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How did Charles Macintosh make waterproof clothing with rubber?

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In 1823, Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh developed a method to create waterproof fabric by utilizing coal-tar naphtha as a solvent to dissolve india rubber.12

He applied this rubber solution to one side of a piece of wool cloth and then bonded a second layer of wool on top. By sandwiching the rubber cement between two layers of fabric, he created a "double-textured" material that effectively prevented the sticky surfaces common in earlier, single-layer rubberized garments.123

While this invention led to the production of the mackintosh raincoat, the early garments faced significant challenges: the rubber cement could deteriorate due to natural oils in the wool, the fabric would stiffen in cold weather and become sticky in heat, and tailors' needles would puncture the material during assembly, allowing water to leak through seams. These issues were eventually resolved following the introduction of vulcanized rubber in 1839.12