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Show AN ECCENTRIC GENIUS. New Haven is most assuredly one of the great homes of inventors. It was her genial soil that nurtured Whitney, whose cotton gin furnished the mechanical motion for a large number of other successful machines. Not the least among the great men whose enthusiasm led them into sorrowful paths for the benefit of their kind was Charles Goodyear, who died about twenty years ago. He bequeathed to posterity that which has founded many fortunes. It is estimated that $40,000.000 have been made from his patents. Comparatively a pittance come to the family, and the bones of the originator are unhonored by massive pile or marble bust in the busy city where he spent most of his days. As the inventor of the process by which rubber was made flexible and vulcanized he is known world-wide. Much has already been written about this erratic genius, but it is always in order to call the attention of his country men to his unswerving devotion to their interests. He was the son of a well to do man who owned a 200 acre farm on Oyster Point. This parent Goodyear was a lively business man, and in Seymour had a factory where he manufactured pitchforks. They were extensively used. Young Goodyear was sent to Philadelphia as a commission merchant to sell them. He located in Church alley, and soon had a flourishing business. It is an opinion that if he had remained there he would have had the largest hardware commission house in this country, but then he probably would not have given his great invention to the world. That is of more value than many extensive hardware houses. Mr. Goodyear was always at work inventing something or other, and unfortunately involved his father pecuniarily. One of his first ventures was a metallic life-boat. He conceived an excellent idea, and made one of tin or something very light. It was launched at Basin wharf. Whether it was a success does not appear. The remains of it are said to be even now at the bottom of the basin. Mr. Goodyear was very extravagant in expenditures concerning his inventions. It is said that this was because he was not a practical chemist. Therefore he made many experiments, which learned men would have thrown aside as foolish. It is an excellent thought, however, that it is just this lack of education which leads to some of the most wonderful inventions. Mr. Goodyear ran in debt, and was quite poor. He went to Boston one day, and was put into a sponging house for debt. He happened to wear a pair of old fashioned gums. These were hideous looking things, with rubber thrown on unevenly by the natives. His feet were cold and he put them to the stove for warmth. The rubber melted. It was just what he had been looking for - the way to make rubber flexible. Then he went to work and discovered that sulphur would harden it. This was the volcanic rubber. It is related that it was while working over a stove with rubber that he accidentally discovered the value of this new ingredient. He thoroughly tested his discoveries upon his own person. An elderly citizen said recently that Mr. Goodyear was once indebted to him in about $600. He didn't press him. One day the inventor came to him with a pair of rubbers and said : "I will make you a present of these." Seeing, perhaps, a shade of disappointment on his friend's brow, he hastened to add : "They are the first pair I have made and they cost me $5,000." These, although greatly improved over previous rubbers, were on a warm day as adhesive as molasses. Afterward he sold his umbrella-stick patent for $10,000, and this friend received his $600. So many were the debts that all this money disappeared, it is said, in two days. It is related that he went to some of the professors in Yale College with inquiries about chemistry, having his invention in view. He was told there, as so many geniuses have been informed by other men : " Mr. Goodyear, there's no use trying; you can't do it." His dogged perseverance, however, pulled him through despite this "wise" enunciation. The enthusiasm he displayed in reference to rubber was remarkable. A friend desired him to do a little job and inquired the price. He refused to be compensated by money, saying, in substance: "I will do it for nothing, gladly, if it will in any way promote the use of rubber." That seemed to be the ambition of his life. Among his little inventions was a rubber map made with great taste. It could be rolled up for the pocket or stretched out to adorn a wall. Among his queer freaks it is narrated that he would step into his tailor's and order a dozen vests, when he could have no use for them. The Candee company was founded on his patents, many of which were sold. Toward the close of his life he began to realize largely. Litigation had consumed much of the gains. A man named Day, living on Long Island, claimed priority, "That's the way with all inventions," laughed a successful inventor, himself recently. Instead of combining and making fortunes for both, the men litigated. The case when to the Supreme Court of the United States, but, it is stated, was settled. Daniel Webster was engaged as counsel for Mr. Goodyear. Of course he made a wonderful argument; that goes without saying. At one time it was estimated that the income from the royalties on rubber shoes were $50,000 a year. The estimate of $40,000,000 made on the patents by various persons is not considered extravagant. It is an opinion that if the inventor had been a better business man, he could have coined money. He sold his patent for a car-spring for $5,000. It was in use until displaced by the spiral spring. He had another patent, for which he was offered $100,000 by a Frenchman. An editor in Boston, a man of no responsibility, strange to say, ascertained this, and made it one better by offering him $500,000. Mr. Goodyear took him up. The man immediately sold the right to the Frenchman, pocketed the $100,000, and never paid the inventor a cent. This is the story. When an attempt was made at Washington to secure a second renewal of the patent, it was defeated by Gov. [Governor] Buckingham, who had an interest elsewhere. The final result was that the Governor's fat also got into the fire. Much has been said and written about Mr. Goodyear, but not enough to induce the city or any high-minded citizen to erect a statue to his memory. If not the green, how would it do for the new park to be ornamented with statues of Whitney and Goodyear; of Morse and Percival; of Silliman and many of the other men who are known world-wide? Vulcanized India rubber for combs, etc. is to have a warm struggle, it is prophesied, with celluloid, which will not break in any weather and can be made in all, or nearly all, colors. Thus one invention leads to another. Charles Goodyear bequeathed a source of unfailing prosperity for ages. -- New Haven Register. |