Saturday 15th June 1844

Charles Goodyear received another patent (U.S. No. 3,633) for “An Improvement in India-Rubber Fabrics.” This way of processing india-rubber, added white lead to the sulphur and heating method he patented 24 Feb 1839. He had spent several years, since going bankrupt in hardware, trying to improve natural rubber, which became sticky in summer heat and brittle in the winter. He had experimented to coat it with a powder to make it less sticky when he accidentally dropped a mixture of natural rubber and powdered sulfur on a hot stove in Woburn, Massachusetts. The heat completed the process. Despite the value of his inventions, he died in poverty in 1860. (His earliest patent, 17 Jun 1837 used metallic solutions.)