Answers to Rubber Stamping Trivia
(Supplied by Jan Donovan)

1. Can you tell me the names of the three different men who are credited with
the invention of the Rubber Stamp?
    L. F. Witherell of Illinois - 1866
    James Orton Woodruff of Auburn, NY - 1864
    Henry C. Leland of Lee, Mass - 1864

2. Can you tell me the dates?
    See above

3. Can you tell me the stories involved?
    Witherell -
    Was stenciling numbers onto metal pumps and the paint ran.
    He cut out shapes of numbers and letters from thin sheets
    of rubber packing and glued them to a piece of old bedpost.
    He inked the creation on a leather ink pad and rolled the
    bedpost over the pump and made a good impression on it
    without the mess.

    Woodruff -
    While visiting a shop that manufactured patent washtubs he
    observed names and other identifying information being printed
    on the tubs with a curved wooden block which had rubber
    letters mounted on it. The letters had been carved from flat
    rubber. While watching the tab markings, he speculated that if
    impressions of letters were made in vulcanizer molds, one could
    produce vulcanized-rubber letters. After playing and experimenting
    he proceeded to outfit a factory with a modified version of the
    dental vulcanizer. He made his mounts of black walnut. He ran his
    first RS advertisement in the "Northern Christian Advocate".

    Leland -
    While on the road selling what were probably early metal-
    dating and cancellation hand stamps, a broom manufacturer
    suggested that if Leland could supply a stamp that could be
    rolled around a broom handle to print a label, it would be a
    good thing. Shortly after that Leland changed jobs and went to
    work in a print shop and began toying with the idea. While working
    on his idea, a relative took his work and information and sold
    it for a petty sum to some novelty people. Leland left NY in
    disgust and went on the road selling rubber initial stamps.

    Who do you think deserves the most credit?

4. Can you tell me who first actually commercialized the making of rubber
stamps?

    J. F. W. Dorman who started out at 16 as a traveling stencil
    salesman. He made a short career on the stage before the Civil War
    where he met another actor and learned the technique of making
    rubber stamps. His greatest contribution to RS is his work with
    the vulcanizer. His company is still in business today making
    vulcanizers.

5. What year was the International Stamp Trade Manufacturers Association
formed?

    In 1911 by M. L. Willard and Charles F. Safford

6. What radio program for children, sponsored by Kellogg's, wove a mystery
around rubber stamps in 1938?

    The Don Winslow Radio Program For Children

7. Who patented vulcanization of rubber and when did they do this?

    Goodyear in June 1844

8. Can you tell me how a rubber stamp stopped a robbery once?

    A robber attempted to hold up Mike Zaversenuk, a clerk for
    a Timmins hotel. Mr. Zaversenuk hurled a rubber stamp at
    the intruder's head. The gunman turned and ran.

9. What unusual rubber stamps did a street hawker use in 1912 in Paris to get around the police decree forbidding the dropping of advertising handbills on the streets and sidewalks of Paris?

    Rubber Stamp Shoes. A hawker made a pair of shoes with very
    large rubber stamp soles. He kept the ink pads damp with water
    from a can on his back. The water flowed down pipes which he
    had hidden under his clothes onto the pads.

10. What company has offered rubber stamps as prizes in their food products from time to time?

    Kellogg's has since 1938.