July 8, 1922] 



NATURE 



61 



Calendar of Industrial Pioneers. 



July 1, 1860. Charles Goodyear died. — The father 

 of the American rubber industry, Goodyear was born 

 at New Haven, Connecticut, on December 12, 1800, 

 his father, Amasa Goodyear, being known as an 

 inventor of agricultural implements and a manu- 

 facturer of hardware. The failure of his father's 

 business about 1830 led Goodyear to study the 

 problem of "curing" rubber, which at that time 

 became soft and sticky in summer and brittle in 

 winter. Always in debt, sometimes in prison, and 

 often regarded as a crank, Goodyear persevered 

 until, in 1839, he accidentally discovered that by 

 partly melting rubber and sulphur the rubber could 

 be given varying degrees of hardness and elasticity. 

 His first patent was taken out in 1844, and though he 

 reaped no fortune he continued to improve the manu- 

 facture and extend the use of rubber until his death. 



July 2, 1798. John Fitch died. — One of the pioneers 

 of steam navigation, Fitch was the son of a farmer 

 of Windsor, Connecticut, and was born on January 

 21, 1743. After a few sea voyages he engaged in 

 clockmaking and brassfounding, and as a gunsmith 

 to the American troops during the War of Independ- 

 ence made a considerable fortune. His project of 

 driving boats by steam was launched in 1785, and 

 the following year he formed a company and secured 

 exclusive rights in New Jersey and other States. 

 A boat built by him and placed upon the Delaware 

 in 1790 was the first steam vessel to convey passengers 

 for hire. The undertaking, however, proved financially 

 unsuccessful, and three years later Fitch met with 

 no more success in France. Reaping nothing but 

 disappointment and poverty, his mind gave way, 

 and he died by his own hand at Bardstown, Kentucky. 



July 5, 1826. Joseph Louis Proust died. — Trained as 

 a chemist by his father, Proust made one of the earliest 

 balloon ascents, was for some years employed by 

 the King of Spain, and discovered a process of making 

 grape sugar. He was also known for the enunciation 

 of the law of constant proportion and for his con- 

 troversies with Berthollet. 



July s, 1883. Robert Spence died. — Beginning life 

 as a grocer, Spence afterwards found employment 

 in the Dundee Gas-works and became the proprietor 

 of chemical works in London, Manchester, and else- 

 where. In 1845 he discovered the process of making 

 alum from the refuse shale of collieries and the waste 

 ammoniacal liquor of gas-works, and became the 

 chief alum manufacturer in the world. He also took 

 out many patents in connexion with industrial 

 chemistry and metallurgy. 



July 7, 1850. Timothy Hackworth died. — Born at 

 Wylam, near Newcastle, in 1786, Hackworth became 

 a foreman smith and assisted in some of the pioneer- 

 ing work on the locomotive. Appointed in 1S25 

 resident engineer and manager of the Stockton and 

 Darlington Railway, he built the Royal George, which 

 definitely asserted the superiority of steam over 

 horse traction, and in 1829 produced the Sans Pareil, 

 a worthy competitor with Stephenson's Rocket, at 

 Rainhill. 



July 7, 1896. Sir John Pender died. — A successful 

 merchant in textile fabrics in Manchester and Glasgow, 

 Pender was an enthusiastic supporter of submarine 

 telegraphy, and was one of the 345 subscribers who 

 each risked a thousand pounds in the Atlantic Cable 

 of 1857. He personally guaranteed 250,000/. to the 

 Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company 

 in 1865, and at his death was the head of various 

 concerns owning 73,640 nautical miles of submarine 

 cable and having a capital of fifteen millions. 



NO. 2/49, VOL. I IO] 



July 10, 1867. Thomas Richardson died. — Trained 

 as a chemist under Thomas Thomson, Liebig, and 

 Pelouze, Richardson became a chemical manufacturer 

 at Newcastle, introduced improvements in the 

 production of lead, and began the manufacture of 

 superphosphates. He lectured on chemistry in 

 Durham University, published information about the 

 industries of the north, and with Ronalds translated 

 Knapp's " Technological Chemistry." 



July io, 1874. John Grantham died. — The author 

 of a standard work on iron shipbuilding, Grantham 

 designed many sailing-ships and steamships, patented 

 a screw-propeller, and devised a method of sheathing 

 iron ships with copper. He was also joint engineer 

 with his brother to the northern railway of Buenos 

 Aires and planned the first tramway in Copenhagen. 

 He was one of the founders of the Institution of 

 Naval Architects. 



July 12, 1892. Cyrus West Field died. — Born in 

 Stockbridge, Massachusetts, November 30, 1819, 

 Field built up a large paper-manufacturing business, 

 and then in 1854 turned his attention to submarine 

 telegraphy, ultimately becoming the chief promoter 

 of the Atlantic Telegraph. It has been said, " Let 

 who will claim the merit of having said the Atlantic 

 cable was possible, to Mr. Field is due the inalienable 

 credit of having made it possible, and of giving to 

 an abortive conception all the attributes of healthy 

 existence. ' ' His share in the great enterprise was recog- 

 nised by the award to him by Congress of a gold medal, 

 and he received the thanks of the American nation. 



July 12, 1910. Charles Stewart Rolls died. — A 

 pioneer of the motor-car in England, an expert 

 aeronaut, and the first English victim of aviation, 

 Rolls was the son of Baron Llangattock and was 

 born August 28, 1877. Educated at Eton and 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, he studied practical 

 engineering, and in 1895 purchased his first motor 

 car. Nine years later he founded the well-known 

 firm of Rolls-Royce, Ltd. To study Wilbur Wright's 

 experiments he visited France in 1908, acquired a 

 Wright aeroplane, and became an expert flyer. In 

 June 1910 he crossed and recrossed the Channel 

 without stopping. His death was due to an accident 

 to the machine he was flj'ing at Bournemouth. 



July 14, 1806. Emiland Marie Gauthey died. — A 

 student at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, under the 

 celebrated Perronet, Gauthey rose to eminence in 

 the French service, and was especially known for the 

 construction of the Canal du Centre in Burgundy. 

 His " Traite complet sur la construction des ponts 

 et des canaux navigables " was published in 1809 by 

 his nephew Navier. 



July 14, 1808. John Wilkinson died. — The father 

 of the iron trade in Staffordshire, Wilkinson was 

 born in 1728, and learned the art of smelting from his 

 father. In 1748 he built a blast furnace at Bilston, 

 Staffordshire, using coke for fuel, and afterwards had 

 works at Bersham and Broseley. He introduced the 

 boring of cannon, in 1787 he constructed an iron barge, 

 and he also patented a method of making lead pipes. 



July 14, 1887. Alfred Krupp died. — The son of 

 Friedrich Krupp (1787-1S26), who opened a small 

 iron forge at Essen in 1810, Alfred Krupp was born 

 April 26, 1812, and at an early age succeeded to the 

 management of the business which, in his hands, 

 became of world-wide importance. He made the 

 first steel gun, established the first Bessemer works in 

 Germany, and manufactured large quantities of 

 ordnance and railway material. The works at Essen 

 cover an area of about five square miles, while the 

 firm, in its various establishments, employs some 

 80,000 men. E. C. S. 



