Rubber bands were invented March 17, 1845

St. Patrick’s Day is March 17. Consider wearing a green rubber wristband…in honor of the invention of the rubber band on March 17, 1845, in London, England.

Industrialist Stephen Perry was granted the patent to produce elastic bands from vulcanized natural rubber on this date. 

Hence, Perry is considered to be the true inventor of the rubber band, according to authors Markus Weber and Guido Deussing. 

(Their essay on the history of the rubber band promotes the upcoming 2025 international plastics and rubber industry trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany.) 

“The English-speaking world still continues to dominate the headlines where rubber bands are concerned: the biggest manufacturer in the world is based in the United States” – the Alliance Rubber Company of Hot Springs, Ark.

 

Weber and Deussing say rubber bands “are used to keep bank notes, letters and newspapers together, to make bunches of herbs, to braid hair into pigtails or to tie it into ponytails.” 

“Rubber bands of varying length and thickness, with the basic shape of an uninterrupted ring, hold everyday things together reliably. Their versatility and ubiquity mean that they are taken for granted almost as much as natural objects that are simply there without anyone having to invent or make them,” wrote Weber and Deussing.

 

“One of the reasons for this is that rubber bands have been in common use for many generations now and it is already almost 180 years since the patent for producing them was granted,” the authors said. 

Stephen Perry’s father was James Perry, a schoolmaster who became dissatisfied with the quality of existing writing pens. He decided to make his own steel pens by hand, creating James Perry and Co. in 1824 in Manchester. The business later moved to London. 

Soon, the “Perry pen” became the international synonym for excellence in steel pens. The company also sold a wide assortment of stationers’ supplies When James Perry died in 1843, Stephen took over management of the company.

 

After the introduction of rubber bands in 1845, the company became known as “Messrs. Perry and Co., Rubber Manufacturers of London.” 

Weber and Deussing said that “Perry made his ‘rubber rings’ by slicing hollow vulcanized rubber tubing into narrow strips. In the beginning, rubber bands were used almost exclusively to hold loose sheets of paper, newspapers and other paper products together.” 

Stephen Perry died in 1873, and little is known about the fate of his company. 

The story picks up again with William H. Spencer, who was born in 1891 in the small village of Schweizer, Ky., near Franklin. He became the founder of the Alliance Rubber Company in Alliance, Ohio, in 1923, while working a regular job with the Pennsylvania Railroad.

 Spencer’s first rubber bands were cut by hand from factory-reject bicycle inner tubes.

His first customer was the Akron Beacon-Journal newspaper as he convinced the circulation manager to secure newspapers with rubber bands for home delivery. Next, he solicited green grocers and produce markets to switch from string and twine to rubber bands.

For the first 14 years of Alliance, Spencer continued “to moonlight on the Pennsylvania Railroad to make our payroll and expenses and was finally able to quit the railroad in late 1937.” 

Spencer died in 1996 at age 94. His daughter, Bonnie Spencer Swayze, is now president and CEO.

Bonnie Spencer Swayze (right) and Misty Smith

 

Alliance Rubber Company observed its 100-year anniversary in 2023 and clings to its slogan: “Holding Your World Together.”

 

The key to success has been “elasticity,” commented Misty Smith, creative director. “We have doggedly stretched and flexed to meet the needs of our customers.”