Top F.A.Q.'s
What's the history behind rubber stamps?
Have you ever wondered where those ingenious and time saving rubber stamps originated? The true story about these rubbers stamps really began with The Chamberlain Brass Wheel Ribbon Dating Stamp which was first seen in the early 1860’s and one other known as the B.B. Hill’s Brass Wheel Ribbon Ticket Dater. Throughout history, you will find reference to Hill as "the father of the mechanical hand stamp."
During the civil war, the popularity of this type of stamp grew with the union army issuing revenue stamps with stampings such as notes, drafts, bills, checks, and more stamped on the various documents. However, these hand stamps are nothing like the ones we see today and of course, things had to be changed for convenience and speed.
The true history of the rubber stamp has been veiled in mystery. You can find reference to the ones mentioned above along with L.F. Witherell of Knoxville, Illinois when he read a paper in June of 1916 at the stamps men convention titled, "How I Came to the Discover the Rubber Stamp." In this paper, he claimed it was by accident in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1866.
Other names you will hear include James Orton Woodruff of Auburn, New York dated back to 1864 in which he visited a washtub shop that had a printed curved wooded block on the tub with rubber letters. After, this he worked on creating a letter mold.
In 1873, the R.H. Smith Manufacturing Company exported the first stamp-making outfit to Peru.
However, if you are searching for the exact patent of the rubber stamp then you do not have to go back too far in history. The United States patent Office has documentation from August 18, 1959 whereas Fred R. Tannery of New York, New York filed a patent for the rubber stamp. The invention was a rubber stamp type structure that was hand held with the means of interchanging characters mounted on the device.
