5 facts about Charles Macintosh celebrating his 250th Birthday!

Charles Macintosh, the Scottish chemist who invented waterproof materials, leading to the modern raincoat, is being celebrated with a Google Doodle on what would have been his 250th birthday.

“Today’s Doodle shows Macintosh enjoying a Scottish rain shower whilst testing his ingenious invention,” Google says.

Here’s what you need to know about Macintosh:

1. He Was Born in 1766 in Glasgow, Scotland

Charles Macintosh was born December 29, 1766, in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the son of George Macintosh, a merchant, and Mary Moore, according to the Dictionary of National Biography.

He began working as a clerk in Glasgow for a local merchant at a young age, and was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps, but instead spent most of his spare time focusing on science, his true love.

2. He Began Working as a Chemist Before He Turned 20 & Was Later Inducted Into the Royal Society for His Discoveries

Macintosh left his job as a clerk before he reached the age of 20 to focus on chemistry, according to Today in Science History.

He was a self-taught chemist, opening the first alum works in Scotland in 1797, according to the Scotsman. His plant also produced ammonium chloride and Prussian blue dye. Macintosh, about that same time, introduced the manufacture of lead and aluminum acetates to Britain, and developed a new way to dye cloth,according to The Scotsman.

Macintosh’s most famous invention, waterproof material, came while experimenting with the waste products from coal-gas works. He had been buying ammonia and tar waste byproducts from Glasgow coal-gas works, according to Today in Science:

He utilized the ammonia in the production of cudbear, a useful dye extracted from various lichens. By varying the choice of mordant used with this dye, manufacturers could colour textiles in a range of shades from pink to blue. The tar could be distilled to produced naphtha – a volatile, oily liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Although this could be used in flares, from 1819, Macintosh continued to experiment to find more ways to utilize naphtha, so that the original tar waste could yield more value.

The invention for which Macintosh is best known came when these investigations of naphtha yielded a process for waterproofing fabric. In June 1823, Macintosh patented his process using a solution of india-rubber in naphtha soaked between two layers of cloth forming a sandwich that was pressed together. The rubber interior provided a layer impermeable to water, though still flexible. His patent, No. 4,804, described how to “manufacture for rendering the texture of hemp, flax, wool, cotton, silk, and also leather, paper and other substances impervious to water and air.”

He soon opened a production plant in Manchester.

Macintosh was inducted into the Royal Society in 1823 for his inventions.

3. The Mackintosh Raincoat Is Named for Him, Though It Is Spelled With a K

The Mackintosh raincoat, though spelled differently, is named for Macintosh. The iconic coats, which were first created with materials invented by Macintosh, are still handmade in Scotland, according to Scotland Now.

“Local tailors wanted nothing to do with the new material, so in 1840 he moved to Manchester, where his fabric was used to make raincoats that became known by his company’s name as the mackintosh. The additional letter ‘k’ is unexplained,” according to Scotland Now.

The coats are made today by Mackintosh, a company founded in 1895, according to The Scotsman:

A true mackintosh coat is made from this rubberised cotton and is completely handmade with the seams glued rather than sewn for a completely watertight seal, explains managing director Daniel Dunko at the Cumbernauld plant.

‘We are the only manufacturer of Mackintosh raincoats that we know of,’ Dunko said. ‘We stick to the original method using rubber from Malaysia, made into a spreadable liquid, applied to rollers then spread like a sandwich and baked and vulcanised in a big oven. There are copies, for example Goretex, which uses the same principle but we use rubber which is better than a synthetic.’

The jacket is still evolving and has recently remerged as a major fashion trend, according to Elle. Designer Demna Gvasalia, who has worked with Mackintosh on recent jackets, called the design brilliant in an interview with Elle.

“Because of the way this garment is made. There is no stitching involved, it’s completely bonded/glued, in order to keep the garment completely waterproof,” Gvasalia said. “I owned a vintage Mac that I wore for years in my early twenties until someone stole it at a party. Even after literally doing everything to wear it out, that coat always looked immaculate.”

4. He Was Married & Had a Son, George

Macintosh was married, in 1790, to Mary Fisher, the daughter of a Glasgow merchant, according to Britannica.

They had one son, George, who lived from 1791 to 1848.

George Macintosh worked with his father’s company, Chas. Macintosh & Co., and was a member of the company’s board of directors after his father’s death, according to Bouncing-Balls.com, a website about the history of rubber.

After George Macintosh retired from the company’s board, the Macintosh family no longer had any involvement in the management of Chas. Macintosh & Co. The company continued to be operated until 1923, when it was taken over by Dunlop.

Production at the company’s factory in Manchester continued until 2000, according to Bouncing Balls.

5. He Died in 1843 & Was Buried at the Glasgow Cathedral

Macintosh died July 25, 1843, in Dunchattan, Scotland, according to the Dictionary of National Biography. He was buried in the churchyard at Glasgow Cathedral.

His legacy lives on in the raincoat he helped invent, according to Science on the Streets:

Although Macintosh is best known for his eponymously-titled coats, he was a brilliant chemist with achievements in many different fields. He invented a revolutionary bleaching powder (along with Charles Tennant), devised a way of using carbon gases to convert malleable iron to steel by a short-cut method, and worked out a hot-blast process with James Neilson to produce high quality cast iron.

“It’s a wonder how the weatherbeaten Brits coped before Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh invented his eponymous waterproof coat,” Google says in its description of the Doodle. “His invention, patented in 1823, came about as he experimented with coal-tar naphtha and rubber and realized they could be fused together with fabric to create a waterproof surface. These days in the U.K., it’s common to call any type of raincoat a ‘Mac.'”

These were 5 facts about Charles Macintosh
If you want more top5 facts on people let me know!
Follow:
Twitter: @ntronic145

Insta : @dhokladude99

facebook :https://www.facebook.com/mainhunisarg99