Celebrate Rubber Eraser Day Every April 15

• By NSC
• 2 Comments.

 

 

On April 15 we celebrate Rubber Eraser Day!

Yes, yes we know it’s also Tax Day. But who wants to celebrate that? Collapse in relief that your returns are in on time, yes. But celebrate? Not so much.

Lucky for us all there’s Rubber Eraser Day to keep us sane. This useful tool is much more worthy of celebration.

And once upon a time–back when we wrote things in pencil on paper–rubber erasers were essential tools to have at hand.

Today the Delete key does their job. But that’s not much fun to celebrate, either.

Why April 15th? Because that’s the day, back in 1770, when Joseph Priestley described using vegetable gum to wipe away pencil marks. He wrote “I have seen a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black-lead-pencil. …”

This erasing properties of this “rubber” had been recently discovered by Edward Nairne. At the time pieces of bread were commonly used as erasers. One day Mr. Nairne picked up what he thought was a piece of bread to use as an eraser. It turned out to be a piece of rubber. When he noticed what a good job it did, he quickly began selling it.

Now these early erasers were raw rubber. They weren’t very durable. It wasn’t until after Charles Goodyear invented the vulcanization process for hardening rubber in 1839 that rubber erasers became common.

And the first pencil with an eraser on the end was created by Hymen Lipman in 1858.

Who created Rubber Eraser Day seems to be lost to history though (erased by time?). No matter, surely anyone who’s ever used an eraser will welcome the distraction of a trip down memory lane.

It’s a much more pleasant thought than taxes.

 

Kinds of Erasers

Today there are all kinds of different erasers.

Rubber erasers are the topic of the day, so let’s start there. They’re most likely what you used in school. The eraser on the back of your pencil. The “cap” erasers you put on the pencil end when the original eraser wore out. And those Pink Pearl block erasers.

Soft vinyl or plastic erasers actually work better than many rubber erasers for some uses. They also cause less damage to the paper than many rubber erasers, because they’re softer. But they’re not so good at erasing big areas or dark marks; they tend to smear trying to do those jobs.

Kneaded erasers are moldable rubber you can shape to erase precise areas or light marks. They’re also good for lightening marks without erasing them completely. Artists keep them in their toolkits for these uses.

There are also electric erasers, fiberglass erasers and art gum erasers among others.

Scroll down for some ideas on celebrating this unofficial, wipe-the-slate-clean holiday.

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Celebrating Rubber Eraser Day

Break out the trusty pencil, make some mistakes and then rub them out with a rubber eraser!

But make sure it’s a rubber eraser. The other erasers have their uses, but not on this day! It’s called Rubber Eraser Day. The only way to celebrate properly is with a rubber eraser.

Are you discovering a fascination with erasers? Start a collection of novelty erasers!

• Geddes Game Eraser Assortment
• Crayon Shaped Erasers
• Scented Cupcake Erasers
• Cute Food Rubber Pencil Eraser Set
• Iwako Eraser Sets: Set choices include fruit, Desserts, Animals, Zoo animals and more

 

Now novelty erasers are often made from vinyl or another material, not rubber. And many of the above don’t say what they’re made from one way or the other. But as long as you’ve used a rubber eraser today, we won’t tell.  ;)

Novelty erasers make great party favors, too!

So … will you be celebrating Rubber Eraser Day? How?

 

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