Goodyear, Charles, discovery

Information on Charles Goodyear, the discovery of rubber, and the history of the Goodyear Tire Company, http //www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history story.html... 

A critical requirement for obtaining engineering properties from a rubbery material is its existence in a network structure. Charles Goodyear s discovery of vulcanization changed natural rubber from a material that became sticky when hot and brittle when cold into a material that could be used over a wide range of conditions. Basically, he had found a way to chemically connect the individual polymer chains into a three-dimensional network. Chains that previously could flow past one another under stress now had only limited extensibility, which allowed for the support of considerable stress and retraction upon release of the stress. The terms vulcanization, rubber cure, and cross-linking all refer to the same general phenomenon. 

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

In 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered that sulfur could cross-link polymer chains and patented the process in 1844 [1]. Since then rubber became a widely usable material. By the year 1853, natural rubber (NR) was in short supply. So attempts were made to undo what Goodyear had accomplished. Goodyear himself was involved in trying to reclaim vulcanized rubber to overcome the shortage of NR. Later, as a consequence of World War I, Germany introduced synthetic rubbers, namely the Buna rubbers, which raised the curiosity of polymer chemists all over the world. Subsequently, synthetic rubbers with tailor-made properties were born. This was followed by the discovery of new methods and chemicals for vulcanization and processing. It is obvious... 

Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) is acknowledged by some as the discoverer of vulcanisation by the heating of a rubber-sulphur mixture. Many others including Ludersdorf and Hancock were also researching means to impart long term stability to rubber at around the same time. Goodyear did not patent his discovery until 1844, whereas Hancock obtained a British Patent for a process of vulcanisation in 1843. 

The vulcanization of rubber is often called one of the great accidental discoveries. But really, it was because Charles persisted in his work despite setbacks, and because his mind was prepared to see the importance of the discovery.There are now over 21 million metric tons of natural and synthetic (manufactured) rubber produced each year. Over half of all manufactured rubber is used for tires the rest is used for hoses, gloves, and other products.The GoodyearTire Rubber Company was named after Charles Goodyear, although he died 30 years before it was founded. 

As with any scientific endeavor, chance discovery played an important role in the development of polymers. In all cases, however, there was a scientist with an open and innovative mind who was ready to recognize and take advantage of a chance observation. Charles Goodyear accidentally tipped sulfur into heated natural rubber to discover vulcanized rubber. Christian Schobein inadvertently wiped up a nitric acid spill with a cotton rag to discover nitrocellulose. Jaques Brandenberger thought of cellophane as he observed the accidental stains on tablecloths. Also, as was discussed in Chapter 1, Teflon was discovered upon the unexpected disappearance of a chemical in a gas cylinder that Roy Plunkett was compelled to saw in half. 

Sulfur has relatively few uses as an element. One of the most important of those uses is in vulcanization. Vulcanization is the process of adding sulfur to rubber to make it stiff and hard. It keeps the mbber from melting as it gets warmer. The discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) in 1839 is one of the greatest industrial accomplishments of modern times. 

Public awareness of natural rubber began as a scientific curiosity, when it was discovered by Priestley that it could be used to rub out pencil marks. This novel capability gave the material its name, but still gave rubber little utility because of its dimensional instability and poor durability. The discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear in 1839 changed all this. Vulcanization, or the heating of natural rubber mixed with small amounts of sulfur. 

Solution Before the nineteenth century rubber had limiteduse because of its tendency to become sticky in warm weather and brittle in cold weather. This problem was alleviated by the discovery of a process known as vulcanization. Charles Goodyear discovered that if the natural latex was heated with sulfur it was converted to a more useful elastomer. 

The discovery of vulcanization by Charles Goodyear in 1839 and the industrialization of Europe and North America enabled the tire to evolve from a rubberized canvas covering a rubber tube to a complex fabric, steel, and elastomeric composite. 

Parkes was bom in 1813 and was apprenticed as a brass-founder. He became active in the youthful rubber industry and in 1843 patented a waterproof fabric, a patent he sold later to Charles Macintosh. The waterproofing of fabrics was naturally a major earfy use of natural rubber, which was obtained at the time from trees in the South American jungle. The unpleasant tackiness of the early products was eliminated with the discovery by Goodyear and Hancock in the 1840s of the vulcanizing effect of sulfur. At first the sulfur was merely dusted on the surface, but this was soon to be followed by mechanical mixing of rubber and sulfur. The interest of Parkes in the infant rubber and plastics industry is symbolic of the scientific and industrial relationship which has always existed between them. 

Thomas Hancock built a factory for producing rubber articles in 1820 and Charles Macintosh obtained waterproof fabric by making a rubber-cloth sandwich in 1823. It is of interest to note that John Jacob BerzeUus coined the word polymer in 1833 just seven years after Michael Faraday had shown rubber to have the composition of CgHg and six years before the discovery of the vulcanization process by Charles Goodyear. Berzelius also coined the terms isomer, catalyst and protein (4) and synthesized glycerly tartrate polyester resins (5). 

While the exact mechanism for crosslinking with sulfur is not known, the major crosslinks are believed to be on the allylic carbon atoms. Neither Charles nor Nelson Goodyear were scientists and they had little knowledge of crosslinking or of macromolecular structure. Nevertheless, they made monumental discoveries as witnessed by the fact that sulfur continues to be the major curing agent for both natural and synthetic rubber. 

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