Famous People Charles Goodyear

Pre-Reading Warm Up Questions ☀ Charles Goodyear 1. Have you ever heard the term “vulcanization of rubber”? Can you guess what it means? Charles Goodyear was an American who invented the vulcanization 2. Have you heard of the international company called of rubber. Vulcanization is a process that uses chemicals and heat to Goodyear Tires? change and strengthen rubber so that it can be used to make products such as tires and inflatable life rafts. 3. Have you ever invented anything? If so, describe your invention. Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 29, 4. Do you think most inventors become rich from their 1800. He had little schooling. As a young man, he worked with his inventions? father in their hardware store in Philadelphia. When their business failed, Goodyear was sent to debtors’ prison because he could not 5. What can inventors do to prevent other people from pay his debts. stealing their ideas?

While he was in prison, he began to think of ways to make rubber usable. When he got out of prison, he made some rubber outer shoes, but the rubber melted when it got warm and the shoes were ruined. His experiments with rubber produced a strong smell in the family’s house. When the neighbors complained, Goodyear, his wife, and their children moved to New York City.

Goodyear had to sell all of his family’s possessions to continue with his experiments. His family was soon very poor, and Goodyear spent more time in debtors’ prison.

Goodyear did not give up though. He discovered that by adding sulfur and using heat, he could strengthen the rubber and keep it from melting. After five years of experimenting, he learned how much sulfur to add and the right temperature to use. The rubber COMPREHENSION ✍ could now be used in commercial products. In 1844, he received a A. True or False. Read the statements below. If the U.S. patent for the vulcanization of rubber. statement is true, write T beside the sentence. If it is false, write F. If it is false, correct the information. Many people tried to steal his idea and he had to go to court several times to try to stop them. The money he spent going to court made 1. Charles Goodyear had a good education. him even poorer. 2. Charles Goodyear was a successful businessman.

Goodyear never became rich from his invention. He was more 3. Goodyear’s neighbors were not happy about the interested in experimenting with rubber than in making products experiments that he did in his house. from it. When he died in 1860, at the age of 60, he was $200,000 in 4. It took Goodyear many years to develop the process of debt. vulcanization. 5. Goodyear made a lot of money developing rubber products.

1 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Charles Goodyear

B. Practice asking and answering the following questions with your partner. Then write the answers in complete sentences.

1. Why is Charles Goodyear famous? 2. What is vulcanization? 3. Why was Goodyear sent to debtor’s prison? 4. What was wrong with the first rubber outdoor shoes that Goodyear made? 5. Why did Goodyear and his family move to New York? 6. How was Goodyear able to strengthen rubber so that it could be used to make commercial products? 7. What happened when people tried to steal Goodyear’s idea?

DISCUSS VOCABULARY REVIEW ✍ 1. Explain the meaning of the following A. Match the words on the left with the correct meaning on the right. proverb: necessity is the mother of invention. _____ 1. strengthen a) soften or change from a solid to a liquid _____ 2. inflatable b) say that something is wrong 2. Give several adjectives that you could _____ 3. raft c) something owed use to describe Charles Goodyear’s _____ 4. hardware d) a test done in order to learn something new character and explain why you chose _____ 5. debt e) related to selling these.

_____ 6. melt f) make stronger 3. In the olden days, people went to _____ 7. ruin g) can be filled with air and blown up prison when they couldn’t pay their debts. _____ 8. complain h) destroy What do people in your country do _____ 9. possessions i) stop trying to do something nowadays when they can’t pay their _____ 10. experiment j) metal goods such as hammers, nails, knives, etc. debts? _____ 11. patent k) a thing used to carry people or things on water 4. Can you give some examples of _____ 12. commercial l) things that one owns famous inventors and their inventions? _____ 13. give up m) protection given to an inventor so others cannot Did these people become very rich from steal his idea; exclusive right to make and use a new invention their inventions?

B. Choose the right word from the left column above to complete the 5. The people who started Goodyear following sentences. (You may have to change the verb tense or pluralize a noun.) Tires, a famous international company, had no relation to Charles Goodyear. Why 1. The heavy rains and strong winds are going to ______our vegetable garden. do you think they chose this name? 2. I forgot to put the ice cream in the freezer, so it started to ______. 3. The children spent the hot afternoon jumping off the ______into the cool lake. 4. The food in that restaurant is not very good. Many customers are starting to ______. 5. He is going to the ______store to buy some new tools to fix his car. 6. They are planning to sell many of their old______before they move out of the city. 7. Christmas has become a very ______holiday in North America. It is the time of the year when many stores make most of their money.

2 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Charles Goodyear

ANSWER KEY

Please note: The reading for this topic is also available in full-page format at the end of the lesson (page 4).

PRE-READING QUESTIONS 1-5. Individual answers

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS A. True or False 1. F 2. F 3. T 4. T 5.F

B. Written Answers 1. Charles Goodyear is famous for inventing the vulcanization of rubber. 2. Vulcanization is a process that uses chemicals and heat to change and strengthen rubber so that it can be used to make products such as tires and inflatable life rafts. 3. Goodyear was sent to debtors’ prison because he could not pay his debts after his family business failed. 4. The rubber melted when it got warm outside and the shoes were ruined. 5. Goodyear and his family moved to New York after their neighbours complained of the strong smells that were produced when Goodyear experimented with rubber at home. 6. Goodyear was able to strengthen rubber by adding sulfur and using heat. 7. Goodyear took those people to court to stop them from stealing his idea.

VOCABULARY REVIEW A. Matching 1. f 2. g 3. k 4. j 5. c 6. a 7. h 8. b 9. l 10. d 11. m 12. e 13. i

B. Fill in the blanks 1. ruin 2. melt 3. raft 4. complain 5. hardware 6. possessions 7. commercial

3 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details. Famous People Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear

Charles Goodyear was an American who invented the vulcanization of rubber. Vulcanization is a process that uses chemicals and heat to change and strengthen rubber so that it can be used to make products such as tires and inflatable life rafts.

Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 29, 1800. He had little schooling. As a young man, he worked with his father in their hardware store in Philadelphia. When their business failed, Goodyear was sent to debtors’ prison because he could not pay his debts.

Goodyear had to sell all of his family’s possessions to continue with his experiments. His family was soon very poor, and Goodyear spent more time in debtors’ prison.

Many people tried to steal his idea and he had to go to court several times to try to stop them. The money he spent going to court made him even poorer.

Goodyear never became rich from his invention. He was more interested in experimenting with rubber than in making products from it. When he died in 1860, at the age of 60, he was $200,000 in debt.

4 Copyright 2009. This eBook is produced and distributed by Red River Press Inc. All rights reserved. The contents within this e-book/document may only be photocopied by members of ESL-Llibrary.com in accordance with membership terms and conditions. Contact [email protected] for complete details.