- 1493 Columbus brings rubber balls back from his journeys from the Aztecs
- 1736 French researchers discover on the Amazon that the natives gain a milky juice from “cahutchou”, the weeping tree. Today’s term ‘latex’ comes from the Spanish word for milk.
- um 1830 the vulcanization process is developed, helping rubber make a decisive breakthrough.
- 1876 Henry Wickham smuggles the strictly protected seeds of "hevea brasiliensis" – the botanical name of the rubber tree – to Europe, from where they are introduced to Sri Lanka and Singapore. The Brazilian rubber industry collapses. Until today, Asia remains the world’s largest natural latex producer.
- 1918 Rubber plantations assert themselves as the only economic production method.
History
The history of natural latex
- 1928 Development of the Dunlop process enables the production of latex foam mattresses.
- 40er Jahre A. Talalay develops an alternative process for the production of latex foam mattresses (Talalay method).
- 1997 Project EOPPSL is started in Sri Lanka. The main idea is to produce natural products from naturally re-growing raw materials in order to maintain the ecological and economic balance.