History
The natural casing is a slaughter subproduct. 5000 years ago, men used the intestines to manufacture floating objects or ropes for hunting bows. Before the invention of the nylon, some musical instruments, such as guitars and violins, used the natural casing as strings.
In addition, the natural casing has been considered the best tennis string since the 19th century. It was and still is the most used string in professional tournaments. The history of natural casing as tennis strings dates back to the origin of this sport: the first set in natural casings was produced by Pierre Babolat in 1875. 50 years later he presented the VS Brand Gut mark. After 78 years this Brand keeps on being one of the most famous casings.
Another important invention of 1655 would not have been possible without the use of natural casing. Doctor Condom, who gave the name to the first condom, invented it by using ovine intestines. Only after 200 years we’ll see the rubber models invented by Charles Goodyear. In the XX century the ovine intestine was also used in surgery sutures as it has the characteristic of self-melting and so it was not necessary to remove the stitches. Catgut in particular is a surgical thread which can be absorbed by the tissues and which is taken from the small intestine connective tissue of ovines, bovines, equines and hogs. In spite of the name, cats’ intestines have never been used and this name probably de-rives from the corruption of the Arab word Kitgut, which means violin string, therefore, the natural casing was used almost everywhere in the world and had an important role in music, sport and medicine, even if, nowa-days, it is mostly known for its use in the cured meats production.
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