Description
Book SynopsisThis book began with the aim of telling the almost forgotten story of Thomas Hancock, the rubber developer who in his own day was acknowledged as one of the great scientific pioneers of the Industrial Revolution. But as research progressed, it was clear that Thomas and his five brothers, the Hancocks of Marlborough, together constituted a unique family which made a tremendous yet virtually unknown contribution to nineteenth-century science and art. Walter designed and ran the first steam carriages to carry passengers on the common roads of England and so began the age of mechanized transport. Thomas founded the UK rubber industry when he discovered how to vulcanize rubber reliably; his company survived for some 120 years before being taken over. Charles was a well established painter who was also instrumental in the manufacture of gutta percha-coated undersea cables, used by the electric telegraph to begin the global information highway. Other brothers, John, James and William all made
Trade ReviewA treasure house for anyone interested in inventors and how they managed their intellectual property prior to the reform and consolidation in 1852 of the UK's patent system. * Physics Today *
Table of Contents1. Marlborough, Wiltshire - Roots ; 2. The Hancocks Gather in London ; 3. From Seawater to Steam ; 4. Life, Death, and Bankruptcy ; 5. The Family, the Law, and the End of a Dream ; 6. Life's Ups and Downs ; 7. A New Industry ; 8. Gutta Percha Comes to Town ; 9. The Great Hose Controversy ; 10. 'The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations ; 11. Back to the Courts ; 12. A Life of Ease ; 13. Death and Depositions ; 14. Marlborough Cottage and the Great Aunts ; 15. The Hancock Legacy ; 16. James Lyne Hancock & Co ; Epilogue: Thoughts on a Dynasty ; Appendix I: The fourteen patents of Thomas Hancock 'for the treatment and application of INDIA RUBBER' ; Appendix II: Mechanical Applications of Vulcanized India Rubber as described by Thomas Hancock ; Appendix III: Technical Development of the Rubber Industry 1850-1950
