Born in New Haven, Charles Goodyear attended school in Naugatuck and, in 1826, started the first retail domestic hardware store in the US with his father, inventor and businessman Amasa Goodyear, in Philadelphia. Bankrupt four years later, Charles and his family endured poverty as he doggedly pursued a new venture: the stabilization of rubber for commercial use. In 1844, after establishing the Naugatuck India-Rubber Company, Goodyear patented his vulcanization process—a discovery that has made possible a range of indispensible commercial products, from car tires to sneaker treads. Despite this success, Goodyear battled patent infringements and debt until his death in 1860. He is buried in New Haven and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1976.
Goodyear, Charles. Patent Model for the Manufacture of Rubber Fabrics. 3,462. New York, NY, issued March 9, 1844. Link.
Goodyear, Charles. Patent Number 3,462 - Manufacture of India Rubber Goods. US3462 A. New York, NY, issued March 9, 1844. Link.
Goodyear, Charles. Patent Number 3,633 - Improvement in India-Rubber Fabrics. 3,633. New York, NY, issued June 15, 1844. Link.
Goodyear, Charles. Gum Elastic and Its Varieties: With a Detailed Account of Its Applications and Uses and of the Discovery of Vulcanization. Vol. 2. New Haven: Charles Goodyear, 1853. Link.
Lamkin & Foster, Boston, and Goodyear India Rubber Glove Company. Illustrated Catalogue of the Goodyear India Rubber Glove Co.’s Boots and Shoes for the Season of 1885-6. Boston, CT: The Firm, 1885. Link.
Wolf, Ralph F. India Rubber Man; the Story of Charles Goodyear. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1939.
Slack, Charles. Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century, 2002.
Geer, William Chauncey. The Reign of Rubber. New York: The Century Company, 1922. Link.
Peirce, Bradford K. Trials of an Inventor: Life and Discoveries of Charles Goodyear. New York: Carlton & Porter, 1866. Link.