Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1859-05-11
GUTTA PERCHA AND MR GOOD.
YEAR.

Gulta Percha ana India Rubber is no,
put 10 thousands Of Uses, we have pens
PenholderS, walking canes, shoes, coat,
hats, ink stands, springs for rail way cars
belts for machinery, life preserver,
thousands of curious toys. and hundred
OF other valuable articles now made {
l';dia rubber or Gutta percha.
The Inventor of tie art of vulcanizin
and otherwise treating Indian rubber, S
as TO put il TO the various uses 10 whic
IT is now applied, was a man of the Ut
most perseverance. Mr.. Goodyear wa
a resident Of New Haven, Conn; and l.
constantly visited the chemical labratoTr
of Yale College. and by the kindness o
Professor Silliman was suffered 10 us
the apparatus of that magnificent labra
tory. MIR. Goodyear was often there, Il
all appearance poor enthusiast, such d
we could point out several in any tow
we ever saw. Little attention was paiC
to him, he was in fact bore, and every
Do1y avoided him. Sill he labored. on
When he could get a dollar he spen, i
for materials for his experiments. Anc
when lie could not, he claimed an humble
place in the labratory, where by suffer
ance he often pursued his labors.-
Twenty years hard work at last brought
The result. OF his history as known to
the public we i've the following from the
Commissioner of Patents at Washington:
"From the first moment that the con-
ception entered his mind until his COM
Dlele success-embracing a period OF
from sixteen to eighteen ycars-he ap
piled himself unceasin ly and enihusias-
tically 10 IFS perfection, and to IFS intro
duciion into use, in every form that his
fruitful genius could devise. So intense
" were his faculties concentrated upon
IL that he seems 10 have been incapable
Of thought or action upon any other occu-
patton, was inspired by no other hope,
cherished no olhe- ambition. He car
ried continually about his person piece
nj India rubber, aud into The ears of all
who would listen he poured necessarily
the story of his experiments and the
glowing language Of his prophesies. He
was. according to the witnesses. COM
pletely absorbed by it, both night and
day, pursuing it with un,iring energy
and with almost superhuman perserver-
ance.
Not only was the powers of his mind
a d body thus ardenliy devoted TO the in
vention and lis introduction into use, but
ever dollar he had, or could command,
through the resources of his credit or the
iihaence Of friendship, was uncalcula
tngly cast into the Seeihing cauldron of
experiment, which was allowed to know
no repose. The very bed on which his
wife slept, and The linen that covered his
table, were seized and sold 10 pay his
board, and we see him with his stricken
household following in the funeral of his
child on foot, bcause he had no means
with which TO hire carriage.
"His family had 10 endure privations
almost surprising belief. being frequent
ly without an article of food in their
house, or fu / in the coolest weather.
aad, indeed ii is said they could moi have
lived through the Winter of ls49 but for
the kind offices ofa few charitable friends.
They are represented as gathering sticks
in The woods aud On the edges of the
highways, with which 10 cook their
meals, and digging the potatoes of their
little garden before they were half
grown, while one of his hungry children,
in a spirit worthy of his father, is heard
his thanks that this much had
been spared to them.
"We often find him arrested and in. |
in the debtors prison, but
even amid its gloom the vision of the
Iuture never grew dim, his faith in his
ultimate triumph never faltered. Ia
iismayed by discomitures and sorrows
which might well have broken the Stout
est spirit, his language, everywhere and
under ell circumstances, was that of en-
enlargement and of profound convic
ion of final success. Not only in the
United States did he thus exert himself
o establish and apply to every possible
lse his invention, but in Eng and. France,
Ind other countries of Europe, he zeal
'usly pursued the same career. In 1856
he appeared at the worlds Fair in Paris,
md the Golden Medal and the Cross of
he Legion of Honor was awarded to him
Is representative of his country inven-
i've genius. Fortune, however, while
hus caressng him with one hand, was
/: the same moment shifting him with the
,ther, for we learn from the testimony
hat these brilliant memorials passed
rom The Emperor and reached their
IGNORED recipient, then the occupant of a
iebtor's prison among strangers in
oreign land-thus adding yet another to
hat long sad catalogue of public benefac-
ors who have stood neglected and i'm
'oye-ished in the midst of the waving
harvest of blessings they had bestowed
lPon their race" Il
arE .-4-s-ar f