Evening star., 1937-08-28
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field.
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

Visions of a rubber civilization haunted
the brain Of debt-burdened inventor in
1883.
The man was Charles Goodyear dis
coverer of the vulcanization process for
rubber. and he wrote book about his
struggles, his triumphs and his dreams
which today is among the rarest of
Americana. One of the very few extant
copies is in the division of rare books
of the Library OF Congress and is among
the rarities Of mechanical literature.
Goodyear specifically did not advise
eating rubber, nor wearing it next to the
skin, but otherwise he proposed using
it as the chief material in about any
thing man could need. He foresaw rub
ber books. rubber roofs. rubber streets,
rubber sails and rubber ships, rubber
pianos, rubber bridges, rubber violins,
rubber boxing gloves, rubber saddles,
rubber shoes, rubber harnesses, rubber
canes, rubber dishes and rubber furni-
ture Of various sorts. The mans ex-
treme enthusiasm might have been ex-
pected, for he had devoted his life to
devising means for hardening the gum
elastic whose strange properties first
had attracted him as small boy His
health had been broken, he was loaded
with debts, neighbors looked on him as
harmless lunatic, his family had lived
on charity-all in the pursuance of his
dream.
In sense, Goodyear was a victim of
his own overenthusiasm. One of the
uses for which he considered rubber
ideal was for books and when he had
written the story of his life and his
visions he logically did not trust the
record to destructible paper.
He had his book printed on rubber
sheets These he distributed among his
friends and relatives and they soon had
been melted and compressed into hard
rubber blocks Fortunately, few copies
were printed on paper, but 1t is doubtful
if more than two or three of these
survive
Goodyear listed more than 500 uses for
his gum elastic Some of them have
since become commonplace and some are
rather fantastic. Among the things he
did not foresee was what was to become
the chief use of the material-tires. One
of the inventors most serious proposals
was for rubber money. He wrote:
Specimens of bank notes have been
made on rubber tissue which are excellent
limitations of tissue paper bank notes and
which, in many respects, and particu-
larly as regards counterfeiting possess
great advantages over paper. The first
cost of this material is greater than that
of bank note paper, but there is little
doubt such notes would be highly ap-
proved by the public If issued
Even if the secret of manufacture
were known it would be exceedingly difi-
cult to counterfeit. The counterfeiter
would have an additional trade to learn,
more confederates to employ, and would
be more exposed in the manufacture to
detection by the chemical processes used,
fumes of which would be difficult to
conceal. IN regard to cleanliness, the
rubber notes would have an immense
advantage. Few substances would be
less Objectionable on account of odor
They could be cleaned as easily as glass
by washing or boiling without injury to
the tissue or the engraving, which def1es
the power of chemicals either to extract
the ink or to alter the signature.
Bank notes in the United States are
kept in circulation until completely worn
out. They pass through hands of every
hue and through pockets Of all grades
until they acquire an odor which would
be quite insufferable in any other article
to those who have any regard for cean-
illness. Should We not be as particular
In regard to cleanliness Of money as Of
other things?" t,
Few episodes In the history Of Amer