Caoutchouc is an elastic gummy substance, chemically a hydrocarbon, contained in the milky juice of a number of tropical trees of various orders, among the chief being the Siphonia elastica (Hevea elastica) and others of the same genus growing in South America. The name is also used as an equivalent of india-rubber, but strictly caoutchouc is only the chief ingredient of india-rubber. The crude india-rubber is most commonly obtained by making incisions in the trunks of the trees, whence the sap exudes in the form of a milky fluid which gradually thickens and solidifies.
Caoutchouc is a non-conductor of electricity and a bad conductor of heat. It is not dissolved by water, hot or cold, but chloroform, oil of turpentine, bisulphide of carbon, etc, dissolve it. It was not until about the year 1736 that india-rubber (now popularly known as simply rubber) was known in Europe. It was at first only used to rub out pencil-marks, but before the end of the 19th century it was used to render leather and other substances water-tight, and in 1823 Macintosh took out a patent for the waterproof materials prepared with caoutchouc which bear his name. Latterly its uses have become innumerable. Gutta percha is a similar substance to caoutchouc, and is often popularly confounded with it. Research Caoutchouc
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Abbreviations
SciTech
Research Caoutchouc
