Charles Goodyear was the man who developed the vulcanization process that made all of the rubber products we enjoy today possible.
Likewise, Eli Borden also developed the evaporated tinned milk process that also continues to this day.
Many of the items/processes that we take for granted were developed in response to the westward migration in these United States. Dried vegetables (Dessicated Vegetables) were bricks of various thinly sliced root & leaf vegetables that could be rehydrated in hot water to provide the basis for soups and stews without perishing during long periods of storage, and removed the weight of water from them to ease transport.
Likewise, instant coffee got it's start through a combination of heavily-reduced (boiled down) coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk, ala Borden's patent. Although the troops mentioned that it looked like a large bucket of axle grease, they were very complimentary of it's flavor and the resulting product was available until the advent of freeze-dried coffee granules.
Goodyear's Patent rubber processes allowed for rubber to be mated to cloth and lead to not just rubber ponchos and blankets, but to water-proof coats, hats and trousers, like the bright yellow ones everyone sees today with fishermen and boat crews. Many of his rubber-cloth kepis and talmas were privately purchased and worn by both officers and enlisted men to counted the damp and wet conditions in the field.
Altogether, the 19th century was quite an interesting time for product development, more so than many people realize.
