Charles Goodyear

Goodyear was determined to solve the problems inherent in natural rubber. With no formal training in chemistry, his work was based on trial and error, experimenting with different methods of processing and additives such as magnesia. The solution he discovered resulted partly from serendipity and partly from constant work. 

The breakthrough came in 1839 while Goodyear was exhibiting his most recent samples at a general store in Woburn, Massachusetts. When he accidentally dropped a piece on a hot stove, it burned, but the uncharred part was transformed into a smooth, firm material that was not affected by high or low temperature. The additive in the sample was sulfur, but it took Goodyear several months to determine the right combination of heat, pressure, and sulfur to produce a stable compound. He found that the best material was produced when the compound was steam-heated under pressure at 120°C (248°F) for four to six hours. Its first commercial use was as elastic thread in men s shirts. 

Goodyear invented a material that would eventually be used in thousands of ways and opened the door for a huge industry. Today there is one rubber tree for every two people on Earth. Despite this, he died destitute in New York on July 1, 1860. Although the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was named in his honor, Goodyear s descendants had little to do with the rubber industry after his death, see also Polymers, Natural Rubber. 

Charles (2002). Noble Obsession Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century. New York Hyperion. 

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Charles Goodyear and the Strange Story of Rubber. Available from http //www.goodyear.com/corporate/strange.html . 

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Enter Charles Goodyear. Charles had no background in science, wasn t well known, and he had a lot of debt from a failed hardware store. What Charles did have, though, was a powerful desire to invent things. Charles became fascinated with rubber and how to make it more stable and resistant to changes in temperature. 

Goodyear, Charles (1800-1860). Discovered vulcanization of rubber (1844) by sulfur, inorganic accelerator, and heat. Hancock in England made a parallel discovery. 

Most plastics can be recycled. Even mixed plastic waste can be recycled into artificial lumber or particleboard. Plastic wood is easy to saw, and it has better resistance to adverse weather and insects than real wood. SEE ALSO Baekeland, Leo Carothers, Wallace Goodyear, Charles Staudinger, Hermann Nylon Polymers, Synthetic. 

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