Nathaniel Manley Hayward (January 19, 1808 – July 18, 1865)[1] was an American businessman and inventor best known for selling a patent to Charles Goodyear that Goodyear later used to develop the process of vulcanization.

[2][3] Nathaniel Hayward was born in Easton, Massachusetts on January 19, 1808.

[4] Hayward met Goodyear in 1837 and shared with him the discovery he had made, almost accidentally, while working at a rubber factory in Roxbury, Connecticut.

[5] He bought some mills in Stoneham, Massachusetts, from Elisha S. Converse, which later became a small settlement called Haywardville.

[4] Hayward's former home in Colchester has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.