History of the Rubber Duck

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The  earliest version of a ‘rubber duck’ first appeared in the late 1800s,  when American chemist Charles Goodyear (later of tyre fame) invented  vulcanised rubber – that’s rubber hardened via a process of heating with  sulfur, making it pliable, mouldable and, most importantly,  waterproof. Though, of course, the production of rubber toys wasn’t the  original intended purpose of the process, they certainly turned out to  be a happy bi-product!

The first ducks manufactured weren’t like the ducks we know today.  For a start they were solid, weighty creatures which, unsurprisingly,  didn’t float all that well (if at all!). In fact, the first rubber ducks  were intended to be used a chew toys, for both babies and dogs alike,  so you can imagine how unforgiving they might have been on tiny teeth!

E. Shannahan’s patent for a duck aquatic toy, filed 1931, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

It wasn’t until the 1930s that the rubber duck’s association with  bath-time began to materialize as a way of luring reluctant children  into the tub for a much-needed scrub! Around this time, two separate  duck bath toy products were developed, the first born from the mind of  an inventor from Maryland, and the other from an unlikely collaboration  between the Walt Disney Company and a latex manufacturer.

The first, invented in 1931 by Eleanor Shannahan of Maryland USA, was  designed as an aquatic toy that could sit either above or below the  surface of the bath, and would emit jets of water from the mouth and  other small holes. In her own words, the toys would “produce a  fountain like effect, and enable the playing of pranks by one person on  another by the squirting of a fine stream of spray upon the face or  other parts of a person”.  You can even view the original patent for the toy here.

As for Disney, their collaboration with Seiberling Latex Products in  1938 enabled them to create ‘bath floater’ toys, of which the most  popular pair were of course Donald and Donna Duck. (N.B. A bit of Disney  trivia for you all, Donna Duck was later renamed Daisy Duck, first  appearing as Daisy in the film Mr. Duck Steps Out in 1940).

Images from P. Ganine’s patent for a toy duck, 1947, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office

Rubber ducks really hit the big time when in 1947, a sculptor called Peter Ganine filed a patent for a duck toy that he had created out of vinyl. Painted bright yellow  and including their famous ‘squeaker’, the ducks were reproduced in  their thousands and sold across the world. Then, in 1970, their fame  grew to new heights when the song ‘Rubber Duckie’ was featured on Sesame Street, sung by everyone’s favourite character  Ernie. The song was such a hit that it even made it to number 11 in the  Billboard Charts in 1971!

Since then, rubber ducks have been making bath-time play-time for  children (and grown-ups) around the world. Along with the iconic yellow  and orange design, variants now exist in their hundreds, from every  colour imaginable, to ducks masquerading as Romans and Vikings. The list  goes on and on…

*Story told from:

https://www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk/articles/the-history-of-the-rubber-duck/