On 12 October 1823 a shop in Glasgow sold the very first rainproof overcoat made of a new material. Previously waterproof clothing had been made of heavy oiled cotton with a characteristic unpleasant smell; the new coat was lighter, odourless, and completely waterproof, thanks to a novel material described as “india rubber cloth”.
Charles Macintosh, a Scottish chemist, had patented the material four months earlier. Other attempts to create rubber clothing had been unsuccessful, and Macintosh’s secret was to use naphtha to soften the rubber before sandwiching it between two layers of fabric. This meant that even when the rubber became sticky with heat it did not affect the wearer.
