QUICKSAND BY THE NUMBERS » ERASERS
1770
The year English chemist Joseph Priestley discovered “a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil.” The substance was rubber. You’d think this would be Priestley’s claim to fame, but no, four years after he found rubber, he discovered oxygen, which we think you’ll agree is a little more important than an eraser. Interestingly, today many erasers are made of vinyl.
1932
The year the electric eraser was invented by Arthur Dremel of Racine, Wisconsin. Though erasers had existed for centuries, the small motorized tool applied just the right amount of pressure when erasing to prevent “paper trauma,” which apparently is a real problem in the paper world. And yes, it’s that Dremel, the Dremel Multitool.
300
The number of years ago that bread was the original eraser. Yes, you read that right. Before it was discovered that rubber worked for correcting mistakes, moist bread was used to take pencil off of paper. And if you needed a snack while you edited your work, you already had one handy. Although, lead poisoning may have cropped up for those error prone.
6 | SAND& PINE MAGAZINE August/September 2021
6
The number of years a rubber tree has to grow before it can be tapped for its latex, which is then refined into rubber. The harvesting process doesn’t harm the tree and one tree will produce about 19 pounds of latex annually.
19,571
Number of nonduplicate erasers held in the World’s Largest Collection of Erasers according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Petra Engels of Germany started her collection in 1981 at 9 years old. Her collection has erasers from 112 countries.
130
The amount, in dollars, you’d pay for a Gucci magic eraser. It has the Gucci symbol engraved into it and comes in a black leather case. You can correct your mistakes in luxury.
