Have
you ever wondered how far things have evolved over the years, the only thing
that has been constant in this world is Change, every minute million of things
are changing, In this article we are going to see how Car tyres have been
changed over the years. Did you know how the tyres got their names, before
rubber tyres were invented, craftsmen made wheels called Wheelwright, it would
have forge bands of steel to the wheels of carts, the steel band would tie the
spokes of the wheel together, and hence it was called ”tyre” and the same name
has been used till now.
Rubber tyres were invented in the mid – 1800’s, the inspiration for
rubber tyres has actually come from Indians, Some explorers have seen Indians
using the sheet of rubber for waterproofing, and Charles Mcintosh was
experimenting on latex – a sap product which came from a tree in Amazon, but
this material had a problem, this material was brittle in cold weather and it
became sticky in hot weather, and then in the year 1839, Charled Goodyear added
sulphur to it, which gave the latex elasticity and strength. The
experimentation was spread all over Europe and America. And then in mid 1800’s
rubber tyres were invented, those rubber tyres were solid or cushion, and was
able to carry the load, absorb shocks and resist cuts. These cushioning tyres
were the was used in carriages and cycles then.
Pneumatic rubber tyre
Did you know
that there are many interesting stories behind the birth of pneumatic rubber
tyres, it was actually created by an individual to help his son, when John
Dunlop found that the tyre of his son’s bicycle wasn’t comfortable, he tried to
invent the pneumatic tyre, When Dunlop wanted to establish his finding, a
controversy was created stating another person by the name Robert William
Thomson had already patented a pneumatic tyre in 1845, Only in 1888 John Dunlop
applied for the patent. But finally Dunlop won the legal battle, as he had an
established Rubber Company. But the first pneumatic tyres for automobile were
pioneered by the two brothers of Michelin family, Andre and Edouard. They were
the ones who equipped a car with their invented pneumatic tyre and did a trial
run as well. They didn’t stop there; they also rode the car fixed with
pneumatic tyres in the Paris-Bordeaux road race in 1895. They lost the race,
but didn’t fail in their business venture. They went on become one of the
leading producers of tyres in Europe. The evolution of pneumatic tyres pushed
away the solid rubber tyres from the race, the solid rubber tyres disappeared.
Radial tyres
These people only created the radial tyres in 1948, which was an
revolutionary achievements. These steel based tyres had many advantages, they
had long life, increased mileage of the car but also had the disadvantage of
different suspension system. But it became popular gradually. In 1898l the Good
year Company discovered the vulcanized rubber which was another milestone in
the tyre industry.
In the following years car tyres had an inner tube in them which was
filled with compressed air and outer rubber casting which protected the inner
tube. The outer layer had many layers of rubberized fabric cords embedded in
them, which made them strong and suitable for all roads and even for jungle
rides.
Future of tyres
The tyres of cars has evolved a
lot in the recent past, even the air used to fill the inner tube has is being
experimented, some filling stations offer to fill Nitrogen gas for better
performance. Various types of tyres are being used for various type of cars,
and the car owners specific need. Heavy tyre development has been happening
especially in race cars, however nothing revolutionary has happened so far. Let see what future has
in store for us. The below is the list of major happening in the history of
tyres.
§ 1840’s: Charles
Goodyear invented the vulcanised rubber and Robert William Thomson patented the
vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre
§ 1880’s: John Dunlop
invented pneumatic tyres for his son’s bicycles.
§ 1890’s: Brothers of
Michelin family used pneumatic tyres on an automobile and had a trial run
§ 1903: Paul Weeks
Litchfield patents tubeless tyre. He rose to become the chairman of Goodyear in
the year 1940.
§ 1904: Mountable
rims were introduced to enable the owners to fix their tyres
§ 1910: B.F. Goodrich
added carbon to rubber and invented longer life tyres
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