How did the rubber tree change war?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
September 24, 2002
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
In 1889, Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler, and Karl Benz built the first gasoline internal combustion engines in Germany. Henry Ford built the first in the U.S. in 1896. Rudolf Diesel made his first
working 'diesel' engine in 1897.
For the internal combustion engines to work correctly, seals, gaskets between metal parts, insulation over wiring, hoses, caps, and bushings were needed. Latex collected from wild Para trees (Hevea brasiliensis (Willdenow ex A. Jussieu) Müller Aargau) in the Amazon Basin filled most of these requirements.
Self-propelled vehicles remained elitist toys until 1908 when Ford created the assembly line for the production of his Model T. But it was not until the advent of World War I that the value of mechanization and rubber was realized.
World War I was a hodge-podge of military technology: cavalry troops, foot soldiers, horse-drawn wagons, trenches, cannons, mortars, airplanes, trucks, and tanks. When troops from the Central Powers (Germany and associated countries) invaded France in September 1914, they expected no resistance. It was taxis from the streets of Paris that brought the defenders to La Marne.
When Fritz Haber convinced Kaiser Wilhelm II to end the war quickly with the use of chlorine gas, and later phosgene and mustard gases, inventors responded with gas masks. Later models consisted of lenses surrounded by rubber gaskets to protect the eyes
and rubber hoses leading to charcoal canisters to filter the air.
Rubber use ranged from engines and tires of machines to the foot soldiers' rain gear. World War I marked the end of the dependency on horses to carry soldiers and supplies. It was also the end of the world's dependence on wild-tapped latex.
German chemists began searching for a synthetic rubber as the Central Powers were cut off from South American latex. Synthetic rubber was poor quality and wild-tapped latex was insufficient to supply the post-war mechanized world. World powers understood the need for multiple sources of latex.
Remarkably, Clements Markham, Joseph Hooker, and botanists forty years earlier came to the same conclusion--to cultivate rubber trees in India, Singapore, and Malaysia. ( See Plants that Changed History, September 17, 2002) By World War II, these plantations were supplying most of the world's rubber.
The PBS has posted a series of historical photographs from World War I. To view these photographs and to learn more, click on the link:
http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
Why was rubber a military priority? Plants that Changed History - October 1, 2002
What is Napalm? Plants that Changed History - October 8, 2002
What is Harry Lauder's walking stick? What's in a Name? - March 11, 2005
What is khaki? Herbal Folklore - May 26, 2003
|
BACK TO TOP
