The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
The first erasers, for wiping out lead pencil marks, were pieces of bread. The modern eraser made of rubber appeared in the eighteenth century. The first suggestion to use rubber--a vegetable gum from South America called caoutchouc--as an eraser was recorded in 1752, probably from a Frenchman named Jean de Magellan (1723-1790). In 1770 the English scientist Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) noted that he could use caoutchouc to rub out lead pencil marks in a manuscript. From this, caoutchouc got its familiar name of rubber, and in Great Britain erasers are still called rubbers. The idea for attaching a rubber eraser to the end of a pencil was patented in 1858 by both Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Rechendorfer of New York City. The eraser with a hollowed-out end into which a pencil could be inserted was invented by J. B. Blair of Philadelphia in 1867; earlier versions also existed.Modern erasers are a mixture of rubber, vegetable oil, sulfur, and pumice.Erasableink is used on some pens. Plastic and synthetic rubber are also used to produce erasers.