Charles
Goodyear
(1800 -
1860)
invented
vulcanisation
of rubber
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Charles
Goodyear was born on 29 December 1800 in New
Haven, Connecticut, USA - the first of 6 children
born to Amasa and Cynthia Goodyear. Amasa was a
farmer, inventor and manufacturer of farm
implements and famous for buttons, being credited
as the first manufacturer of pearl buttons in
America.
When 17, Charles was placed with a large firm of
importers and manufacturers agents in
Philadelphia, Penn. In 1921 he returned to New
Haven to become a partner in one of his father's
businesses.
He married in 1824 and two years later set up a
retail hardware store in Philadelphia. His health
failed along with his business and he was
imprisoned, the first of many times, for debt.
Although he later set up blacksmithing he did not
clear his debts and he turned to inventing,
taking out various patents which he sold or
assigned to his many creditors.
The first rubber manufactory had been set up at
Roxbury, Mass. in 1833 for making waterproof
textiles and other items - but these were not
satisfactory; the rubber melted in summer and
cracked in winter. Charles Goodyear turned his
attention to 'curing' this problem, working at
his home. He was impoversihed but managed to find
enough financial backing for this work, and was
granted a patent in 1837 for an acid gas process
- winning medals for his displays of rubber goods.
In 1838 Goodyear purchased the former Eagle India
Rubber Company which had come into the hands of Nathaniel Hayward. He
assisted Hayward in taking out a patent (which
was assigned to Goodyear) for a combination of
rubber with sulphur. Further patents were taken
out by Goodyear but he was still in financial
trouble and was again imprisoned for debt.
The important vulcanisation patent was granted in
June 1844, one month after Hancock
(who was aware of Goodyear's work with sulphur)
had taken out a similar patent in the UK. In 1858
the patent was extended for a further 7 years.
Goodyear was still in debt when he died on 1 July
1860 of 'gout'. His final illnes, however, had
many of the symptoms of lead poisoning, and his
death has been attributed to the extensive use of
white lead in his many vulcanisation experiments.
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