Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear was an American who invented the vulcanization of rubber. Vulcanization is a process that uses chemicals and heat to change and strengthen rubber so that it can be used to make products such as tires and inflatable life rafts.

Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 29, 1800. He had little schooling. As a young man, he worked with his father in their hardware store in Philadelphia. When their business failed, Goodyear was sent to debtors’ prison because he could not pay his debts.

While he was in prison, he began to think of ways to make rubber usable. When he got out of prison, he made some rubber outer shoes, but the rubber melted when it got warm and the shoes were ruined. His experiments with rubber produced a strong smell in the family’s house. When the neighbors complained, Goodyear, his wife, and their children moved to New York City.

Goodyear had to sell all of his family’s possessions to continue with his experiments. His family was soon very poor, and Goodyear spent more time in debtors’ prison.

Goodyear did not give up though. He discovered that by adding sulfur and using heat, he could strengthen the rubber and keep it from melting. After five years of experimenting, he learned how much sulfur to add and the right temperature to use. The rubber could now be used in commercial products. In 1844, he received a U.S. patent for the vulcanization of rubber.

Many people tried to steal his idea and he had to go to court several times to try to stop them. The money he spent going to court made him even poorer.

Goodyear never became rich from his invention. He was more interested in experimenting with rubber than in making products from it. When he died in 1860, at the age of 60, he was $200,000 in debt.