Thomas Hancock was an English coach builder turned manufacturing engineer who founded Britain's rubber industry, inventing in 1820 the masticator, a machine that shredded and recycled scrap rubber. After examining vulcanized rubber samples from the United States that reached England in 1842, he began his own experiments with sulfur and rubber and filed a British patent on the process on November 21, 1843, roughly eight weeks before Charles Goodyear's American patent was granted. Hancock maintained that he had reached the sulfur process through his own experiments rather than by reverse-engineering Goodyear's material, and while the priority dispute between the two men was never resolved to universal satisfaction, Hancock's earlier British filing meant Goodyear could not obtain a British patent of his own. Hancock also found that vulcanizing rubber at a higher temperature produced a hard material he called vulcanite, or ebonite, and he held sixteen patents on rubber processes by 1847. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Connections
Associated With
Developed rubber vulcanization processes alongside Goodyear.
In Field
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Held Differently
Vulcanization, Methods Why this is disputed. Hancock filed the first patent on vulcanization, in Britain on November 21, 1843, ahead of Charles Goodyear's US patent, and said he reached the sulfur-and-heat process through his own experiments after examining Goodyear's American rubber samples in 1842. Goodyear's own accidental discovery is dated to 1839, five years before either patent, and American accounts credit him as the process's true originator.
Source Thomas Hancock (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors
Long-Form Articles
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Thomas Hancock (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationVulcanisation section
Hancock did not credit himself with discovering the reaction of sulphur with rubber; he instead said that in 1842 Brockendon had shown him some American rubber samples which had been treated with sulphur.
Infobox
26 March 1865 in London
View the Source A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954- In Category: Engineer
- In Field: Chemical Engineering
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
What was the priority dispute between Thomas Hancock and Charles Goodyear?
Hancock filed in Britain about eight weeks before Goodyear's American patent, so Goodyear could not patent there.
Hancock filed a British patent on the vulcanizing process with sulfur on November 21, 1843, roughly eight weeks before Charles Goodyear's American patent was granted. He maintained he reached the process through his own experiments rather than by reverse-engineering Goodyear's material. The dispute was never resolved to universal satisfaction, but Hancock's earlier British filing meant Goodyear could not obtain a British patent of his own.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.