Charles Goodyear experimented with rubber 

 for many years, trying to find some satisfactory 

 way of preparation for manufacturing purposes. 

 In 1838 he accidentally struck a handful of 

 rubber and sulphur against the hot surface of 

 a kitchen stove, and realized that the problem 

 of Vulcanizing had been solved. 



The story of Goodyear' s determined effort 

 to perfect his process of Vulcanization is one of 

 the most impressive things in the history of in- 

 vention and discovery. Year after year, at the 

 cost of all he possessed in the world, without 

 profit, without success, alternately ridiculed 

 and condemned by his family and friends, 

 he sought to discover what he felt sure 

 existed, a treatment which would render 

 crude rubber less sensitive to heat and cold, 

 and make it a suitable material for manu- 

 facture into the various useful articles which 

 require a resilient, or springy, material. 

 To-day Vulcanized Rubber, the material 

 produced, by his perfected process, is the basis 

 of over 2,000 established and useful branches 

 of manufacture. The young student of Biog- 

 raphy will not find, in its whole range, a more 

 striking example of the great results that flow 

 from unfaltering perseverence under difficulty. 



The secret discovered by Goodyear was that 

 rubber, with a slight admixture of sulphur, -and 

 subjected to a temperature of from 230 to 



