Elastic Cord: Cotton Braided over a Stretched Rubber Strand (Blakesley 1889)

Braid cotton round a rubber strand while the rubber is stretched, and the cord springs back when it is let go. Gilbert Blakesley of Bristol, Connecticut set the stretch so that the braid stops the cord before the rubber is pulled past the point it fully recovers from, and so that at rest the rubber carries no tension at all. The braid protects the rubber and it lasts. Source: G. H. Blakesley, US 411,416 (1889). The rubber strand is our rubber thread blueprint; the tools are ours. Picture drawn by Youblob.