While rumors circulate about the company, the Chesterfield County plant goes about its business, producing millions of condoms a year. . . . A tour of the Carter-Wallace plant, with its machinery and laboratories, might lead one to believe that condoms are a relative newcomer concocted in a laboratory somewhere not long ago. But historians say humans have been making condoms for thousands of years. There are also illustrations of what might be condoms dating back 3,000 years to ancient Egypt. Condoms made from fish and animal intestines have been found in the ruins of English castles and dated to the 1600s, Knowles said.
Historians disagree about the origin of the word.
Whatever the origin of the word, condoms were widely made and used by the early 19th century, Knowles said. The modern production method dates back to 1844, when Charles Goodyear patented the vulcanization of rubber, which allowed for the mass production of condoms. Vulcanization is still the essential first step in manufacturing. As English pointed out on a recent walk through the plant, even in today's high-tech world, the process of making condoms hasn't changed a lot from a century ago. There hasn't been a paradigm shift in terms of technology.