SKETCH OF CHARLES GOODYEAR. 697 



tion became distressing: potatoes gathered before tliey were grown, 

 school books sold to keep the wolf from the door. Goodyear feared to 

 die before finishing his task. So he struggled on to determine the 

 conditions for best results, boiling his mixtures in saucepans, suspend- 

 ing them from the teakettle, often working far into the night. His 

 yellowed, haggard look and worn rubber coat gave him a wild look. 

 It seemed as if his important secret was to perish with him. A thou- 

 sand failures were to discover defects. The operation required exact- 

 ness and promptitude; one condition a failure, all was spoiled; and 

 often he could not apply the heat soon enough. So he saw the neces- 

 sity of reliable apparatus. Rattier and Guibal, of Paris, made him an 

 offer for his " acid-gas " process, which would have immediately re- 

 lieved his pressing wants; yet he refused, saying he was perfecting 

 another which would render it worthless. The incident accords with 

 the character of the man. When gloom hung low above the Good- 

 year cottage, a ray of sunlight came in means for the inventor to 

 reach New York, where William Rider advanced a certain amount 

 for experiments. His family was freed from want, and better con- 

 ditions for success were obtained. 



Before the new firm was well under way Rider failed, and it lost 

 its capital. Goodyear was also manufacturing, at Springfield, Massa- 

 chusetts, sheets of vulcanized rubber and shirred goods for suspenders 

 and elastics. These were having a large sale. ISTow that success 

 was attained, his brother-in-law advanced capital to continue the 

 business. 



About to continue his enterprise in 1841, he has his last experi- 

 ence with the debtors' prison in the United States. Yielding to re- 

 monstrances, he took the bankrupt law; but, when fortune favored 

 him, one of the first things he did was to pay off thirty-five thousand 

 dollars' worth of old claims. He was in no hurry to seek a patent, 

 considering his invention safe, and was more intent on its perfection 

 for the good of humanity than regardful of his personal interests. 

 So Hancock, in England, scraping Goodyear's samples and smelling 

 the sulphur, persevered until he rediscovered the process, and first 

 obtained a patent, November 21, 1843. He and Brockedon (who 

 secured the samples) named the operation " vulcanization." It was 

 ten years after beginning his experiments before Goodyear felt able 

 to produce perfectly vulcanized rubber with economy and certainty. 

 Then, apprised by his agent (Newton, who hastily took patents in his 

 own name in France, January 8, and in England, January 30, 1844) 

 of what Hancock had done, he took out an American patent, June 15, 

 1844. The same summer he introduced his " steam process " for 

 dissolving without solvents. It cost several years of trials to get rid 

 of the liability of fabrics to peel off, but he succeeded at last by mix- 



