pair of Keds, a tire, a fruit jar ring, or a doormat.

So many people had been deceived by previous rubber ventures that
Goodyear had great trouble in finding anyone with enough faith to
invest money in his discovery. It was some time before he was able
to take out the first of the more than sixty patents which he was
granted during his lifetime for applying his process to various
uses. Under these patents he licensed several factories to use the
process in the manufacture of rubber goods, but required them to
stamp all goods with the words "Goodyear patent." Scores of
companies have since used the name Goodyear, but the only
factories that he licensed which are now in existence are parts of
the United States Rubber Company.

Goodyear often had to defend his patents in court. In the most
famous of these suits, he was defended by Daniel Webster and
opposed by Rufus Choate, so that we see interwoven in the story of
rubber the names of two of the greatest statesmen this country has
produced.





CHAPTER 3

THE HEVEA TREE


For the very first of the rubber story we may thank a little wood-