US Patent: 1,090
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| Improvement in the mode of preparing caotchouc with sulphur for the manufacture of various articles
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Patentee:
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| Nathaniel Hayward (exact or similar names) - Woburn, MA |
| Manufacturer: |
| Not known to have been produced |
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Patent Dates:
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| Granted: |
Feb. 24, 1839 |
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Jeff Joslin
Wikipedia biography of Nathaniel Hayward
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Description: |
| This patent represents an important step along the the way to assignee Charles Goodyear's invention of vulcanized rubber. Sometime before this patent was issued, Goodyear had been challenged (without pay) to develop a process to make latex rubber less prone to rot and more temperature stable. He did a series of experiments but did not have much success. In mid-1838 he met Nathaniel Hayward who had also been experimenting to stabilize latex. Hayward had partial success by sprinkling a stretched latex sheet with sulphur and letting the sun heat it up. This produced a harder, smoother and non-sticky surface, but was not temperature-stable and it also had an objectionable odor. Hayward then experimented with mixing sulphur into latex that had been dissolved in turpentine, which offered some improvement but was still too smelly and temperature-sensitive. Still, Goodyear encouraged Hayward to patent this improvement. Around the time this patent was issued, Goodyear dropped a blob of sulphurized rubber on a hot stove, where it charred. This led him to experiment with heating the sulphurized rubber, and discovered that the right amount of heat would produce a tough, stretchy, flexible, durable, stable, and not-too-smelly compound. In the beginning of 1844 Goodyear obtained patent 3,633 for this product, which he termed vulcanized rubber; unfortunately, less than two months prior, Thomas Hancock of England had obtained a British patent for the same basic idea, and that fact prevented Goodyear from seeing much financial benefit from his years of unpaid efforts. The Goodyear Rubber Company was created after his death to manufacture rubber tires for motor vehicles. The company was named in his honor but neither he nor his surviving relatives saw any money as a result. |
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