Goodyear's vulcanization method and the birth of synthetic rubber

Rubber has been used for a long time, but it has spread to Europe the end of the 15th century. Pristles used rubber as an eraser in 1770, and the Macintosh made raincoats in 1823 with rubber. American inventor Goodyear was patented in 1844 after developing the synthetic rubber in the vulcanization method in 1839. In 1898 Goodyear tires and rubber companies were established to manufacture tires based on the vulcanization method. In the 1920s, the scientific principles of rubber were identified, and in 1930 synthetic rubber became the first commercialized in the world..

The most widely used organic material today is rubber. There are 2 ways to make artificial rubber, by adding other chemicals to natural rubber, and there are ways to make rubber by synthesizing some compounds.

The latter is called synthetic rubber. Of these, synthetic rubber and artificial rubber are the areas of technology. Charles Goodyear (1800-1860) played a large role in the rubber's entry into the realm of technology. His name remains today through the Goodyear tire.

Where did people use rubber a long time ago?

The history of mankind's use of rubber has exceeded 3,500 years. By 1600 BC, the natives of Central America used latex extracted from rubber trees. It is a fact confirmed by archaeological remains. However, it was not clear what the purpose of the rubber was at the time.
Around 500 BC, Egypt used Komi extracted from acacia rubber, which is the origin of gum Arabic, and it is still used today. Egyptians used the extracts of rubber as a preservative for mummies as well as adhesives. It was at the end of the 15th century that Europeans learned about rubber.

Columbus who discovered the New World left the West Indies for a second voyage in 1493. During his stay in Haiti he saw the Aboriginal people playing games with balls made of Para-rubber trees' liquid (Hevea brasiliensis). At that time, Europe was using a ball made of thread. But the ball used by the Aboriginal people in Haiti was much lighter than the European ball and was bounced higher. The liquid from the para rubber tree was later called latex.

Natural rubber used in erasers and raincoats

Rubber was introduced to Europe through the Columbus party, but in the eighteenth century, it was worthless. While some people were experimenting with rubber, in 1770 the British chemist Joseph Priestley found a new use of rubber. He pointed out that rubber is very suitable for the purpose of erasing pencil marks on paper.  The value of the cubic rubber, which is 3 centimeters in one side, is 3 shillings and can be used for many years. In fact, the word rubber is derived from rub.

In France in 1783, rubber was used for flying. At that time, French scientist Jacques Charles used a rubber-coated cloth to create a hydrogen-working hot-air balloon while preventing gas from leaking. In 1803, the world's first rubber factory was built in Paris. Since then, the use of rubber has begun to expand to include rubber tubes used in medical devices, rubber straps for wearing clothes, and waterproof rubber shoes.

In 1823, a British chemist, Charles Macintosh, made raincoat with natural rubber from India. It was a method of applying natural rubber between two sheets of cloth and squeezing it with heat. The Macintosh raincoat was good for peoples who have to work in the rain. This is the origin of the British raincoat 'Mackintosh', and the Macintosh became famous enough to be called the rain coat in England. Originally, the Macintosh did not have k in English spelling, but it entered in the early 2000s.

A rubber vulcanization method that was found incidentally because of a cat

The inventor, Goodyear, invented the era of synthetic rubber beyond natural rubber. One day in 1839, Goodyear was experimenting with rubber. He left a rubber lump on his lab desk and went to have lunch. When he returned to the lab after his meal, a cat was playing with the rubber lump on his desk. Goodyear tried to drive the cat out, but the cat spilled a can on the bookcase and ran away to the doorway. And the contents of the can, poured over the rubber lumps. the rubber was covered with white powder. Goodyear was very angry because the rubber lump he had worked on throughout the morning became obsolete. He threw a rubber lump against the cat that snooped from the next room. The cat ran away again and the rubber mass fell on the stove. Goodyear was surprised when he looked at the burned rubber lump in the heat of the hearth. In spite of any method, the rubbery mass that has always been sticky has now become resilient and lustrous.

Goodyear returned to the lab desk immediately and saw the name tag of the can. It was powdered sulfur. The combination of rubber and powdered sulfur he had tried before, but he could not even think of heating it. Goodyear has been experimented with making vulcanized rubber by getting hints from a combination of natural rubber, sulfur and heating. As a result, the proper temperature and time to stabilize the natural rubber, and the ratio of rubber to sulfur were completely determined.  On the basis of this, Goodyear was patented in 1844 as vulcanization (named "Vulcan")..

Name left on the tire

Goodyear developed the vulcanisation method but did not have much fun with it. The vulcanization method was relatively simple and could be easily imitated. Goodyear filed a patent suit, but the lawsuit continued for eight years. Soon he started his business, but it was not even good. He got a big debt. In the end, Goodyear went to prison and spent the last years alone. Just before his death, he left the following remarks: "My day will surely come. Continue to develop vulcanized rubber for that time. "

In 1898 a company named Goodyear was founded. Frank Seiberling founded Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. The company built and sold tires based on Goodyear's vulcanization method. Goodyear tires were first used on bicycles and soon began to be supplied to automobile manufacturers. In the 1910s, the automotive industry flourished, and Goodyear occupied about 50% of the global automotive tire market. Although Goodyear's prophecy came true, it was 50 years after he died. Rubber is still the most widely used for car tires today. Imagine if a car tire is made of wood or iron, not rubber. Even if the road is a little rugged, the inside of the car will be shaken severely. Not only will the ride feel bad, but also the equipment and luggage of the vehicle may be damaged. Without rubber, the car may not have been widely deployed as a means of transportation. As such, rubber and automobiles form a stronger relationship with each other.

Opening of Synthetic Rubber Age

The next rubber, came after Goodyear's vulcanized rubber, was synthetic rubber. In 1907, German chemist Fritz Hofmann succeeded in artificially synthesizing the first synthetic rubber, polyisoprene. Because polyisoprene is similar to natural rubber and its components, mankind no longer needs to rely on natural rubber. However, Hoffmann's synthetic rubber was not commercially successful because it was inferior in quality and costly. In the 1920s, as the polymer chemistry became visible, the scientific principles of polymers such as rubber began to be identified.

Isoprene, the first unit of rubber, consists of five carbons. At the two ends of the monomer, carbon (1, 4), which forms a double bond, bonds with the carbon of the other unit, resulting in a new bond between the middle carbon (2, 3). When the methyl group (CH3-) and the hydrogen (-H) are bonded in the same direction around the double bond, a cis-shaped isoprene is formed. When the methyl group and the hydrogen are bonded in a diagonal direction, a trans isoprene is formed.
The elasticity of the cis-bonded rubber is greater than the elasticity of the trans-bonded rubber. The world's first commercially successful synthetic rubber was neoprene. It was developed in 1930 by Wallace Carothers at DuPont in the United States. Neoprene corresponds to a material synthesized with chloroprene substituted with a chlorine atom at the methyl group position of isoprene. Neoprene is widely used in automobile belts, fuel rubber hoses, and O-rings for packing, since it is resistant to heat and does not readily dissolve in organic solvents.

References

아서 셧클리프 외(조경철 옮김), 『청소년을 위한 케임브리지 과학사 4(기술 이야기)』 (서해문집, 2006년). 야마다 히로타카(김자영 옮김), 『천재과학자들의 유쾌한 발상』 (함께, 2006년). 마리 노엘 샤를(김성희 옮김), 『세상을 바꾼 작은 우연들』 (윌컴퍼니, 2014년). 오진곤, 『화학의 역사』 (전파과학사, 1993년).

Source document

[네이버 지식백과] 고무 - 굿이어의 가황법과 인조고무의 탄생 (세상을 바꾼 발명과 혁신, 송성수, 생각의힘)