Charles Goodyear is the inventor of vulcanized rubber. Some may think that he lived a wealthy and good life with this amazing invention, but it was actually the complete opposite of that.

Goodyear devoted 5 years of his life to rubber. He tried many different experiments trying to make rubber suitable for industrial use. There was no stopping Goodyear. When he couldn’t afford to pay for more experiments, he begged people and sold family items.

This was all worth it when Goodyear started using sulphur in his experiments. Goodyear went into Woburn’s General Store to show off his new rubber and sulphur experiment. He waved up his hands and the fistful of gum in the air and it dropped on top of a hot stove. This time instead of melting like molasses, it charred like leather.

Goodyear was slow in filling patents ,but he had sent a sample of the rubber to British companies without revealing the details. One sample was caught by Thomas Hancock, a man who has been trying to invent water proof rubber for 20 years. Hancock noticed the yellowish sulphur on the rubber and recreated it. Four years after, Goodyear went to file a patent ,but found out that Hancock did weeks earlier.This now mean that all the hard work he has been doing to invent vulcanized rubber had went to waste. Goodyear died $200,000 in debt.

Having a patent filed is the first thing everyone should do. Many people are starting to invent new things to make life even easier than it already is and are having a patent filled out immediately. What would happen if you didn’t? Would you end up like Goodyear or become extremely lucky and have the idea to yourself?

I interviewed student Hussein Hmaydi who is very interested in the idea of inventions and having them to yourself. He claims that “If i ever invented anything I would make sure that the item belongs to me and if anyone copies it, I would sue them.” He also added “I would only take the time to get a patent on something if it was worth doing. Such as things that most people would use.”

Having an invention and a patent on it will be 100% worth it when you make your profits. Learn not to make the same mistake as Goodyear.

Unis Middle School Journalist- Mohamed Dabaja