Rubber Band

Rubber bands were invented in 1823 by Sir Thomas Hancock of England but they were brought into the Twentieth Century by William H. Spencer who founded Alliance Rubber Company in 1923. While he worked full time for the railroad, he worked all of his off hours to develop a rubber band product that would expand its usage and better meet the needs of people using it.

He had seen newspapers, using carriers' old fold and toss method, flying down the streets of his neighborhood, spreading the news to the wind rather than the intended homeowners and thought... "there must be a better way." He was right. He spent hours in his garage cutting rubber bands out of inner tubes and then traveled on his "off time" to present his better mouse trap to newspapers.

They liked his idea and business grew as he traveled and presented his idea to the industry. To utilize his travel time most effectively, he began to look for other potential markets and added office supply stores to his itinerary. He then pioneered band use for produce, flowers and the Postal Service -- one of the nation's largest purchashers of rubber bands.

And now you know, the rest of the story.