Hancock, Thomas (1786-1865)

English inventor who developed various processes used in the rubber industry, such as the ‘masticator’, a machine which kneaded raw rubber to produce a solid block.

Hancock was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire. In 1820 he opened a factory in London for making rubber products. Between 1820 and 1847 he took out 17 patents connected with working rubber, and set up a research laboratory. He also collaborated with Charles Macintosh of Glasgow, inventor of a waterproof cloth.

Like Charles Goodyear in the USA, Hancock wanted to solve the problems of rubber's tackiness and inconsistency at different temperatures. After experimenting with sulphur additives and learning of Goodyear's work, Hancock adopted the heat process of vulcanization.

In 1857 he published Personal Narrative of the Origin and Progress of the Caoutchouc or India Rubber Manufacture in England.

Hancock, Thomas (1703-1764)

US merchant. He established himself in bookselling and in the merchant trade. He furnished supplies to British forces in Nova Scotia (1746-58) and the ships for the removal of the Acadians (1755). He left his estate to his nephew, the politician John Hancock. Hancock was born in present-day Lexington, Massachusetts.