This question came up in one of my classes.
Mistakes are good!
So who invented the eraser?
Before the eraser, wax, or even bread, was used to erase pencil marks.
On April 15th 1770 the famous British scientist Joseph Priestley wrote that a vegetable gum, which he called rubber, was very good for erasing black pencil marks. So it is thought that Priestley discovered that rubber is for good for erasing.
But it is later in 1770 that Edward Nairne, a British engineer, first manufactured and sold the rubber eraser. Therefore Nairne is thought to have invented the eraser.
9 responses so far ↓
idk // May 11, 2009 at 6:57 am |
needed this for TUFPOH @ my school. thank you!
lojol // May 14, 2009 at 11:28 pm
You’re welcome, thanks.
Person // March 6, 2009 at 3:47 am |
thanks man,
lojol // February 20, 2009 at 10:26 am |
Thanks that kid, glad my little blog was of assistance.
that kid // February 20, 2009 at 4:45 am |
wow im writing a school paper on the history of the eraser and i thought i wouldnt be able to find anything!
lojol // January 27, 2009 at 6:27 pm |
Nice one, I’ll remember that.
dragonlife // January 26, 2009 at 8:54 pm |
Well, well, you learn something everyday!
Did you know that in Japanese, “kesu/erase” also means to kill?
There is famous joke of a gangster in this country who asks a hitman to kill someone.
He hands a photo of the “contract” to the killer who agrees he will do it immediately.
The latter then proceeds to take an eraser out of his pocket to erase the picture of his target on the photograph!
lojol // January 23, 2009 at 10:17 pm |
Good question. Perhaps we would all be saying “May I borrow your Nairne?”
My guess at an answer is simply that people in those days tended not to name inventions with their surname.
jyankee // January 23, 2009 at 9:16 pm |
then i wonder why the “eraser” wasn’t named after him??!!!!