One Soccer Ball means Another Pig to Crawl
June 26, 2008 by Esmalagu
Throughout the course of history, soccer ball has taken many forms before it has finally settled on its present standards. Every new design is aimed towards perfection. Technological advances brought about new innovations for the sake of this simple but significant creation on the sporting world.
The lowly beginning of this lively ball dates back to the ancient times because there were proven accounts on the early civilizations like early Egyptian civilization, South American Indians and can be traced back also to ancient Chinese Dynasty, the Ts’in and Han Dynasties.
Animal bladders was first used as an interior for the ball but as the time progresses, many synthetic materials were made to replace the original bladder due to some inconsistencies especially on its durability and shape maintenance.
The year was 1836 when Charles Goodyear, a world-famous rubber magnate patented the first vulcanized rubber ball but this rubber still uses pig’s bladder as its interior, which in turn produces a more fickle behavior when kicked. It was only during the 20th century that the ball’s interior was changed into rubber.
H.J. Lindon was the first to develop the inflatable bladder made of rubber. He was determined to change the ball’s interior into rubber because of the bad effects of the pig’s bladder. Furthermore, the rubber interior proved to stay in shape and more hard compared to that of the animal bladder.
From that time on, every ball that comes out of the production line seem to be more and more durable and enhanced, built to last for the harsh manner of the game. The pig bladder days of soccer balls are finally over.
Related Posts
Comments