The Goodyear story : an inventor's obsession and the struggle for a rubber monopoly / Richard Korman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Korman, Richard.

Contributor:

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Goodyear, Charles, 1800-1860.

Goodyear, Charles.

Rubber.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 230 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

San Francisco, CA : Encounter Books, 2002.

Summary:

Long before the Robber Barons made America into an international economic power, a generation of visionary inventors gambled on innovations they hoped would bring them riches. Chief among them was Charles Goodyear, who in the 1830s began an obsessive quest to find the recipe for rubber, a material he believed would change the world. In chasing his dream, Goodyear entered a Dickensian underworld, miring his family in poverty, spending extended periods in debtors' prison, and provoking powerful enemies who were also determined to understand and control this miracle substance. His victory in a triumphant lawsuit argued eloquently by Daniel Webster made Goodyear into an American industrial legend, but never released him from his tragic fixation or the pain it caused those close to him. In The Goodyear Story, Richard Korman has written a fascinating biography that also provides a panoramic view of America in the first light of its industrial revolution. Drawing on newly discovered archival records, Korman tells a suspenseful story of scientific experimentation and legal struggle while he creates a portrait of an eminent American whose eccentricity anticipates the new economy pioneers of today.

Contents:

Prologue: Upstart Americans 1

Chapter 1 Yankee Notions 8

Chapter 2 Salvation through Rubber 24

Chapter 3 The Scent of Brimstone 39

Chapter 4 The Remarkable Providence 56

Chapter 5 Patent No. 3633 82

Chapter 6 "Do you think you are a scoundrel?" 94

Chapter 7 A Capacious Monopoly 113

Chapter 8 A Trial for the Century 125

Chapter 9 "I cannot censure myself" 164

Epilogue: "Grandfather's life was faithful, just and righteous" 187.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-222) and index.

ISBN:

1893554376

OCLC:

48450864