Goodyear

Goodyear, Charles (1800-60), the inventor of vulcanised indiarubber, was born at New Haven, Connecticut, and died in New York. He began life as an iron-manufacturer, but about 1834 began to devote his attention to the making of indiarubber.

He took out his first patent in 1844, and after a long struggle and much litigation succeeded in further perfecting his invention. He took out in all 60 patents, and his material was applied to nearly 500 different uses.