HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CHEMISTRY OF RUBBER 3 



solubility of rubber in naphtha and successfully applied the 

 solution to the fabrication of waterproof garments, from 

 which time the modern rubber industry may be said to com- 

 mence. In 1836, in consequence of the researches of Hancock, 

 it was found that rubber could be welded into masses by 

 energetic kneading under the action of moderate heat. The 

 process was termed mastication and solved the problem of the 

 manufacture of articles of daily use. 



The material was quickly applied to the preparation of 

 goloshes, bottles and many other objects. And, in the United 

 States particularly, vast sums of money were invested in 

 mills and plant for the manufacture of rubber goods. The 

 discovery that these articles were subject to the influences 

 of the seasons caused widespread consternation, so many 

 had an interest in the success of the gigantic speculation. 

 Experience showed that in hot weather the substance melted 

 and became adhesive, while in the cold it became obstinately 

 brittle. A panic ensued, thousands of tons of rubber were 

 thrown upon the market, and the immense capital became 

 literally valueless. 



It was now that Goodyear of Newhaven, Connecticut, deter- 

 mined, at all hazards, to save something from the wreck. 

 Inspired with the belief that Nature would scarcely have dis- 

 closed so many of the merits of indiarubber unless it possessed 

 additional qualities of value to mankind, and oblivious of 

 opposition and scorn, he devoted himself to the prosecution of 

 the research. After suffering much hardship and even im- 

 prisonment for debt, he was rewarded in 1839 by the discovery 

 of the process of vulcanisation, which overcame the influence 

 of seasonal changes and adapted the material to countless 

 purposes of mankind. The result was attained by heating 

 the gum with an admixture of sulphur to a temperature of 

 270 F. In 1844 Hancock observed that the same result was 

 obtained by dipping crude rubber into melted sulphur. Two 

 years later he patented a method for moulding objects in 

 caoutchouc, which was the starting-point of moulds for solid 

 and hollow articles. The greatest impetus it ever received 

 was undoubtedly given to the industry by the reinvention, 

 in 1888, of the pneumatic tyre. An air-filled tyre for use 

 with carriages had been patented by Thomson in 1845, but, 

 partly owing to faulty construction and partly because its 



