Before the invention of eraser, people used bread crumbs to erase pencil handwriting. This is because the structure of bread is loose and porous. When erasing toner, it can be adsorbed together to achieve the effect of erasing.

There were two popular claims about the invention of the eraser at that time:
Statement 1: in 1770, Joseph Priestley, a British scientist, said: "I saw a substance very suitable for erasing pencil handwriting." At that time, rubber particles cut into small cubes were used throughout Europe to erase handwriting. This material was called eraser.
Statement 2: also in 1770, Edward nemy, a British engineer, said that he accidentally picked up a piece of rubber as bread crumbs and found that it worked well, so he began to produce and sell erasers.

Early rubber was not popular because natural rubber was too sensitive to temperature. At a higher temperature, it will become soft and sticky, and at a lower temperature, it will become brittle and hard. This disadvantage made rubber products have no market, and the early rubber industry was in crisis without exception. It was not until 1839 that the inventor Charles Goodyear invented the rubber vulcanization technology that the eraser became reliable and durable.

Unlike most inventors, this invention, which consumed countless energy and infused with infinite hope, did not help him get rich, but made him poorer.

Goodyear is neither a chemist nor a scientist. In the factory, he works like a worker and tests all kinds of materials with rubber, so he spends a lot of time and money. After its unremitting experiments, in 1839, "rubber vulcanization technology" finally came out.

On November 6, 1841, the United States Patent Office recognized his invention. In the same year, despite poverty and physical illness, he put his invention into production. Before it produced benefits, he went bankrupt again and was put in prison. Later, because its "rubber vulcanization technology" was too easy to master, Goodyear fell into an endless struggle with infringers. On September 28, 1852, Goodyear won a decisive victory in the lawsuit, but these lawsuits also consumed a lot of Goodyear's time and money, and Goodyear was still poor.

On May 1, 1851, Goodyear took part in the Exhibition hosted by Queen Victoria by borrowing 30000 US dollars. His exhibits, from furniture to carpets, from combs to buttons, were made of rubber. Thousands of people visited his works. For this reason, he was awarded the Congressional Medal, the Hero Medal of honor of Napoleon III and the Legion hero cross.
But his creditors took him to court on the grounds that his invention did not benefit, and this time he went to prison with a medal. Goodyear died in poverty on June 1, 1860, when he still owed creditors $200000 to $600000.

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