Goodyear's Incredible Journey: How patents and rubber changed everything Painful Path to a Patent Charles Goodyear endured poverty, poor health, prison, family tragedies in quest to vulcanize rubber. The vulcanization of rubber has often been referred to as an accidental invention. Charles Goodyear insisted that characterisation stretched the truth. What cannot be disputed is the unflinching determination of this self-taught chemist and manufacturing engineer that led to one of the most important discoveries of the past 200 years—as well as the poverty, pain and family tragedy that are hallmarks of his story. The...