Rubber eraser

Rubber "crepe" eraser

Description

An eraser made from natural rubber. Erasers made from caoutchouc were first used in 1770 by Joseph Priestley. He dubbed the small elastic balls as 'rubbers' because they could remove pencil marks with a simple rubbing action.

Synonyms and Related Terms

goma de borrar de caucho (Esp.); gomme (Fr.), gomme à effacer (Fr.); gomma da cancellare (It)

Authority

• Hermann Kuhn, Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art and Antiquities, Butterworths, London, 1986

• Ivan Amato, Stuff: The Materials the World is Made of, Avon Books, New York, 1997