Charles Macintosh's invention of waterproof fabrics makes…
1823 CE
Charles Macintosh's invention of waterproof fabrics makes possible the production of the waterproof outer garment known as a mackintosh.
Born in Glasgow, had been first employed as a clerk, but had devoted all his spare time to science, particularly chemistry, and before he was twenty had resigned his clerkship to take up the manufacture of chemicals.
In this he has been highly successful, inventing various new processes.
His experiments with one of the byproducts of tar, naphtha, have led to his invention of waterproof fabrics, the essence of his patent being the cementing of two thicknesses of natural (India) rubber together, the rubber being made soluble by the action of the naphtha.
His patent is granted in 1823, and he is elected a fellow of the Royal Society for his various chemical discoveries.