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A rubber band (also known as an elastic, gum band or lacky band) is a loop of rubber, usually ring or oval shaped, and commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845, by Stephen Perry.British Patent 13880/1845, "Specification of the Patent granted to Stephen Perry, of Woodland's-place, St. John's-wood, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, and Thomas Barnabas Daft, of Birmingham, Manufacturer, for Improvements in Springs to be applied to Girths, Belts, and Bandages, and Improvements in the Manufacture of Elastic Bands. — Sealed March 17, 1845", Most rubber bands are manufactured out of natural rubber as well as for latex free rubber bands or, especially at larger sizes, an elastomer, and are sold in a variety of sizes.
Notable developments in the evolution of rubber bands began in 1923 when William H. Spencer obtained a few Goodyear inner tubes and cut the bands by hand in his basement, where he founded Alliance Rubber Company. Spencer persuaded the Akron Beacon Journal as well as the Tulsa World to try wrapping their newspapers with one of his rubber bands to prevent them from blowing across lawns. He went on to pioneer other new markets for rubber bands such as: agricultural and industrial applications and a myriad of other uses. Spencer obtained a patent on February 19, 1957, for a new "Method for Making Elastic Bands" which produced rubber bands in an Open Ring design.
While other rubber products may use synthetic rubber, most rubber bands are primarily manufactured using natural rubber because of its superior elasticity.
Natural rubber originates from the latex of the rubber tree, which is acquired by tapping into the bark layers of the rubber tree. Rubber trees belong to the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) and only survive in hot, humid tropical climates near the equator, so the majority of latex is produced in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Once the latex has been tapped and is exposed to the air, it begins to harden and become elastic, or rubbery.
If one imagines a rubber band during manufacture, that is, a long tube of rubber on a mandrel, before it is sliced into rubber bands, the band's width is decided by how far apart the slices are cut, and its length by the circumference of the tube.
Generally, rubber bands are numbered from smallest to largest, width first. Thus, rubber bands numbered 8–19 are all inch wide, with lengths going from inch to inches. Rubber band numbers 30–35 are for width of inch, going again from shorter to longer. For even longer bands, the numbering starts over for numbers above 100, again starting at width inch.
| + Rubber band sizes | Size | Length (in) | Width (in) | Thickness (in) |
| 10 | ||||
| 12 | ||||
| 14 | 2 | |||
| 31 | ||||
| 32 | 3 | |||
| 33 | ||||
| 61 | 2 | |||
| 62 | ||||
| 63 | 3 | |||
| 64 | ||||
| 117 | 7 | |||
The result is that a rubber band behaves somewhat like an ideal monatomic gas inasmuch as (to good approximation) that elastic polymers do not store any potential energy in stretched chemical bonds. No elastic work is done to "stretch" molecules when work is done upon these bulk polymers. Instead, all work done to the rubber is "released" (not stored) and appears immediately in the polymer as thermal energy. Conversely, when the polymer does work on the surroundings (such as contracting to lift an object) it converts thermal energy to work in the process and cools in the same manner as an ideal gas, expanding while doing work.
Identical loops of inner tube are used by cavers and Cave diving, and in that context are called snoopy loops by the British caving and cave diving community. When they get lost they are recognizable as a common form of litter.
Snoopy loops are easily cut from discarded car and motorcycle inner tubes using a pair of scissors. A knife cut may leave a notched edge which can lead to tearing. Varying sizes of inner tube are used for different tasks. Uses in caving include sealing cuffs of oversuits and collars of boots against the ingress of water, holding kneepads and elbow pads in place or securing dive lines to small rocks. and have been used for first aid for strapping injured joints tightly in place.
Technical diving use small snoopy loops made from bicycle inner tubes to prevent backup lights clipped to a dive harness from dangling, and larger loops cut from car tubes are used to stow hoses against sling or sidemount cylinders.
The exact origin is unknown and has been subject to much speculation. The practice of using snoopy Loops has been claimed to have originated in Greece and spotted by Cave Diving Group members in the late 1970s. The practice was then propagated in Yorkshire Dales. Another claim is that snoopy loops were named by Dave Morris, a Cave Diving Group caver who noticed how they 'snooped' around boulders. It was considered a ridiculous name at the time. None of these claims are particularly plausible as the use is obvious and is likely to have originated independently in several places at earlier dates.
One of the first to use this method was pioneer aerodynamicist George Cayley, who used rubber band-driven motors for powering his small experimental models. These 'rubber motors' have also been used for powering small .
Steve Milton of Eugene, Oregon, previously held the record for the biggest rubber band ball beginning in 2006. During the construction of his rubber band ball, he was sponsored by OfficeMax, who sent him rubber bands to use for his ball.O'Brien, Cory. " …Steve Milton has one large rubber band ball? at Didnt You Hear…". Didn'tYouHear.com (November 25, 2006). His ball was approximately 175,000 rubber bands, tall (circumference: ), and weighed . He began building the ball, with help from his family, in November, 2005 and would store the ball in their garage." Rubber band ball sets record at 4,594 pounds. [7]". NBCNews.com/AP (11/22/2006). Accessed: November 18, 2017.
Before Steve Milton, the record was held by John Bain of Wilmington, Delaware, beginning in 1998.Footman, Tim; ed. (2000/2001). Guinness World Records 2001, p. 252. Mint/Guinness World Records. /. Guinness World Records 2005, p. 104. Guinness World Records 2006. In 2003, his ball weighed around , consisting of over 850,000 rubber bands and is tall (circumference: ). He put the ball up for auction in 2005,Williams, Chris. " Rubber band man comes to Chevy Chase auction. ". Gazette.net. (Oct. 5, 2005). Accessed: November 18, 2017. but he and his ball participated in Guinness World Records Day 2006. The bands were donated by two companies: Alliance Rubber and Textrip Ltd./Stretchwell Inc.
The former world record was set in 1978.
| Nov 13, 2008 | Joel Waul | Lauderhill, Florida | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 23 ft (7.0 m) | 4.516 t | ≈726,500 |
| Nov, 2006 | Steve Milton | Eugene, Oregon | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | 19 ft (5.8 m) | 2.3018 t | ≈175,000 |
| 1998 | John Bain | Wilmington, Delaware | 4 feet (1.2 m) | 12 feet 8 in (3.86 m) | 1.004 t | unknown |
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