Nathaniel
Manley
Hayward
(1808-1865)
discovered
effect of sulphur on rubber.
Memorial to Hayward in the
shape of a 10ft high rubber-tree trunk in a
graveyard at Colchester CT.
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Nathaniel
Hayward was born 19 January 1808 at South Easton,
Mass. He moved to Boston as a youth and married
Louisa Buker - they had 7 children.
He first experimented with spreading turpentine
and gum rubber on cloth at his workshop in Boston
where he ran a livery stable and carriage
workshop. He moved to Easton in 1836 and with
others, set up the Eagle India Rubber Company
which was shortly relocated to Woburn. Hayward
developed machines for working the material and
sold some to a larger competitor, the Roxbury
India Rubber factory, where he met Charles
Goodyear.
In 1838, Hayward sold his interst in Eagle rubber
to Goodyear but stayed
on in a salaried position. Hayward had discovered
that dusting rubber sheets with sulphur, or
painting the surfaces of the sheets with
solutions of sulphur in turpentine and exposing
them to sunlight (a process he called "solarisation")
caused the gum to dry more perfectly and to 'improve
the whole substance thereof rendering it much
superior to that prepared by any other
combination therewith'. This he patented in 1838
(US Patent 1090 granted 1839) and immediately
assigned it to Goodyear. Ironically the first
person to take out a license to manufacture
rubber goods under Goodyear's vulcanization
patent was Hayward but he very soon transferred
it to Gandee and Steele and this firm went on to
become part of the United States Rubber Co. in
1892.
In 1844, Nathaniel Hayward Company was
established at Lisbon, Connecticut. transferring
to Colchester in 1847. From here rubber products,
boots, and shoes were shipped all over the
country. Hayward retired in 1864 because of ill
health and died the following year. In 1888 the
company was re-organised as the Colchester Rubber
Company and thrived until 1893 when it was closed.
Later the building burned to the ground.
Colchester was settled in 1698.
In 1706, the first street was laid out and by
1714, there were some 50 families in town. By
1756 Colchester was one of the most thriving
rural towns in the Colony. Its population was
recorded as 2,300 inhabitants and by 1782 had
grown to 3,300. This small town, today with a
population of around 10,000, has a unique place
in the history of rubber. In the churchyard is a
tombstone and memorial to Hayward, the latter in
the shape of a 10ft high rubber-tree trunk whilst
the former identifies him as the inventor of hard
rubber. This claim may be overstated and the most
valid claim is probably the patent by Hancock (BP9952).
Nevertheless, Hayward does have every right to a
memorial identifying his role in bringing
together Goodyear, rubber and sulphur; a
combination without which the industrial
revolution would have ground to a halt very
quickly.
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