Goodyear, Charles (1800-1860)

US inventor who developed rubber coating 1837 and vulcanized rubber 1839, a method of curing raw rubber to make it strong and elastic. Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and entered his father's hardware business. He began to investigate rubber in the 1830s and obtained US patents for his process 1844, but both Britain and France refused his applications because of legal technicalities. His attempts to set up companies in both countries failed, and for a while he was imprisoned for debt in Paris. When he returned to the USA, many of his patents had been pirated by associates, and he died in poverty. Goodyear discovered the vulcanization process by accident. One day he was mixing rubber with sulphur and various other ingredients when he dropped some on top of a hot stove. The next morning the stove had cooled and the rubber had vulcanized.