f a number of business houses that
seriously embarrassed his firm. They struggled on, however, for some
time, but were finally obliged to fail. The ten years that followed
this were full of the bitterest struggles and trials to Goodyear.
Under the law that then existed he was imprisoned time after time for
debts, even while he was trying to perfect inventions that should pay
off his indebtedness.

Between the years 1831 and 1832 he began to hear about gum elastic and
very carefully examined every article that appeared in the newspapers
relative to this new material. The Roxbury Rubber Company, of Boston,
had been for some time experimenting with the gum, and believing that
they had found means for manufacturing goods from it, had a large
plant and were sending their goods all over the country. It was some
of their goods that first attracted his attention. Soon after this
Goodyear visited New York, and went at once to the store of the
Roxbury Rubber Company. While there, he examined with considerable
care some of their life preservers, and it struck him that the tube
used for inflation was not very perfect. He, therefore, on his return
to Philadelphia, made some tubes and brought them down to New York and
showed them to the manager of the Roxbury Rubber Company.

This gentlemen was so pleased with the ingenuity that Goodyear had
shown in manufacturing these tubes, that he talked very freely with
him and confessed to him that the business was on the verge of ruin,
that the goods had to be tested for a year before they could tell
whether they were perfect or not, and to their surprise, thousands of
dollars worth of goods that they had supposed were all right were
coming back to them, the gum having rotted and made them so offensive
that it was necessary to bury them in the ground to get them out of
the way.

Goodyear at once made up his mind to experiment on this gum and see if
he could not overcome its stickiness.

He, therefore, returned to Philadelphia, and, as usual, met a
creditor, who had him arrested and thrown into prison. While there, he
tried his first experiments with India rubber. The gum was very cheap
then, and by heating it and working it in his hands, he managed to
incorporate in it a certain amount of magnesia which produced a
beautiful white compound and appeared to take away the stickiness.

He therefore thought he had discovered the secret, and through the
kindness of friends was put in the way of