E.M. Chaffee's
process--The India-rubber fever--Brief success of the India-rubber
companies--Their sudden failure--Visit of Mr. Goodyear to New York--He
invents an improvement in the life preserver--Early history of Charles
Goodyear--His failure as a merchant--Offers his invention to the Roxbury
Company--The agent's disclosures--Mr. Goodyear finds his mission--His
first efforts--A failure--Discouraging state of his affairs--Renews his
efforts--Experiments in India-rubber--Coldness of his friends--His
courage and perseverance--Goes to New York--Accidental discovery of the
aqua fortis process--Partial success--Ruined--Life on Staten
Island--Removes to Boston--Delusive prosperity--The mail bag
contract--His friends urge him to abandon his efforts--He refuses--On
the verge of success--Discovers the usefulness of sulphur--The
inventor's hope--The revelation--Discovers the secret of
vulcanization--Down in the depths--Kept back by poverty--A beggar--A
test of his honesty--Starvation at hand--The timely loan--Removal to New
York--Difficulties in the way--Death of his youngest child--Finds
friends in New York--His experiments in vulcanization--Final
success--His heart in his work--Fails to secure patents in Europe--His
losses from dishonest rivals--Declaration of the Commissioner of
Patents--Death of Mr.
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