Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear (1800–1860) was an American inventor who developed practical sulfur vulcanization, a process that made natural rubber more durable and useful.

Vulcanization: A process that improves rubber by forming chemical links between its polymer chains, commonly using sulfur and heat. Goodyear is chiefly associated with making sulfur vulcanization practical.
Rubber boom: A nineteenth-century surge in demand for natural rubber, driven by expanding industrial and consumer uses. Goodyear’s search for usable rubber unfolded as demand for the material grew.
Charles Goodyear's patents: The United States and foreign patent rights Charles Goodyear secured for his rubber-processing inventions. Patent protection shaped the commercial value and disputes surrounding his process.
Nathaniel Hayward: An American inventor who discovered that sulfur-treated rubber became less sticky and shared the finding with Goodyear. Goodyear incorporated Hayward’s discovery into his work on sulfur vulcanization.
Sulfur: A chemical element used to cross-link rubber polymers during conventional vulcanization. Sulfur was the key ingredient in the process Goodyear developed.
Thomas Hancock: An English engineer and inventor who developed rubber-processing machinery and independently advanced vulcanization. Hancock’s parallel work shows that practical vulcanization developed on both sides of the Atlantic.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company: An American tire and rubber manufacturer founded in 1898, decades after Charles Goodyear’s death. The company bears his name but was not founded by him and had no direct connection to his family.
Hiram Hutchinson: An American entrepreneur who licensed Goodyear’s vulcanized-rubber process and built a rubber-goods business in France. His manufacturing success demonstrated the process’s commercial potential.
Natural rubber: An elastic material obtained mainly from the latex of rubber-producing plants, especially the rubber tree. It was the raw material Goodyear sought to make more stable and useful.
Hancock's vulcanization patent: Thomas Hancock’s 1844 British patent covering a method of vulcanizing rubber with sulfur. It was filed before Goodyear’s British patent and became central to disputes over priority.

Linked from 8 pages