Goodyear Essay, Research Paper

1. Life

Charles Goodyear was born in New

Haven, Connecticut in 1800. Charles was

the oldest child in his family and had

four brothers and a sister. He married

Clarissa Beecher in 1824. The y had 6

children, Ellen ,Cynthia, Sarah, a un-

named child, Charles Jr. ,and William .

Three of there children died from

disease . Sarah died at 3 Yr. ,an

unknown child died at 2 months and

son William died at 3 Yr. Most of his life

with his first wife and children were in

poverty . He remarried after the death of

his first wife to Fanny Wardeell of

London England. Charles died on July

1, 1860 himself a poor man ,the way he

spent almost all his life .

2. Education & Training

Charles had an average education .He

went to high school but not college. He

did do an apprenticeship in New York in

a hardware store. Charles was very

influenced in his early childhood by his

fathers interest in inventing things. His

father experimented with new types of

pitchforks, etc. Charles did not have

much education but was always

thinking of new inventions.

3. Work

In 1821, he worked with his father

in a hardware business. This business

failed in 1830 The y tried to expand to

quickly causing them to go bankrupt.

Then he used his talents to the

commercial improvements of India

rubber and inventing new things. India

rubber was not used in industry because

of the adhesives of the surface. It was too

sticky when hot and too brittle when

cold. Goodyear spent most of his life in

search of inventing a way to make

rubber stable and usable.

4.Discoveries & Achievements

Natural or India rubber was of

limited usefulness to industry. Rubber

products melted in hot weather, froze

and cracked in cold, and adhered to

everything. One day, one of Good years

early experiments was that he discovered

that lime made rubber softer and

workable. But his big breakthrough was

when he accidentally dropped some

rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove.

Goodyear?s discovery of what came to be

known as vulcanization strengthened

rubber so it could be applied . Goodyear

achieved very little recognition fo r

inventing the vulcanization process

before he died. He had a few companies

using his process and was earning some

money . He was satisfied knowing that

his dream of stabilizing rubber had

come true. Today the ?Goodyear Medal?

perpetuates the memory of Charles

Goodyear?s invention of the

vulcanization process, and is awarded

to honor individuals for outstanding

inventions.

5.Effect of his Work

Charles Goodyear?s major effect

on today is the use of rubber for a wide

range of products including tires .

Rubber is also used for other things such

as ……..mouse balls and for the little

buttons on TVclickers. (thank good ness

for rubber) Without rubber we would

still be wearing leather(ect.) soled

shoes. In 1844, vulcanization was

patented vulcanization strengthened

rubber so it could be used for a variety

of industrial uses, including automobile

tires eventually. Rubber also helped

make one of my favorites, snowmobile

tracks so I can go snowmobileing with

my dad at our camp in Vermont. I don?t

know what I would do without rubber.

Rubber changed ways of transportation

.Today almost everyone uses rubber

every day somehow.

6. Interesting Facts

Charles Goodyear was jailed on

many occasions because he had overdue

debts that he could not pay. Charles

Goodyear didn?t invent the tire yet he

has one of the biggest tire companies in

the world named after him . Charles

Good year had other inventions besides

vulcanization he also invented along

with his father improved pitchforks.