100 GOODYEAR ON GUM -ELASTIC. 



saw relating to it, with a good deal of interest. Some time sub- 

 sequently he was passing the store of the Roxbury India Rubber 

 Company, in New York, and stopped to make inquiry about life- 

 preservers, with the view of purchasing one. On examining the 

 tubes by which they were inflated, it occurred to him that he 

 could improve their construction. Some months after this, he 

 presented a specimen of his improved tube to the agent of the 

 Roxbury Company, with the view of disposing of it to that com- 

 pany. Being pleased with his success in that, the agent advised 

 him to turn his attention to the improvement of India rubber, 

 and said, in behalf of the company, he would insure a very 

 large compensation to any one who would overcome the great 

 difficulties they met with in the manufacture, which were, great 

 adhesiveness and subsequent decomposition of the goods. 



He was also informed that the losses of the different com- 

 panies had been great, in consequence of these difficulties, and 

 that unless they could be removed, the business must, in all 

 probability, prove a failure. 



He was not before aware that the manufacture was so imper- 

 fectly understood. He was blessed with ignorance of the ob- 

 stacles which he had subsequently to encounter, but soon learned 

 this much, at least, that the difficulties which attended experi- 

 ments with the substance, if not unparalleled, were of an uncom- 

 mon character, from the fact that the experimenter, as well as 

 the manufacturer, was obliged to wait the return of both warm 

 and cold weather, at least twelve months, and often longer, 

 before he could know with any certainty that his articles would 

 not decompose, or what were the results of his labors. It is now 

 a well-known fact, that even the metallic or vulcanized articles, 

 if not properly made or thoroughly heated, will decompose, the 

 second year, after they have remained apparently sound the first 

 year. Especially is this the case when the goods have been 

 manufactured with the use of turpentine. 



These facts account, in a great measure, for the time spent in 

 experiments upon this substance before the discovery was made, 

 and the object so long sought for gained. The same facts, also, 



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