Rubber Vintage Postcards that Bounce

vintage potcards


Charles Goodyear was a soccer and (vintage postcard:) fan extraordinaire. He built this ball in 1855 out of vulcanized rubber panels glued at the seams.


Prior to this, balls were made out of irregularly shaped pig's bladders. The behavior of the ball was very unpredictable when kicked. Soccer players were also plagued with uncontrollable pork chop cravings.

Goodyear never made tires! The company was named in his honor 4 decades after his death. Rubber goods were sticky and decomposed quickly. The tenacious Goodyear (while in debtors prison) tried to solve this problem.

He eventually spilled a bit of rubber onto a stove and noticed that the charred piece was cured perfectly. Vulcanized rubber was born. Soccer players can cheer for Goodyear!

10 cool cats commented:

David said...

Marie, welcome back - Thanks for letting me know of your return.

Soccer is big with children here because it's a game that can be played by both genders and most communities have organized programs. My daughters played for a while and then lost interest. We have a professional league but it's not all that popular.

Daryl said...

Welcome back .. thanks for stopping by .. I would love to see the tic tac toe waffle iron!

:-Daryl

Katie said...

Hope you had a fun vacation! Do you send people postcards when you're on vacation?? Thanks for the very interesting story! And the final shot of the men is classic. All the crossed arms make them seem like formidable challengers on the soccer field. Allez les Bleus!!

M.K. said...

"Soccer players were also plagued with uncontrollable pork chop cravings."

You are a hoot!! Thanks for the fun blog reads.

Unknown said...

You are such a wealth of information! Thanks for giving me a good laugh with the baldness comment :O)

Sand

Tess Kincaid said...

Hi! I absolutely love vintage post cards. Your blog is wonderful!! Thanks for stopping by my place and for your kind comment.

Willow x

Starman said...

Thanks for your concern, but I'm as good as I'm ever going to be. I have COPD which is unfortunately incurable at this point in time.

Lori said...

I'm no expert on postcards, but that one with the big-eyed kid playing soccer is just adorable! (I AM an expert on adorable kids ;) )

Jane Hards Photography said...

I have to say I love this site. It's just so different. " The pork chop cravings" just cracked me up. I will never look at vulcanised rubber in the smae way again.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine trying to play soccer with a pig bladder! I'm not even any good with a perfectly round ball! Very interesting info, as always, Marie-Toe!