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Charles Goodyear did not have many good years. He invented vulcanized rubber, but his patent was constantly infringed upon. While others made millions off his invention, he died hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. At least the tire company decided to honor his name.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: August 29, 1898--
Born in 1800, Goodyear later became a partner in his father’s hardware store, which went bankrupt in 1830. A self-taught inventor, he became interested in making the temperamental natural rubber into something that was less sticky and could withstand heat and cold. Through some fucking around and happy accidents, he created the process of vulcanization, getting his first patent in 1844.
Then he spent a lot of time in court fighting those who infringed on his patent. But he wasn’t all that bitter, later writing that life wasn’t measured just in money, and that, “Man has just cause for regret when he sows and no one reaps.” People sure reaped. In a sad end, in 1860 he traveled to New York to see his dying daughter, only to arrive and be told she had already passed. He collapsed at the news and died a short time later, at age 59.
Thirty-eight years later, on August 29, 1898, Frank Seiberling paid homage to the inventor by naming his new company the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Based in Akron, Ohio, the company began with a focus on bicycle and carriage tires. As they became more popular, they focused on automobile tires.
The company grew into a multinational corporation. Today it has annual revenues exceeding $15 billion and employs 64,000 people. Goodyear kept its headquarters in Akron and is the only major American tire company. Its primary competitors are Bridgestone (Japan), Michelin (France), Pirelli (Italy), and Continental (Germany). And yet, in 2020 the soon-to-be-twice-impeached Donald Impotus Trump told Americans to boycott Goodyear because they wouldn’t let employees wear MAGA hats.
The company released a statement saying, “Goodyear has zero-tolerance for any forms of harassment or discrimination.” Employees are permitted to express support for equity issues such as Black Lives Matter or Pride, but Goodyear won’t permit political campaigning of any type. So, no MAGA hats, but no Biden hats either. Trump thought that if you’re not for him, you’re against him, even though Goodyear tires are used on the presidential limousine.
In the week following Trump’s call for a boycott, Goodyear’s stock price was unaffected. As for Charles Goodyear, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1976.
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More good info at the link below. My college roommate was from Naugatuck, and pointed out a lot that was a former factory lot in his turn that could still not be built on due to the polluted soil...
https://www.ctinsider.com/connecticutmagazine/news-people/article/Looking-Back-on-Charles-Goodyear-and-the-Rubber-17043651.php