Biography of Charles Goodyear – Known as the Inventor of Rubber Tires who was born in New Haven on December 29, 1800. He was an American citizen who discovered the method of vulcanizing rubber in 1839. He then patented his discovery in 1844. Initially Charles Goodyear was a former trader who went bankrupt and was imprisoned due to being in debt. In 1830 the world was experiencing rubber fever and Charles Goodyear was interested in getting involved in the world of rubber.
Rubber is good but it smells terrible, hardens when cold and is too sticky when warm and seems unusable for practical purposes. Charles Goodyear founded his company and worked hard to make it a useful material. Previously, for seven years, he tried processing rubber materials with magnesium oxide, bronze flour, nitric acid and lime adhesive, but without success.
On a lucky day in 1839, he cleaned his hands from a powder, consisting of a mixture of rubber and sulfur. The powder fell and entered a furnace over a fire. When the rubber melted, it reacted with the sulfur and found that the material changed to have an elastic skin-like character. This was the first time vulcanized rubber or rubber tires were created.
Goodyear also succeeded in finding weather-resistant rubber. Then he became obsessed with making various items from the materials he made and patented his creations. Goodyear’s intention to patent his invention was preceded by a British rubber pioneer named Thomas Hancock, ironically the vulcanizing method he used was inspired by an example of Goodyear’s creation of weather-resistant rubber. He also tried to fight through legal means, but ultimately lost and then lost his French patent, and not only that, his royalties were cancelled.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and is the third largest tire and rubber manufacturer in the world after Michelin and Bridgestone. This company, headquartered in Ohio, United States, produces tires for cars, airplanes and heavy machinery. Although they are not related, the company’s name was taken as a tribute to Charles Goodyear who invented rubber vulcanization in 1839.
In August 1824, Goodyear married Clarissa Beecher and they had 7 children, one of whom was William Henry Goodyear. Charles Goodyear died in New York on July 1, 1860, leaving debts of USD 200,000. However, in the end Goodyear’s sacrifice and hard work were not in vain, because his family was able to enjoy it all through the accumulated royalties from his invention, and what is even more meaningful, his name has been etched as a pioneer of the world’s modern rubber industry.
