Seth Boyden
Seth Boyden (November 17, 1788 – March 31, 1870) was an American inventor.
He was born in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on November 17, 1798. He had a brother, Uriah A. Boyden.
He worked as a watchmaker and moved to Newark, New Jersey.
Boyden perfected the process for making patent leather, created malleable iron, invented a nail-making machine, and built his own steamboat. He is also credited with having invented a cut off switch for steam engines and a method for producing zinc from ore. At the time of his death, he told friends that he had, even at that time, enough experiments on hand to last two whole lifetimes.
In 1818, Boyden received a piece of German manufactured patent leather (said to be a German military cap front) from a local carriage manufacturer and used that to investigate the possibility of creating a version of leather in the United States that was treated in such a way that the material would be decidedly more dressy than work boots and similar leather goods, but retained its desirable qualities of protection and durability. To reverse engineer the European patent leather, Boyden set up a shed at the Malleable Cast Iron Foundry of Condit & Bowles at 25 Orange in Newark, New Jersey (40°44′13″N 74°10′56″W / 40.736807°N 74.182262°WCoordinates: 40°44′13″N 74°10′56″W / 40.736807°N 74.182262°W) and ultimately discovered a way to produce his own patent leather. Using a formula that was based on a series of treatments using layers of linseed oil-based coats, the new shiny leather began commercial production on 20 September 1819. Boyden’s efforts resulted in the production of glossy leather that quickly caught on as a complement for formal dress. Ironically, Boyden never patented his inventive patent leather process.
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