Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-11

but slow Roadway The first waterproof
cloth in 1897 was the work of an English
would not stand heat. In 1923 Charles
Macintosh Of Glasgow discovered naphtha,
and, dissolying rubber in it. produced a
varnish which. when spread on cloth, made
1t really impervious to water. AS late IS
1880 the importation of rubber into Eng
land amounted only to $4,000 pounds. In
1899 no less than 16,O75.5S4 pounds were
consumed in that country, and the con-
sumption In the United States reached 3D.
606. 1871 pounds. Most of the rubber used In
the world still comes from equatorial South
America, and the forests where the Indians
gathered ule are as dense today and almost
Of Cortez-
Goodyear the Immortal.
Rubber has done great deal for civiliza-
tion and civilization has done a great deal
for rubber; but both are indebted to Charles
Goodyear, hero and martyr, to whom the
manufacturers Of the United States should
erect an ebonite monument high as the
shaft on Bunker Hill. Il believe" said
Daniel Webster, the famous patent suit
in which he fought in the good fight for
Goodyear, that Charles Goodyear is to go
down to posterity in the history Of the arts
in this country in that great class Of in
ventors at the head of which stands Robert
Fulton, in which class stand the names of
Whitney and Morse. and in which class will
Of Charles Goodyear"
Goodyear was Connecticut Yankee born
at Naugatuck, December %, 1900; those
now living who remember him in the flesh
knew him as frail little man with soulful
eyes and sympathetic nature. Goodyear
after devoting the energies of his life to ex-
periments, discovered vulcaniZation, a pro-
cess which neutralizes the adhesiveness of
rubber, while hardening 1t, so that heat
does not dissolve 1t or cold impair it's elias
ITCHY. The chemists had sought the great
secret in vain. Triumph was reserved for
a man who was always in debt and some
times in prison, and occasionally reduced to
the most pitiful shifts to keep the wolf
from the door. Goodyear was originally
hardware dealer In a small way, but he got
interested in rubber when it began to make
stir in the world with the first importa-
ton Of shoes from Brazil. They were soon
being made in New England. but the bust
ness tumbled to ruin when the rubber de-
composed In hot weather and gave out an
offensive odor. No one had a good word
to say for the stuff-it sold for cents
pound in the general disgust-but Goodyear,
although without money or credit, set to
work to rehabilitate the reputation of gum
elastic as he always called 1t. He thought
OF rubber all day and dreamed Of it all
night, and it adhered to his hands and
clothing so that they were one and invisi-
Die. If you meet a man." said some one
who wanted to describe Goodyear who
has on an India rubber cap stock. coat,
vest and Shoes with an India rubber purse
without cent Of money in it, that Is he"
IN CHASING what seemed to his friends a
wll-o' -the-wisp Goodyear was often in the
pawnshops. He once left his umbrella with
Cornelius Vanderbilt for some ferry tickets.
ana at another time sold his children's
scnoo! books for s.. which he needed for his
experiments. But he had devoted family,
like most geniuses, and his wife and chill
dren were just as much wrapped up in rub
per as he was. To harden his gum elastic
Goodyear mixed magnesia with 1t and turn
hon. FIJI <oI ~,oIr
the man had the artistic sense, but as usu-
al. they decomposed. He thought he had
MT upon the secret with nitric acid took
out patent and embarked in the hnsinass
Of making shoes and toys Bad times swent
away MS profits before he learned that he
nad made another failure, and there were
more visits to the pawnbroker
Discovered the Secret,
About this time Goodyear met Nathaniel
Hayward, who was fussirg with rubber in
factory at Woburn. where he was re-
garded as a harmless crank. To HAYWARD
1t was revealed in a dream that rubber
could be hardened by mixing sulphur with
II and exposing the compound to the sun.
me process gave out rank odor which
made Hayward a nuisance In the factory.
but he took out a patent on 1t. Goodyear.
being struck with the idea, bought the pat
en.. me two men leased building and
the secret had not been discovered, al
though Hayward. was on the right scent
In hot weather 1t seemed a wrong one to
purchasers OF the life-preseryers Good.
year was not dismayed After more ex-
periments he took contract TO make ffty
rubber mall bags for the government. and
advertised his good luck The bass were
credit to his skin; but In July the handles
dropped on and the substance melted. HIS
friends advised him to 60 back to hard
ware. The wolf was again at the door.
and Goodyear had to divide time in the |
use OF the kitchen oven with his wife. He
was always baking the compound of sui
phur and rubber. but with no satisfactory
oQ1Ylfa ho I n