Charles Goodyear

As referred to above, the actual founding of what was to evolve into the family of TPEs goes back nearly two centuries ago when Charles Goodyear first crosslinked rubber by vulcanization.

Its prominent residents included inventor Charles Goodyear, former President George Walker Bush, author Mark Twain, lexicographer Noah Webster, actor Paul Newman, showman P.

Among his awards were the Humboldt Stiftung Senior Scientist Award, Institut fur Kunststoffverarbeitung, Technische Hochschule Aachen in 1977; Bingham Medal of the Society of Rheology in 1981; Yuko-Sho Award, Society of Rheology, Japan in 1984; Society of Plastics Engineers, Education Award in 1987 and Research Award in 1992; Heinz Herrmann Twin-Screw Extrusion Award of the Extrusion Division of Society of Plastics Engineers in 2004 and the Charles Goodyear Medal from the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society in 2009.

But raw rubber couldn't be stretched if Charles Goodyear hadn't invented a process called vulcanization in 1938.

Charles Goodyear won the patent race, and regardless of which company made the buttons, which were used widely for military uniforms, civilian clothing and political campaigns, they carried the Goodyear patent information on the back.

Charles Goodyear would have been astounded by these developments.

It was when Charles Goodyear came along and developed a process for harnessing rubber (the substance) that real, honest-to-Peter rubbers came into existence.

Charles Goodyear endured years of hardship--even a stint in debtors' prison--trying to find a process that would make rubber more useful for mankind.

The only thing, truly, that I wasn't wild about is the initial story about Charles Goodyear (yes, the tire guy) and his "missing ingredient" that eventually accelerated his discovery and innovation.

Ted) Tuppen Enterprise Inns Luxury Goods Rose Marie Bravo Burberry Group Media Crispin Davis Reed Elsevier Medical Technologies & Services Christopher O'Donnell Smith & Nephew Metals & Mining Charles Goodyear BHP Billiton Group Oil & Gas John Browne BP Paper & Packaging Jukka Harmala Stora Enso Pharmaceuticals Daniel Vasella Novartis Group Property Leon Bressler Unibail Retailing/Food & Drug Chains Terry Leahy Tesco Retailing/General Simon Wolfson Next Specialty & Other Finance Stanley Fink Man Group Technology/Semiconductors Gerard Kleisterlee Royal Philips Electronics Technology/Software Henning Kagermann SAP Telecommunications Equipment Carl-Henric Svanberg Telefon AB L.

For example, I can recall from elementary school the story of Charles Goodyear and vulcanizing rubber.

Charles Slack, a journalist and freelance writer, was browsing through a biographical dictionary when he learned to his surprise that Goodyear Tire was not founded by Charles Goodyear, the New England inventor who made rubber indispensable to the modern world.

Charles Goodyear developed the first rubber condom in the 19th Century.

You might be the next Cyrus McCormick, Alexander, Graham Bell, Charles Goodyear, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Eli Whitney, or Johannes Gutenberg.

Artist Christian Schussele's 1862 line up includes James Bogardus (cast iron frames), Samuel Morse (electr ic telegraph), Elias Howe (sewing machine), Charles Goodyear (vulcanization of rubber) and Joseph Saxton (hydrometer and a perpetually-pointed pencil).