The birth history of tires

After nearly 200 years of development, tires are an important industry affecting the transportation industry. Today, there are many corporations specializing in tire research and production, including tire companies with the names of the first people laying the foundations for the tire industry: Goodyear, Michelin and Dunlop.

The original "tyre" noun to refer to "tires" is based on the first-time wooden wheeled vehicles that people develop vehicles. At that time, the wheels were made of wooden panels with steel borders around it. After the tire came into being, the word "tyre" was used to denote this part of the car from the connected role (and tied) and held onto the wooden panels of the wheel.

The tire name is derived from the tightening role of metal belts around wooden wheels.

Later, world discoverers in the early nineteenth century saw Indians use rubber sheets to waterproof. This elastic material was eye-catching by Europeans, and in the 1800s, Charles Mcintosh used latex made from the resin of a tree in Amazone forest to cushion the edges of the wheels. Cars run smoothly but still exist many disadvantages: cold weather makes this material broken, and hot weather makes latex tires wriggle. People continue to search for a material that is more resilient and temperature resistant to use as a tire.

Image of making tires in Goodyear's factory.

By 1839, Charles Goodyear discovered the vulcanizing method of rubber to make the rubber more durable and better elastic. Rubber becomes the most popular material for tire manufacturing, especially bicycle tires. However, tires in this period are still solid rubber tires.

Tires in this period are still solid rubber tires.

48 years later, around October 1887, in a day playing with his son in his yard, Irish veterinarian John Boyd Dunlop came up with the idea of ​​pumping rubber inside to make tires. Because his son felt uncomfortable with the wheels on his toy car because it was so bumpy. Although a veterinarian, John Boyd Dunlop had a certain experience and knowledge of rubber, he pumped air into a rubber tube and mounted it on a 96cm diameter wooden wheel of the bike 3. son's cake. Realizing the excellent effect of inflatable hollow tires , he applied for patent rights and was officially recognized on December 7, 1888 (however, Robert William Thomson had previously been granted a patent on similar pneumatic tire technology in 1847).

Tire structure of Dunlop (left) and by Michelin brothers (right).

Dunlop's tires were a huge success at the time races in Ireland and then England. This makes this type of tire quickly applied to commercial vehicles. The company provided tires that John Boyd Dunlop owned grew strongly in the market, despite being involved in a legal battle with William Thomson. However, the basic texture of today's tires we use is not quite the same as Dunlop's tires. Dunlop tires still have a very low lifespan because the sliding friction between the road surface and the tire surface has not been reduced when the vehicle runs.

Édouard Michelin and André Michelin have changed the tire manufacturing industry with new vehicle patents.

Later in France, the brothers Édouard Michelin and André Michelin revolutionized the tire industry with the introduction of a completely new generation of tires in 1948. The tires invented by the Michelin brothers are structured. Similar to current tires : including tires fitted on the rim . And the rim is also an important invention for the media industry of mankind. Thanks to the improved design, longevity and durability of the tire. However, in order to use this type of tire, the automakers must accept to change the suspension system in the car to match the new rim.

This new type of tires is quickly adopted and produced in large quantities by car manufacturers in Italy, France, Japan and Germany. However, in the US, people initially refused to use Michelin tires, because that meant changing the huge assembly and assembly lines of this potential industry.

Popular tires today have the same design as the Michelin brothers' tires.

After tubeless tires replace conventional tires, tire companies now research and develop free-use non-pneumatic tires with higher operating efficiency.