w^ 



CHAPTER VII. 



EXPERIMENTS OP THE INVENTOR. 



Influences which led the author to the discovery of his invention. Some particulars of the au- 

 thor's personal history ; his apprenticeship. Commences in the domestic hardware and com- 

 mission business. Visits the store of the Roxbury India Rubber Company in New York. 

 Commences the. manufacture of India rubber goods at New Haven. Meets with diJJiculties. 

 Removes to New York, and continues his exjjeriments. Tlie acid gas process. Obtains a 

 patent. The new articles are introduced into England by Dr. Bradshaw, and a patent taken out 

 in that country by Mr. Hancock. Visits Roxbury, and prosecutes his labors with more success 

 Grants licenses. Experiments with sulphur. Result of an experiment. Embarrassments of 

 the author. Discovery of vulcanizing. Results of previous failures. Difficulties to encounter. 

 Incidents attending the discovery. First successful operation. 



Whenever any great improvement is made, or effects M^orthy 

 of special attention are produced, the tracing of them to their 

 first cause is a subject of interest to most minds, and with some 

 a constant habit. 



In reference to the discovery of vulcanized gum-elastic, the 

 question is frequently asked by those who know that the in- 

 ventor makes no pretensions to a knowledge of chemistry, and 

 that for many years he pursued a widely different occupation, 

 what first turned his attention to gum-elastic, and what was the 

 influence that led to such continued application, to an under- 

 taking apparently so hopeless ? 



To this the writer may reply, that from the time his attention 

 was first given to the subject, a strong and abiding impression 

 was made upon his mind, that an object so desirable and im- 

 portant, and so necessary to man's comfort, as the making of 

 gum-elastic available to his use, was most certainly placed 



