Rubber animal
A rubber animal is an inflatable toy in the form of a (fantasy) animal. Contrary to what the name suggests, rubber animals are now made of soft PVC . Most rubber animals are used as bath toys for riding on the water.
history
Inflatable rubber animals have been around since the 1920s. In the beginning, they were actually made of rubber: The start of seamless production with special machines in Germany dates back to 1921. Their use as bath toys has only gradually established itself: Die Illustrierte Die Woche reported in 1924: "According to the latest fashion, young ladies in American seaside resorts take large rubber animals with them to ride around in the water."
From the 1960s onwards, rubber animals, analogous to beach balls, made of soft plastic film, which are common today, became popular.
Typical manifestations
The species most commonly reproduced as rubber animals are dolphins , especially orca whales , followed by sharks . On the one hand, their zeppelin-shaped body without larger extremities allows relatively inexpensive production, and on the other hand, the usual design with a wide, horizontally arranged tail fin as a stabilizing float makes it easier to use as a riding animal when bathing.
Also relatively popular variants are alligators, sea turtles, yellow giant ducks, swans, water snakes and dragons. Land animals like horses, unicorns, zebras, and giant wolves are very rare; nevertheless they are also manufactured as rubber animals.
Material and workmanship
Rubber animals have a skin made of PVC film, usually 240 to 360 µm thick, which has to be filled with air in order to develop the body. The popular marine mammals often have two separate air chambers for the body and caudal fin. Each air chamber has a stopper valve through which the necessary air can be supplied and, if necessary, drained again.
The PVC skin is designed with colored imprints (often according to the children's scheme); It consists of several strips that are high-frequency welded together to form the three-dimensional shape of the rubber marker. The weld seams are natural weak points in the construction that tend to tear after some time of use.
The length of rubber animals is usually in the range of one to two meters, so that larger specimens require over a hundred liters of air for filling. Larger rubber animals are often equipped with handles in the front area, which makes it easier to sit on.
hazards
Drown
Rubber animals are not swimming aids . Their use as a water toy is a risk, especially for children and non-swimmers, because they can quickly be driven far from the shore or coast by being susceptible to wind and currents. But even experienced swimmers can dangerously overestimate themselves when trying to catch a drifting rubber animal. Rubber animals are therefore forbidden on some beaches (for example on the West Frisian Islands) and should only be taken into the water in areas with little current and in onshore wind conditions.
Suffocation
Younger children are at risk of suffocation if they get the idea of crawling into the empty shells of rubber animals. Therefore, they should only play with it under adult supervision.
Toxicity
Through direct contact with rubber animals and similar water toys, poisonous softening substances can be absorbed through the skin . a. are suspected of causing cancer. Frequently used phthalates as plasticizers that act in men on hormonal activity. Exposure limit values were defined against this risk in the European toy directive 2009/48 / EC and certain phthalates were completely banned by the chemicals regulation REACH .
Tests by TÜV Rheinland of rubber animals and other inflatable bathing articles that were bought in beach shops in various European countries in 2009 and 2010 have found, in addition to other defects, inadmissibly high levels of these pollutants; In the 2010 test, 29 of the 88 products examined were criticized for this reason alone.
Special uses
In addition to normal use as a bath toy, the following uses of rubber animals are documented:
Behavioral research
Bernhard Grzimek had a German toy company make life-size rubber animal dummies of lions, elephants and rhinos to see how the real animals react to them. But the elephants were not fooled and took no notice of the rubber animals.
Demonstrations
Rubber animals are often used as eye-catchers at demonstrations, mostly to protect the animal species shown. The environmental protection organization Greenpeace worked with life-size inflatable whales for appropriate actions in public spaces. Because of their conspicuousness, rubber animals are also used in demonstrations on other topics or in election campaigns.
Art and literature
Child with sticks and rubber animal is the title and motif of a realistic round picture ( egg tempera , 90 cm diameter) by Peter Nagel from 1969 , which is in the holdings of the Kunstmuseum Bochum . Inflatable objects such as sculptures or with the appearance of the inflated one, including animal figurines, are oeuvre of Jeff Koons represented.
Rubber animals are demanded as props by some playwrights , for example by Elfriede Jelinek , who has them pulled limply out of a mother's belly, or by Friedrich Wolf as early as 1947 , when a rubber animal is packed with a water ball and dagger knife
Loriot gave appropriate humorous behavioral instructions under the title Dealing with rubber animals .
trade
Most of the rubber animals are made in the People's Republic of China . In the German-speaking countries of Central Europe, they are considered seasonal items and are usually offered from May to July in toy stores, hardware stores and sports equipment suppliers. A certain number of even unusual models are sold all year round via the internet through specialized dealers.
Individual evidence
- ^ Karl Maurer: The German toy industry . In: Committee for the investigation of the production and sales conditions of the German economy - negotiations and reports of the sub-committee for general economic structure, (1st sub-committee), 5th working group (foreign trade) . tape 19 . Mittler, Berlin 1930 (XIV + 425 pages).
- ↑ Die Woche - modern illustrated magazine . tape 26 . Scherl, Berlin 1924, p. 732 .
- ^ Völler, Heike & Völler, Susanne (2004): Dutch Wadden Islands: Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, Ameland, Schiermonnikoog. 1st row: DuMont direct. Ostfildern: DuMont. 119 pages. ISBN 978-3770164325
- ↑ http://www.tuv.com/de/deutschland/ueber_uns/presse/mektiven/newscontentde_11995.jsp
- ↑ a b http://www.tuv.com/news/de/deutschland/ueber_uns/presse/mektiven/newscontentde_10468.jsp
- ↑ Sewig, Claudia (2009): Bernhard Grzimek - The man who loved animals. Biography. Bergisch-Gladbach: Lübbe. 450 pages. ISBN 978-3-7857-2367-8
- ↑ http://german.china.org.cn/culture/txt/2010-07/02/content_20405447.htm
- ↑ http://www.greenpeace-muenchen.de/index.php/archiv/aktuelle-themen/316-japan-die-welt-beobachten-dich-greenpeace-kids-endung-dass-japan-das-abschlachten-der -wale-ended.html
- ↑ With rubber dinghies against tankers: With these actions Greenpeace drew attention to environmental destruction - pictures & photos. In: welt.de . March 30, 2008, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendung/umwelt/283587/bilder/image_main/
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 25, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.jusos-viadrina.de/content/view/216/112/ ( page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Jelinek, Elfriede (1987): Illness or Modern Women. Edited and with an afterword by Regine Friedrich. Cologne: Prometh. 96 pages.
- ↑ Wolf, Friedrich (1947): Reflection. Four dramas. Berlin: construction. 314 pages.
- ↑ Loriot (1973): Loriot's ideal world. Zurich: Diogenes. 304 pages. ISBN 978-3257009279