Chapter 14

CHARLES GOODYEAR.

Discovery of India-rubber--Mode of collecting it--Preparation and use by the natives--Its introduction into the United States--Mr. E.M. Chaffee's process--The India-rubber fever--Brief success of the India-rubber companies--Their sudden failure--Visit of Mr. Goodyear to New York--He invents an improvement in the life preserver--Early history of Charles Goodyear--His failure as a merchant--Offers his invention to the Roxbury Company--The agent's disclosures--Mr. Goodyear finds his mission--His first efforts--A failure--Discouraging state of his affairs--Renews his efforts--Experiments in India-rubber--Coldness of his friends--His courage and perseverance--Goes to New York--Accidental discovery of the aqua fortis process--Partial success--Ruined--Life on Staten Island--Removes to Boston--Delusive prosperity--The mail bag contract--His friends urge him to abandon his efforts--He refuses--On the verge of success--Discovers the usefulness of sulphur--The inventor's hope--The revelation--Discovers the secret of vulcanization--Down in the depths--Kept back by poverty--A beggar--A test of his honesty--Starvation at hand--The timely loan--Removal to New York--Difficulties in the way--Death of his youngest child--Finds friends in New York--His experiments in vulcanization--Final success--His heart in his work--Fails to secure patents in Europe--His losses from dishonest rivals--Declaration of the Commissioner of Patents--Death of Mr. Goodyear--Congress refuses to extend his patent--His true reward.