The Newtown bee., 1901-06-21
financial crisis of 1887 the house went down in financial ruin and Charles re-

down in financial ruin and Charles re- turned to New Haven and what more natural than that he should come back to his old Connecticut home. He became connected by marriage with the family of Beach Tomlipson, who lived in the southeastern part of New town not far from Zoar Bridge, in what was then known as Ragged Cor ner, but now known as only Half Way River. His brother-in-law, Josiah Tomlinson, lived in Sandy Hook, car rying on manufacturing business on small scale. It is said that what at tracted Goodyear's attention to the necessity of finding some way to inn part durability to rubber goods was by his purchasing an India rubber life preserver which he found defective in that it was so affected by heat or cold. From that time to the end of his life he devoted himself to experiments to make gum elastic durable. He had no money, but the price of gum had fal- len to five cents pound and it took but little money to get sufficient gum menting with almost every substance he could lay his hands upon, for he be- lieved there must be something, which mixed with the gum would render it durable. His experiences from 184O to the end of his life were those of a large majority of inventors Disap- pointments, debt, bankruptcy, impris- Onment for debt, and at times life bordering on starvation. Rich in in- ventive genius, but dreadful]y poor in purse, still he felt sure he was on the road to success, which would eventual ly win fame, if not fortune. He began to work on his experiments in New York, where one friend gave him the use of room as a workshop and anoth- CT who, was druggist, agreed to let him have on credit such chemicals as he needed. Progress was slow, for every chemical he used proved failure until he tried ,magnesia. With that mixed with gum he produced a sub- stance firm and flexible but heat would soften it, and fermentation made it brittle as glass. His first important discovery was by accident.
 While bronZing a piece of rubber cloth, he applied aqui-fortis to it to remove the bronze, which destroyed the cloth to such degree that he sup posed it ruined, but later he found the rubber had undergone change. The acid had hardened it so that it would stand degree of heat that would have melted it before. Aqui-fortis con tain- ed Sulphuric acid. He called this process the curing of rubber, and on this process he secured a patent, and not long after secured from the United States government an order for 15O India rubber mail bags which he suc- ceeded in producing. They were hard, well shaped and impervious to moisture but when hot weather came they be- gan to soften and ferment and became useless. He found aqui-fortis merely cured the surface of the material and that only very thin cloth made in this way was durable. Soon after he dis covered that sulphur cured the rubber as thoroughly as aqui-fortis. The problem next to be solved was how to mix sulphur and gum in mass so that every part of the rubber should be sub- jected to the agency of the sulphur. One discovery showed the necessity of further investigations. Further ex- periments established the fact that rubber when mixed with sulphur and exposed to certain degree of heat for specified time would not melt, or soften, nor would it stiffen from ex- posture to cold. The next thing to find out was the exact degree of heat nec- essary for the perfecting of the rubber, and the exact time required for the heating. In all the wide world he was the one man above all others who be- lieyed in the ultimate success of his experiments. He divided his time be- tween New York, Boston and New town. At one time he carried on his experiments in a little shop back of
 where the Methodist church in Sandy Hook now stands; at another time in the building by the bridge opposite