Charles Goodyear, whose U.S. Pat. 3,633 granted in 1844, sent samples of his vulcanized rubber to British rubber pioneer Thomas Hancock without disclosing his process. Hancock filed his patent in Britain two weeks before Goodyear. Hancock’s British Patent was upheld after a court found he did not learn the process from Goodyear ー underscoring the difference between the United States’ first to invent system in effect until 2013, and Britain’s first to file system.
“Life … should not be estimated exclusively by the standard of dollars and cents. I am not disposed to complain that I have planted and others have gathered the fruits. A man has cause for regret only when he sows and no one reaps.”
Charles Goodyear
