Vulcanization was greatest industrial secret of 19th century [video 57min]

Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century is the biography of American inventor and entrepreneur Charles Goodyear. Author Charles Slack describes Goodyear's development of vulcanization -- the technique used to transform rubber into a useable product. Also detailed are the inventor's susequent personal and financial struggles to win a patent for his innovative manufacturing process. The patent conflict culminated in the 1852 trial between Goodyear and his long-time British rival, Thomas Hancock. Goodyear was eventually awarded the patent. Slack is the author of Blue Fairways: Three Months, Sixty Courses, No Mulligans and Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America's First Female Tycoon. He is a former contributor to the Richmond Times-Dispatch and a freelance writer for several national magazines. This interview with the author took place in 2002.