The unfortunate result of the “experiment” was so dearly purchased, that all who were engaged in the traffic, abandoned it without an attempt to profit by experience. It is at this point that we introduce Mr. Charles Goodyear, a man of observation, possessing a larger share of perseverance than is usually found in any single individual, together with fair inventive genius. He saw the sad results of that zeal which is without knowledge, and resolved to find if possible, the thread which should guide him safely through the labyrinth of this mystery. He undertook the task alone, as the severe reverses which had visited the pioneers in the movement, had disgusted them with further attempts to correct, what appeared to be insurmountable objections. Mr. Goodyear seemed to be impressed with the idea that nature never plays practical jokes, and that what had already been accomplished in the uses of rubber was simply an earnest of what might be realized. Acting upon this conjecture, we see him devoting himself to the elucidation of the mysterious problem. Two important points were to be gained. To those acquainted with the India-rubber or gum-elastic, it is well known that after it has been subjected to a certain tension for any considerable time, it loses its elasticity; also, that during hot weather it melts and becomes sticky or adhesive, and in cold weather becomes stiff and rigid, and correspondingly less pliable. These important, in fact, fatal objections must be removed, or India-rubber would become comparatively valueless. Mr. Goodyear engaged in the work with all the enthusiasm of his nature, and notwithstanding he was without money, and the sympathy of friends, and was frequently the subject of privations, hardships, and imprisonments, still he labored on, as though a presentiment of the discovery of the long sought for secret was continually before him, encouraging him to work and he should finally triumph. His persistent efforts were finally successful. The admixture of sulphur with the gum at a heat of about 270°, was the “open sesame” to the treasures which he ultimately realized in the prosecution of his labors.
The Commissioner of Patents of the United States, the Hon. Joseph Holt, in his late decision upon the “extension” of the Goodyear Patent, thus eloquently discourses concerning the early efforts of Mr. Goodyear, in the search of his ultimately wonderful discovery.
“As early as 1834–’5, Mr. Goodyear seems to have formed a most exalted estimate of the capabilities, as a material for manufacture, of the gum known as caoutchouc or India-rubber. This gum had been previously extensively employed in the fabrication of a variety of articles, but, owing to their indifferent quality, all concerned in these enterprises, as well as in those which followed for a series of years afterward, were involved in bankruptcy and ruin. The fabrics thus made could not keep the market, because they were found to grow rigid under the influence of cold, and to soften and become sticky under that of heat, while they rapidly decomposed when brought into contact with perspiration and the animal oils. The applicant was thoroughly convinced that these qualities, which had proved so disastrous to the trade, could be removed, and he set himself resolutely to work to ascertain the process for accomplishing this result. Sulphur had already been advantageously combined with India-rubber by Hayward, so that the discovery had been approached to its very verge. The step, however, which remained to be taken, short as it was, was indispensable, and without it all those which had preceded it would have been unavailing. Science could afford but little assistance in the inquiry, for, as the event proved, the most potent element in the process was too subtle to be disclosed by the severest chemical analysis. The applicant had therefore to pursue the investigation gropingly; but he persisted in it with an ardor and a courage which nothing could abate or daunt. His aim was definite, his conviction as to its attainability complete. As one who searches for a hidden treasure in a field where he knows it is to be found, so pursued he his explorations in quest of this secret. He sought it on the right hand and on the left, by day and by night, in the midst of ceaseless toil and lavish expenditure, and by the light of every form of experiment which his most fertile genius and daring spirit could suggest. He became completely master of everything known in regard to the properties of the material which it was his ambition to improve, and so thoroughly was he imbued with the soul of his inquiry, and so intensely quickened was his vigilance, that no phenomenon, however minute, could meet his eye, no sound, however faint, could fall upon his ear, without his at once detecting and appreciating its bearing upon the great problem whose solution he was seeking. From four to five years were passed in these unremitted labors, when an incident occurred which at once revealed the long sought truth. And it is a singular coincidence, that the spark of light yielded by this incident, was elicited by a collision, so to speak, the result of that intense zeal which, so far as health and fortune were concerned, had been the consuming fire of his life. In one of those animated conversations so habitual to him, in reference to his experiments, a piece of India-rubber combined with sulphur, which he held in his hand as the text of all his discourses, was by a violent gesture thrown into a burning stove near which he was standing. When taken out, after having been subjected to a high degree of heat, he saw, what it may be safely affirmed would have escaped the notice of all others—that a complete transformation had taken place, and that an entirely new product—since so felicitously termed “elastic metal”—was the consequence. When subjected to further tests, the thrilling conviction burst upon him that success had at length crowned his efforts, and that the mystery he had so long wooed, now stood unveiled before him. His history in this respect is altogether parallel with that of the greatest inventors and discoverers who have preceded him. The lamp had swung for centuries in the Cathedral of Pisa, but of the thronging multitudes who worshipped there, none had heeded the lessons which it taught. It was reserved for the profound and observant intellect of young Galileo to extract from its oscillations the true laws of the pendulum, which led to the creation of an infallible measure of time. The theory of universal gravitation loses nothing of its grandeur or value because suggested by the falling of an apple from the tree. In all lands, by teeming millions, this phenomenon had been observed, but to none had it imparted instruction—to none had it spoken of that wonderful secret which lurked beneath its simple features. At length its “still small voice” fell upon the delicate and appreciative ear of one whom it startled into inquiry. The light thus afforded, to which all had been blind, was indeed dim and twinkling; but, following its guidance, as one who traces back the dawn, the great Newton soon plunged into the full-orbed splendors of a discovery confessedly the most brilliant which has gilded and ennobled the annals of science. On all the hearthstones of the civilized world, for thousands of years the kettle had boiled and lifted its lid by the expansive power of its steam; yet for none had this seemingly trite and ever-recurrent incident been significant—to none had it announced that measureless power of which it was the humble but distinct exponent. At length the movement caught the eye of a lonely student of nature, then a prisoner in the Tower of London, and in the soil of his prolific mind it proved the rapidly expanding germ of that steam-engine whose triumphs have changed the social, political, and commercial aspects of the globe. So India-rubber in combination with sulphur may by accident have been exposed to a high degree of heat often before without attracting the attention of any; and it is safe to allege that it might have been thus exposed a thousand times afterwards, without the world’s having been wiser or wealthier for it. The thorough self-culture and training of the applicant and his unwearied researches prepared him at once to seize upon, to comprehend and embody in a practical form, the truth he sought, the moment it presented itself, no matter how dimly, to him. This was his merit—the same in kind with that of the most illustrious inventors who have appeared in the world, and by that of but a few of them surpassed in degree. It is a figure of speech—but an exalted mode of expression—which assigns to man any part in the work of creation.”
The importance of this discovery is well understood. Gum-elastic is thereby made permanently elastic—it resists exposure to heat and cold—is elastic under compression—is impervious to wet—resists the action of solvents to a remarkable degree, and the attacks of vermin of all kinds. It can be moulded into almost every conceivable shape for use, or beauty. In the mechanical arts it has been subjected to a thousand uses, with remarkable success. And here we may remark en-passant, that gutta-percha was discovered subsequently, and is already a formidable rival of India-rubber inasmuch as the latter is affected by oils, and will, in a short time, except as a hard gum, become decomposed, whereas the former (gutta-percha) is not affected in the least by oils or acids, in its pure state; and here is the grand secret of the failure of those shoe manufacturers, who, ignorant of the fact that those shoes or boots cemented by a rubber filament would in a short time become useless, owing to the decomposition of the cement caused by the oil in the leather, were induced to make heavy outlays in the fitting up of large manufacturing establishments which were finally abandoned from this cause alone. Gutta-percha is a firmer and more consistent gum than India-rubber. Gutta-percha when placed in boiling water contracts considerably in bulk, while India-rubber expands. Gutta-percha juice, when taken from the fire, is of a dark brown color, and consolidates in a few moments, and becomes hard like wood. India-rubber sap is perfectly white, and has the appearance of thick cream; when it coagulates, it gives from four to six parts water out of ten. Gutta-percha first treated with water, alcohol, and ether, and dissolved with spirits of turpentine and precipitated, yields a substance consistent with the common properties of gutta-percha; but India-rubber similarly treated, results in a substance resembling in appearance gum arabic.
Gutta-percha by distillation yields 57⅔ per cent. of volatile matter; India-rubber by the same process, yields 85¾ per cent.
But Mr. Goodyear’s discoveries of vulcanization, as applied to the softer elastic compounds, did not end there. He continued his experiments for the space of five years from the time of his first grand discovery, when he obtained his patent for Vulcanized Hard Rubber. This invention was the crowning result of his long, patient, and laborious researches.
Probably the entire history of inventions cannot furnish an instance of more intense self-sacrificing, entire self-immolation to the elucidation of a great scientific principle, than is shown in the persistent labors of Mr. Goodyear while in pursuit of the crowning discovery of the age. Let us read the glowing account of his toils and disappointments, his defeats and victories, as given by the Commissioner from whom we have previously quoted.
“From the first moment that the conception entered his mind until his complete success—embracing a period of from sixteen to eighteen years—he applied himself unceasingly and enthusiastically to its perfection and to its introduction into use, in every form that his fruitful genius could devise. So intensely were his faculties concentrated upon it that he seems to have been incapable of thought or of action upon any other subject. He had no other occupation, was inspired by no other hope, cherished no other ambition. He carried continually about his person a piece of India-rubber, and into the ears of all who would listen he poured incessantly the story of his experiments and the glowing language of his prophecies. He was, according to the witnesses, completely absorbed by it, both by day and night, pursuing it with untiring energy and with almost superhuman perseverance. Not only were the powers of his mind and body thus ardently devoted to the invention and its introduction into use, but every dollar he possessed or could command through the resources of his credit, or the influences of friendship, was uncalculatingly cast into that seething cauldron of experiment which was allowed no repose. The very bed on which his wife slept, and the linen that covered his table, were seized and sold to pay his board, and we see him, with his stricken household, following in the funeral of his child on foot, because he had no means with which to hire a carriage. His family had to endure privations almost surpassing belief, being frequently without an article of food in their house, or fuel in the coldest weather—and indeed it is said that they could not have lived through the winter of 1839, but for the kind offices of a few charitable friends. They are represented as gathering sticks in the woods and on the edges of the highways, with which to cook their meals, and digging the potatoes of their little garden before they were half grown, while one of his hungry children, in a spirit worthy of his father, is heard expressing his thanks that this much had been spared to them. We often find him arrested and incarcerated in the debtor’s prison, but even amid its gloom his vision of the future never grew dim, his faith in his ultimate triumph never faltered. Undismayed by discomfitures and sorrows which might well have broken the stoutest spirit, his language everywhere, and under all circumstances, was that of encouragement and of a profound conviction of final success. Not only in the United States did he thus exert himself to establish and apply to every possible use his invention, but in England, France, and other countries of Europe, he zealously pursued the same career. In 1855, he appeared at the World’s Fair in Paris, and the golden medal and the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor were awarded to him as the representative of his country’s inventive genius. Fortune, however, while thus caressing him with one hand, was at the same moment smiting him with the other; for we learn from the testimony that these brilliant memorials passed from the Emperor and reached their honored recipient, then the occupant of a debtor’s prison among strangers in a foreign land—thus adding yet another to that long sad catalogue of public benefactors who have stood neglected and impoverished in the midst of the waving harvest of blessings they had bestowed upon their race. Throughout all these scenes of trial, so vividly depicted by the evidence, he derived no support from the sympathies of the public. While the community at large seemed to have looked on him as one chasing a phantom, there were times when even his best friends turned away from him as an idle visionary, and he was fated to encounter on every side sneers and ridicule, to which each baffled experiment and the pecuniary loss it inflicted added a yet keener edge. The mercenary, naturally enough, pronounced his expenditures, so freely made, culpably wasteful; the selfish and the narrow-minded greeted the expression of his enlarged and far-reaching views as the ravings of an enthusiast; while it is fair to infer from the depositions, that not a few of the timid and plodding who cling, tremblingly apprehensive of change, to the beaten paths of human thought and action, regarded him as wandering on the very brink of insanity, if not already pursuing its wild and flickering lights. Such in all times has been the fate of the greatest spirits that have appeared on the arena of human discovery, and such will probably continue to be the doom of all whose stalwart strides carry them in advance of the race to which they belong. With such a record of toil, of privation, of courage and of perseverance in the midst of discouragements the most depressing, it is safe to affirm that not only has the applicant used that due diligence enjoined by law, but that his diligence has been, in degree and in merit, perhaps without parallel in the annals of invention.”
The change produced in the native gum has been aptly compared to the change which is wrought in the perishable hide by the process of tanning. We can hardly estimate the uses to which this “vulcanite” may be applied, or rather we may say we shall find it quite as difficult to say what uses it cannot be made to subserve. It can hardly be denominated an improvement, but a creation. Daniel Webster in his great plea, Goodyear vs. Day, eloquently remarks that, “it introduces quite a new material into the manufacture of the arts, that material being nothing less than elastic metal. It is hard like a metal, and as elastic as pure original gum elastic. It is as great and momentous a phenomenon occurring to men in the progress of their knowledge, as it would be for a man to show that iron and gold could remain iron and gold, and yet become elastic as India-rubber.” Mr. Goodyear denominates this improvement “metallic gum elastic.” This article is extensively used, and may be wrought into thousand shapes, from massive blocks to the thinnest sheets. It is susceptible of a beautiful polish, and possesses great firmness and durability. It already constitutes an important staple of commerce. Millions of dollars are invested in its manufacture, both in Europe and America. It is largely wrought into imitations of marble, wood, leather, whalebone, shell, horn, &c. The imitation is so perfect as to deceive even a practised eye, and while it so closely resembles the various articles alluded to, it is more durable and permanent than many of them, inasmuch as it remains unaffected by heats or colds, dampness or extreme dryness; no corrosion, oxidation, nor decay. It excels in beauty, nicety of finish, and in durability, those trinkets of glass and jet, which, in the common form, are so liable to instant destruction by children.
Few persons have any adequate conception of the wonderful transformations to which vulcanite may be changed, or its important position in the industrial arts.