Austin G. Day And The History Of Hard Rubber

[jonveley]

Hello all,

 

Today's article at Leadhead's is one which I believe might be of general interest to pen historians. The story begins with a John Holland dip pen/pencil combo bearing an imprint reading "A.G.Day's Pat. Aug. 10 '58." Austin G. Day -- which drew me into researching the scuffling that went on between Day and Nelson Goodyear (as in Goodyear's Patent of 1851) over who was the father of hard rubber. Did Goodyear pull a fast one, as Day alleged in his patent? Yes.

But the G. in A.G. Day was for Goodyear -- Austin was Nelson Goodyear's cousin. Did that give Day the inside track and enable him to "borrow" and patent a recipe his cousin had written about? I found something even better . . . conclusive proof that a book written by Goodyear containing the recipe was in Austin G. Day's library.

Comments and suggestions welcome. Direct link to the article is http://leadheadpencils.blogspot.com/2016/09/that-third-interesting-holland.html

Jon

 

[Roger W.]

Jon;

 

Nice finish to the article. Great research as always.

 

Roger W.