He entered the hardware business with his father but the venture failed in 1830.  He then turned his talents to the commercial improvement of natural or India rubber, as it was the known.  The rubber until his time, was not used much in industry because of the adhesiveness of the surface and because of its inability to withstand temperature extremes. 

It was until the day in 1836 when inventor Charles Goodyear accidentally dropped some rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove while he was experimenting with it.  Goodyear's developed a nitic acid treatment which helped the rubber from being adhesive, melt, or crack.  Goodyear's discovery of what came to be known as vulcanization strengthened rubber was patented in 1844.  This would be applied to a vast variety of industrial uses, including, eventually, automobile tires. 

He died on July 1, 1860.