Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the 19th Century
A well done story of Goodyear's incredible and classic story to make rubbber impervious to hot and cold by the vulcanization process. Goodyear endured incredible suffering, including the death of 7 of his 12 children. However, he did have 2 excellent wives, the second one 20 years old when he was 54. A great deal of material about the various patent fights. He spent a lot of time in debtors prison, even after he was famous, due to his very sloppy money management skills. This was a man who was obsessed by the uses of rubber, but never focused on utilizing any one use enough to make money from it. Also, some classic evil guys in the form of Charles Day, who infringed the patent and generally tortured Goodyear. Good parts about this patent case being the last case for the famous lawyer, Webster.
