''Civilization as we know it today is
wholly dependent upon rubber. It is a material of myriad uses, totally
unlike anything the world had previously known. It enters in a thousand
ways into the fabric of our daily lives. It is indispensable in
transportation, in communication, in furnishing us with light and power,
in cushioning our bodies and protecting our senses from the jars and
jolts, the noise and tumult of modern life. Foe of corrosion, abrasion
and vibration it aids industry in avoiding the payment of hundreds of
millions of dollars which these looters annually attempt to exact. Even
in helping us to spend our leisure, rubber is essential, for there are
few action games in which a rubber ball has no part. It is a servant
that follows us, literally, from the cradle to the grave. We are ushered
into the world by the rubber-covered hands of a doctor in surroundings
made sterile and quiet by this ubiquitous substance, and we make our
exit in a rubber-gasketed coffin hauled by a rubber-tired hearse.''
Quoted by the late Ralph Wolf, chemist and author, in an article in the
October 1964 edition of "Rubber World.
Rubber products industry is considered as an important resource-based
industry sector in India. The rubber industry has witnessed a steady and
strong growth, over the last two decades. When we talk about the rubber
industry, it means an industry manufacturing synthetic rubber and a wide
range of rubber products ranging from doormats to rubber bands to
industrial products. There are certain unique features of rubber which
makes it an important product which finds use in diverse fields as
transportation, material handling, health care, and sport and leisure
activities. Due to the diversity of rubber products manufactured, the
rubber industry services a range of downstream industries including
manufacturing, construction, and agriculture.
We give below an analysis of the various industries in which industrial
rubber products are used:
Industrial Applications