Metre

[rayheinrich]

maybe ernest invented them, it only took the world some time to recognize their advantages and marketing to made them broadly available.

    A much older invention... humans who lived near trees capable of producing latex were making shoes from it (I think
    that qualifies) well back into the stone age.

    As far as writers go, I have no idea how far that goes back (obviously less than 5,000 years);
    but I do know that Molière was particularly fond of them.


Rubber socks/sandals/shoes were capable of producing regular meter
(and handy for not slipping in the blood of human sacrifice):

“Ancient civilizations in much of Mexico and Central America were making different
grades of rubber 3,000 years before Charles Goodyear "stabilized" the stuff in the
mid-19th century, new research suggests.

The Aztec, Olmec, and Maya of Mesoamerica are known to have made rubber using
natural latex—a milky, sap-like fluid found in some plants. Ancient rubber makers
harvested latex from rubber trees and mixed it with juice from morning glory
vines, which contains a chemical that makes the solidified latex less brittle.

Latex-to-morning glory proportions could be varied to produce soft to medium
to hard rubber.  This more durable rubber might have been used in the Aztec
rubber sandals described by Spanish conquistadors.”

- from article in National Geographic News