Every day something new appears in the world that can change the life of mankind for the better.

Yes, this is not surprising, people have always tried to make their existence easier. Inventions quickly find their application.

But, often, no one has any idea who made this or that discovery. Many creators, whose finds we use to this day, remain in the shadows.

For example, do you know who John Dunlop is? I am sure that most of you will shake your head in different directions and only a few will start searching the Internet.

You can quit this business - now you will learn about everything in detail!

Biographical information

John Dunlop, a Scot by nationality, was born in 1840 year. A veterinarian by training, he treated animals in small villages.

But, it often happens that a person’s profession does not coincide with his spiritual calling.

So it was in this case - John gravitated towards inventions, one of which glorified him throughout the world.

Scot invented pneumatic tire for a bicycle, which in the future found application in cars.

It happened in 1888 year, and exactly one year later Dunlop created his own company Byrne Brothers India for the production of tires.

It was later renamed to Dunlop Rubber Company.

The history of the creation of an inflatable tire

You must be wondering - how did an ordinary veterinarian manage to invent such a simple, but extremely necessary thing?

Today, most drivers complain about road condition, and at the end of the 19th century it was not worth talking about at all.

It was impossible to drive along the roadway on any type of transport without grinding and shaking.

Wheels were made from bare metal and sometimes covered with a thin layer of rubber.

It was nerve-wracking for John to watch his son literally bounce over rough roads on his bike.

One day he took the bike from his child, took garden hose, spun it around the wheels and pumped it up with air.

So there were first bicycle tires. Certainly, high quality they couldn't brag, but it was better than nothing at all.

Shortly after this discovery, Dunlop received a patent for the creation of pneumatic tires.

Pneumatic tire for bicycle, tested

Dunlop measured the diameter of the bike's wheels and cut off pieces of the hose that were the right length.

The places where the ends connected, the Scot covered with a thick layer of tarpaulin.

This was supposed to provide, albeit weak, but tightness.

After that, he tried to inflate the tires with air using a pump.

The rubber rims were ready to fit on my son's tricycle.

Having checked relevance of the invention on a small bike, Dunlop set about arranging the adult.

He attached pieces of rubber to the "tarpaulin flaps" to stop slippage.

John got on the bike and went, the feeling was great. It was safe to say that the beginning new era in the development of transport.

Dunlop Rubber Company

Exactly one year after opening, an enterprising Scot sets up a pneumatic tire company.

Campaign first products were not removable, they directly stuck to the bicycle wheel.

Everyone, including the company itself, understood that such a tire mount is not the most convenient and something urgently needs to be changed.

For this purpose, research centers began to open and operate. Dunlop.

They were engaged in both the development of new, more quality tires, and their testing in all respects.

With the advent of the car, the company's profit increases tens or even hundreds of times.

An active production of tires for cars began, but the company did not forget about bicycles either.

Things got to the point that Dunlop Rubber began to produce tires for aircraft and various special equipment.

Branches of the campaign quickly expanded throughout the UK.

There were fewer and fewer people who had not yet encountered Dunlop products.

decline

But, as they say, all good things come to an end after a while. The decline of the campaign came in the 80s of the 20th century.

Many problems in the market, huge debts have caused alterations Dunlop rubber.

As a consequence of this, by the end of the 20th century, the campaign was divided between the world's leading corporations.

Now the rights to it belong to both the Japanese and many European countries.

The only thing that unites them now is the production of products related to rubber.

There are companies that, like the former Dunlop Rubber, produce car and bicycle tires.

This is a kind of reverence shown to the history of the great campaign.

As you can see John Dunlop made a huge contribution to the development technologies and Sciences generally.

Without its discovery, people could spoil their nerves and health for many years to come by trying to drive on local roads.

So, if now you are asked who John Dunlop is, you will surely find something to answer!

An article about the creation of tires will help you learn how tires were invented and changed, and what made them so stable, reliable, durable and wear-resistant.

Today it is difficult to imagine that once upon a time tires were not put on the wheels of a car. This was in the era of the first motor vehicles and wooden wheels. True, even with non-intensive use, they quickly collapsed and required replacement. The invention of a wheel reinforced with a steel rim (prototype modern disk) solved this problem, but this technology did not give the desired results.

The history of the creation of car tires

Robert William Thompson was the first to use tires made of elastic material to increase the comfort and safety of a car in 1846, developed a tire design and patented his invention. The tire invented by Thompson was also called the "air wheel". It was a chamber made of thick canvas, impregnated with a solution of rubber or gutta-percha, upholstered on the outside with pieces of leather.

Thompson's initiatives were picked up by other inventors. Numerous experiments of enthusiasts were crowned with success: a rubber pneumatic tire was invented, with a tire separated from the chamber. Appearance pneumatic wheel made driving smoother. The tires themselves have become stronger and more durable (these parameters were absent in the first variations of the invention).

Opening vulcanization

An article about the invention of tires is impossible without mentioning Charles Goodyear.

The vulcanization process made it possible to organize the production of a truly durable, and at the same time elastic tire. The American inventor Charles Goodyear in 1839 did not even suspect that the technology he created for the production of rubber by combining rubber and sulfur would become an integral part of the production of automobile tires.

In the 1830s, Goodyear was engaged in the production of rubberized shoes and fabric. At his enterprise, he produced rubber toys, clothes, shoes, umbrellas. However, the properties of this material did not allow goods to be of high quality: rubber melted at high temperatures, was fragile and had other disadvantages.

Goodyear took this problem seriously. Through experiments, he learned that heating rubber mixed with sulfur gives the material the necessary strength, not only on the surface, but throughout its entire thickness. It is safe to say that 1839 is the time of the invention of rubber for cars.

Goodyear Company. Founding and early years

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was incorporated in 1898 in the United States. On that day the history of creation began goodyear tires. The founder, Frank Sieberling, named his company after the inventor of vulcanization technology.

From the very foundation of the company, its products have become in demand and bought. Already 4 years later, in 1901, the company began to create a tire for the car of the famous Henry Ford. The famous Model T car in those years was equipped with Goodyear tires.

In 1907, the chairman of the board of the brand receives a patent for the removable tire he invented. This Goodyear technology are used ubiquitously today.

Experiments, continuous improvement of product characteristics and the introduction of new technologies allowed the concern to become the world's largest manufacturer of tires and other rubber products by 1926.

Expansion of activities

In the period from 1927 to the present day, the company has been actively developing, mastering new production capabilities, improving designs, designing tires not only for cars, but also for aircraft. In 1971, the manufacturer released tires for the Apollo 14 lunar rover. The tread prints of these tires remained on the moon for centuries.

During these years, scientific and technical centers, representative offices in many countries of the world were opened, agreements were concluded with famous brands. All this allows Goodyear to be one step ahead of the competition - the company is the first to introduce innovative solutions, bringing new products with improved characteristics to the market.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the impeccable reputation of the brand. Goodyear has repeatedly ranked among the top most responsible and reliable companies in the world.

About Goodyear production

Based on tire history, experience and tradition, today the company holds one of the leading positions among car tire manufacturers. The factories of the brand carry out a full cycle of work to create a high-quality tire: from tire design and creation rubber compound before the release and testing of a new product.

The creation of Goodyear automotive rubber is carried out on the most modern production lines. Adjustment of production processes, rubber compound composition, improvement of the tread pattern and the addition of functional inserts make it possible to produce new models designed for different categories of motorists (residents of the northern regions, off-road, trucks and etc.).

Rubber and silica are the main components of a car tire.

A pneumatic car tire is a high-tech design capable of holding air under pressure. Thanks to the invention of Charles Goodyear, today's car tires are a mixture of natural and artificial rubber, carbon black, sulfur, silicon and synthetic compounds. All these components pass through a mixer during production, resulting in a raw rubber sheet.

Silica is another material used in modern manufacturing. This acid, which improves the elasticity and grip characteristics of rubber, was discovered back in the 50s of the last century. The process of developing the technology of adding silica to the mixture in the tire industry has been launched relatively recently. This is due to the high cost of the material and the need to use special equipment for mixing it with rubber.

Tire construction

Pneumatic tires must have several elements:

• frame - the basis of the product, which is several layers of rubberized cord,
• sidewall - an outer rubber element designed to protect the structure from external damage in the side part,
• board - a rigid mount to the wheel on the tire,
• breaker - protects the frame from impacts and gives the product rigidity,
• tread - grooves and grooves on the rubberized surface of the tire, ensuring non-slip and safe movement under adverse environmental conditions: on mud, dirt road, wet, snowy or icy track.

Car tires from Goodyear are constantly being improved, structural elements are acquiring new properties.

The importance of the car tire to the automotive industry is undeniable. Tires provide smoothness, speed, safety, flotation and comfort. This automotive addition has evolved along with the car, and has played an important role in the development of the automotive industry.

They tried to improve the wheel from the very moment of its invention. The first wooden wheels in contact with the road quickly collapsed. They were invented to strengthen with a steel rim. The idea made the wheel more durable, but the terrible rumble and stiffness of the ride remained a problem for many years.

The first inventor of the tire is considered to be the Englishman Robert Thomson. In the middle of the 18th century, he patented his invention - a camera made of pieces of leather connected with rivets. However, his innovation did not receive practical application - simply no one was interested in this development.

The second inventor of the tire was also a resident of Foggy Albion - John Dunlop - an ordinary veterinarian. He lived at the end of the 18th century - at that time the bicycle was already widespread. The son of a veterinarian could not learn how to ride this very tough iron horse. Then Dunlop made hoops from an ordinary watering hose and pumped air into them. The result simply struck the inventor himself and all his friends. As a result, in 1888, John Dunlop received patent N 10607 for his "pneumatic hoop", which could be used for vehicles.

John Dunlop

In the 19th century, several inventors tried to improve the tire. In 1890, young engineer Charles Kingston Welch separated the tire from the tube. The process took place with the help of rings made of wire, which were clamped into the rim, and after a while the rim was given some depression in the center.

A little later, the Englishman Bartlett and the Frenchman Didier proposed ways to mount and dismount tires.

All this gave rise to the idea of ​​using the tire in the automotive industry. The first cars were “shod” by the brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin. Yes, the brand of one of the highest quality tires in the modern world is named after them.

Michelin Brothers

For the first time, pneumatic tires were worn on Peugeot car. The innovation provided the car with a smooth and soft ride, improved handling and more long-term operation and wheels, and the car itself. However, changing such tires was incredibly difficult and time consuming.

The Michelin brothers rose to prominence when, wearing their tires, they successfully completed a 1,200 km race in 1985. Since that time, cars with tires on wheels have become the accepted norm.

In the 50s, Michelin was already a full-fledged company. At this time, radial tires were first introduced into circulation. The invention had a belt made of metal cord. Since that time, tires began to be divided into winter and summer tires, it became possible to produce tubeless tires. Also, many experimental tires were created - various sizes and with different tread patterns.

Since the 1970s, the tire industry has developed at an ever-increasing rate, and more and more competent tire manufacturers have appeared. This has led to today's diversity - because today tires can be matched to any weather,

Inventor Narrated by: Robert William Thomson
The country: Scotland
Time of invention: June 10, 1846

More than 140 years have passed since the invention of the pneumatic tire. Robert William Thomson is originally from Scotland - the man who first officially registered the creation of pneumatic tire. Robert was born on June 29, 1822 and already at the age of 22 he was an engineer railway transport, while having an office in London and his own business. It was at that moment that he invented the pneumatic tire.

On June 10, 1846, patent number 10990 was registered, which outlined the essence of a new invention: the use of an additional elastic bearing surface over the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe wheel rims in order to reduce the force applied to the carriage, while reducing noise and facilitating the process of movement.

The patent also included the materials needed for manufacturing and a detailed drawing. This was the design of the first pneumatic wheel: a tire was put on a rim with wooden spokes, which was upholstered with a solid strip of metal along the outer diameter. The tire was also made up of an outer cover and a chamber underneath. The chamber was made by rubber (gutta-percha) impregnation of several layers of canvas. In this case, the outer covering was made of pieces of leather connected with rivets. The tire was fastened to the rim with bolts.

The leather tire had the necessary margin of resistance to bending and wear, and the canvas chamber supported the tire when its material got wet or swelled from internal pressure. In 1873, the creator of the pneumatic tire died and everyone forgot about his brainchild for a long time, despite the fact that the samples are still preserved.

More than twenty years later, brothers Edouard and André Michelin were the first to return to the pneumatic tire, originally from France, who had previously had experience in the production of tires for bicycles. The brothers announced that for the Paris-Bordeaux race in 1985 they would create for all participants pneumatic tires. One of the nine cars in that race, despite many punctures, drove 1200 km and independently reached the finish line.

The real creator of the modern pneumatic tire is Scottish veterinarian John Boyd Dunlop. There are several versions of the answer to the question of why a doctor specializing in the treatment of livestock became interested in tires.

According to the first version, he saw the suffering animals undergo when they are taken to the hospital in a cart with ordinary wooden wheels.

Another version explains everything by the fact that Dunlop had a little son who loved to ride. Allegedly, my father did not like the fact that rough bicycle wheels spoiled the garden paths, and he decided to soften them somehow.

In the third version, both the son and the bicycle also appear, but in this case, the boy asked his father to come up with something to make it more convenient for him to ride. All three versions of the story agree on one thing: Dunlop, after thinking, took a piece of garden hose and tied it to the wheel. First he filled inside the water, but later came to the conclusion that it would be more efficient to inflate the makeshift tire with air.

Curiously, just four days after Dunlop filed a patent for his invention, another person approached the patent office with almost the same idea. The pneumatic tire maker soon resold the rights to an entrepreneur named Harvey du Cros and completely withdrew from any further work on improving tire design, preferring to receive dividends. One of the most famous tire companies in the world (Dunlop) was subsequently named in his honor.

Du Cros was interested in Dunlop's invention because his sons were cyclists. In 1889 they entered a prestigious race that was won by an obscure athlete, William Hush, on a bicycle equipped with Dunlop tires.

Du Cros quickly realized the benefits of this unusual novelty. The very next year, his company began to sell its products, and not in England, but in Europe, because. In England at that time there was a law according to which cars could not travel faster than 6 km/h. This law significantly retarded the development of motoring in the British Isles.

In 1896, Lanchester was first equipped with Dunlop pneumatic tires in Britain. After such success, many manufacturers of pneumatic tires immediately formed, of which many still exist, namely the French company Michelin, which revived the production of pneumatic tires, the English company Dunlop, the German companies Metzeler and Continental, the Italian " Pirelli", "Goodrich", "Goodyear" and "Firestone" from the USA. Most of the tire factories in the USSR were set up during World War II according to Western standards.

Further modifications of the pneumatic tire were mainly aimed at increasing the service life and resistance to physical influences. The tires were also made easier in terms of mounting and dismounting.

In the 1950s, changes were made to the tire design for the first time. Michelin proposed as a main feature a rigid belt, which consisted of several layers. metal cord. The location of the cords was radial from one side to the other. The new tires were called radial. The Michelin company, after testing a new improved tire, noted an improvement in flotation twice as compared with a conventional tire (when the cords were located diagonally).

In the next decade, a change was made in the ratio of the characteristics of the profile width (B) to the height of the tire (H) - H / H. The original shape of the first tires in the section was approximately the same in height and width. Later, the ratio of height and width was reduced to 0.7, and in 1980 even to 0.6.

Many companies have gained experience in the production of cordless tires. Later, technical solutions will be introduced into the technology of creating cordless tires, which will greatly simplify their production. Now the most promising are single-layer radial tubeless tires made of steel cord, which are installed on semi-deep rim with low rims.

In the future, the direction for improving the design of tires was chosen in the direction of reducing the quantitative content in the carcass, using latest materials, increasing the strength of the cord, improving the interaction of rubber and cord, reducing the number of layers in the carcass, reducing the height-to-width ratio of the tire, using more saturated, as well as combined and ribbed tread patterns.

Also, manufacturers are now trying to extend the life of tires, increase permissible loads, vehicle traffic safety, improve technical and economic indicators and simplify tire production technology.

Low profile tires began to be developed to increase the grip area, which also increased lateral stability, service life and traction properties. Radial tires show off their performance better when they are produced with a low profile.

In the 70s, the pneumatic tire reached a level of modernization that was almost impossible to realize in the 50s. Motorists, of course, were also pleased with the reduction in fuel consumption and improved driving safety. Almost all cars in the 70s At the same time, they switched to the use of radial tires, which by the end of the decade were already used for almost all types of transport, which increased the life of tires.

In the first quarter of the 20th century, the design of quick-release wheel fasteners to the hubs began to be used in tires. Such a wheel was mounted on several bolts, and it was possible to remove it along with the tire in just a few minutes, which was a big breakthrough compared to previous options.

During the First World War, people began to develop a new tire design for buses and trucks. cars. America was the first in this direction. By the end of 1925, pneumatic tires were used on approximately 4 million vehicles worldwide, which included almost the entire fleet, excluding some types. trucks.

The first cars that appeared in Russia were already on pneumatic tires - imported. But in the 1900s, their production was established by the Provodnik factories in Riga (Columbus tires) and Triangle in St. Petersburg (Yolka tires with the original tread).

Russian tires, tested in numerous runs and competitions, were distinguished by high durability and strength. On the racing car"Benz" with "Christmas trees" in 1913, the All-Russian speed record was set - 201 km / h. After the October Revolution, tire factories became part of Rezinotrest, which provided all our cars with domestic footwear.

The industry of the USSR in the 1980s annually produced about 70 million tires for cars, motorcycles, and agricultural machines. The tire of the 80s is united with the “great-grandmother” only by the principle. And the design itself has changed, become more complicated, improved to unrecognizability - so that the characteristics of the tires most fully meet the parameters of cars, the conditions of their work.

The first major steps were the division of the tire into a tire and a tube, as well as the advent of a cord tire. It should be noted such important milestones as the invention of the tire low pressure balloon type, tubeless, low profile; arched and wide-profile low-pressure tires for trucks; tires winter type with anti-skid spikes; tires with a radial arrangement of the cord, as well as with a cord made of synthetic materials and steel cord; "safe" tyres.

The durability of the tires has increased many times over. If at the beginning of the century a mileage of 3-4 thousand kilometers was considered a record, then by the 1920s it increased to 30 thousand, and later - to 100 thousand. The improvement of the tire is still going on today. Its main directions are a further increase in mileage, allowable loads, a reduction in material consumption and a simplification of technology, an improvement in other indicators, and an increase in safety.

The latter direction has been intensively developing since the 60s, and today a number of firms are already mass-producing called safety tyres. They are mounted on a different rim design that helps keep the tire beads on the rim shelves in case of a large air leak. The use of new synthetic materials that can revolutionize tire technology promises serious advantages. In a word, as for a car, the age for a pneumatic tire is an age that opens up tempting prospects.