Composed of a rubber mix balanced with a high percentage ... “It is a close cousin of the football leather,” Horween says, “but it is definitely not the same. You would probably not play ...

No matter what football fans may say ... played a game that used a round rubber ball. Then, five years later, an oval leather ball, resembling the kind used in rugby, featured in the Harvard ...

Charles Goodyear patented vulcanised rubber in 1836 and made the first rubber football bladder in 1855 ... cow bladders in footballs covered with leather, it was only in the 20th century that ...

What’s more American than cheering as your football team sends a long ... footballs are now constructed from cowhide leather with synthetic rubber interiors), the shape and dimensions of the ...

Every coach of American-style football preaches it ... 4 inches, and weighing 14 to 15 ounces. A rubber bladder is surrounded by pebble-grained leather with the characteristic laces to provide ...

When football was first ... bullock bladders inside leather cases with the seams tied together with boot laces. These balls—with some modifications, including rubber bladders replacing the ...

These days, footballs are typically made from cowhide or vulcanized rubber, making their nickname “pigskins” somewhat ironic. Football fans often perpetuate the idea that footballs used to be ...

In the past century or so, football helmets have come a long way, evolving from crude “leatherheads” crafted by shoemakers to plastic-and-rubber hybrids ... than vintage leather ones at ...