The development of the motor tyre.

             Vulcanization. Did Charles Goodyear really discover vulcanization or was it the

unknown Mr Eli of Boston?

             1886. Some snippets from the 1886 edition of the India Rubber and Gutta Percha

            and Electrical Trades Journal (later to become the IRJ and even later the ERJ.

            I found them interesting and more might follow!

             Lakelandelements sells a wide range of traditional made-to-measure raincoats to suit every occasion, but on her website Lorraine celebrates the cult of the traditional 'mackintosh' in “Lorraine’s Rainwear Club” which contains a vast number of pages relating to different aspects of this ubiquitous article. The link http://www.lakelandelements.com/rainwearhistory/rainwearhistoryindex.htm” takes you to rainwear history which includes the complete e-text of Hancock’s “Personal Narrative”. Work backwards from here through links in the top right to “chillout room” then “club foyer” and then to “SHOP” in the bottom left. If you love Mackintoshes – rubber or plastic -  you’ll love this site!

 

I need to dispose of 48 bound volumes (one more unbound but the complete year loose) of the “India Rubber Journal” from 1887 to 1938 – known in its early days as “The India-Rubber and Gutta-Percha and Electrical Trades Journal”.

 

I just need the space!

 

They are available to a good home at no charge provided the “buyer” arranges collection. They require about 2.2metres of shelf-space.

 

 

Natural Rubbers - what's in a name?
The Mesoamericans
The Ball Game
Popol Vuh – The Mayan ‘Book of Life’
Rubber goes East
The Putumayo Affair
Growth of the Synthethics

Latex Processing
Dry Rubber Processing
Vulcanization
Ageing
Protective Agents
Conservation

Charles Marie de la Condamine
François Fresneau
Charles Goodyear
Nathaniel Hayward
Thomas Hancock
Leopold II of Belgium, E D Morel & the Congo
Stephen Moulton
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Wickham

Wallace Carothers
Waldo Semon