INCIDENTS ATTENDING THE DISCOVERY. 125 



this step he did not hesitate. The occasion, and the certainty 

 of success, warranted the measure, which, in other circumstances, 

 would have been sacrilege. The inventor had now grounds of 

 assurance, which had never existed with regard to previous im- 

 provements. 



The discovery was made in winter, and the specimens did not 

 stiffen by cold. Summer returned, and they were not softened 

 by heat. There could be no danger on this score, as they were 

 made by a heat of two hundred and seventy degrees. The next 

 thing of importance to be done, was to manufacture specimens 

 of sufficient size to satisfy others of the importance of the inven- 

 tion by a trial of the goods. He was not, at first, aware of the 

 difficulty that existed in the way of operating the process on a 

 large scale. The specimens which he had thus far produced, 

 were from the thinner sort of fabrics, which could be heated be- 

 fore an open fire. To heat a specimen of any considerable size 

 or thickness in this way, proved to be impracticable, on account 

 of the blistering of the gum. This difficulty subsequently caused 

 great loss in the establishment of the manufacture by the various 

 licensees. 



In the course of the spring of 1839 he had succeeded in 

 manufacturing some specimens tolerably perfect, and heating 

 them before an open fire with the brushwood which the kind- 

 ness of his neighbors allowed him to gather in the field, not 

 being able during that summer to supply himself with more sub- 

 stantial fuel. Upon the exhibition of these specimens, and the 

 earnestness of his appeals, some individuals were induced to 

 assist him in building a brick oven, about six feet square, and 

 also to manufacture some full pieces of the fabric. These were 

 made by the machinery for the liquid gum, so that before they 

 could be finished and heated, (the weather being warm,) the 

 goods fermented, and they could not be vulcanized. This is a 

 peculiarity of the vulcanizing process, remarked upon under the 

 head of Dissolving, page . In this way the capital, which had 

 been provided for this express purpose, three times in succession, 

 was exhausted. The cause of fermentation not being known, 



