History Of Bridgestone
There are few companies in the world whose founders at the beginning of their activity set the goal as clearly as the founder of the Bridgestone company. Before the founding of the company he already was a successful businessman. In 1925 Shojiro Ishibashi organized the production of Tabi, Japanese national shoes. Rapid development of the country’s economy urged him to start research of the tire market and in 1930 the first Bridgestone tire was made. Soon Ishibashi understood that his dream was to become the first tire manufacturer in Japan. So, in 1931 Bridgestone company appeared. Shojiro linked his company with the English variation of his name (Ishibashi is translated as “stone bridge” - Bridgestone). From the very beginning of his activity Shojiro was prepared for the international activity.
At the beginning of the 50ies the company developed rapidly. Its headquarters was transferred to Tokyo and in 1953 the sales reached 10 billion yen a year what made Bridgestone the largest Japanese tire manufacturer.
In 1962 the company designed first radial truck tires, in 1964 – first radial tires for passenger cars. Rapid development of the automobile industry inspired Bridgestone and the company started expansion to the international market. A factory was opened in Malaysia. It was the first factory opened abroad since WWII. In 1967 a subsidiary company was opened in the United States. Bridgestone’s campaign for the rise of quality and production volumes helped the company win prestigious Deming Prize in 1968.
In 1976 Shojiro Ishibashi died but his company continued to develop enhancing its influence on the market and advancing new kinds of activity. In 1979 the first series of aluminum wheels was launched and the technology on the processing of old tires into fuel for furnaces was adopted.
The 80ies began for Bridgestone with the epochal event – celebration of the company’s 50ieth anniversary but it was only the beginning of a series of victories such as the development of revolutionary technologies and purchase of other companies.
The extension began with the opening of the first Bridgestone’s tire and wheel retail shop abroad. The enhancement of the company’s positions on the global market continued with the purchase of production facilities in Tennessee from Firestone. In 1988 the whole Firestone company, the second largest tire company in America, was bought by Bridgestone for 2,6 billion dollars. It meant that Bridgestone acquired a status of truly global corporation.
European Firestone office was opened in Belgium in 1989. Both offices – Bridgestone and Firestone – are located in the same building in Brussels. Despite this, companies preserved their authentic names.
Bridgestone was successful not only in business. The technological breakthrough carried out by the company’s specialists made a revolution in the tire industry. In 1982 Bridgestone presented the first Japanese studless winter tire and five years later the tire got a special microporous rubber compound. It was the time when two Bridgestone’s revolutionary technologies appeared: rolling optimization theory and theory of load distribution for truck tires. In 1986 Bridgestone RE71 was used by the Porsche company for the original equipment of exclusive version of Porsche 959 – the fastest serial car of that time.
In 2001 Bridgestone was recognized by the world car manufacturers as the leading company on the production of run-flat tires. It was Potenza RE040 RFT tire. As a result BMW and Lexus began to use the tire for the original equipment of their most prestigious sport models Z8 and SC430.
Delusions About Winter Tires
We all know that in winter one should use winter tires. It allows to minimize the effect of adverse weather conditions. Winter tires provide easier start, better steering control and more confident braking performance. But are You sure that You know everything about winter tires?
The use of winter tires is good even on one axle.
This is the most common mistake among drivers. On rear-wheel drive cars the use of two tires will solve only the problem of easier start. Such equipment will badly affect cornering stability and braking performance as front wheels will remain “slippery”. But the worst thing will happen if the drivers of front-wheel drive cars mount winter tires only on the front axle. At first it may seem that the problems of steering, braking and start will be solved as all this is provided by front drive wheels. And You feel calm and relaxed. Then suddenly on one of slippery turns rear axle skids and the car makes an U-turn! The only way out is to step on the gas pedal to make the car straight.
Do not spare on winter tires especially when You have a front-wheel drive car as the consequences can be quite sad. Mount winter tires on all four wheels.
Studs work only on clean dry ice with a 0,03-inch sickness.
It is also a very common delusion. Studs work always – on snow and thin ice as well as on wet ice covered with water film. But in the last case its effectiveness considerably falls. But any car without studs will be handled much worse in this situation.
Fall of two-three studs leads to imbalance.
This assumption applies only to tires equipped with random studs. Today’s stud weights less than one gram – the loss of even three neighboring studs will cause a three-gram imbalance.
You should reduce tire pressure on wet road.
This action is totally incorrect as it will lead to the increase of contact patch area what in its turn causes unit pressure reduction. As a result traction performance will worsen.
Automobile Tires – Useful Waste!
Today Europe is experiencing the so-called “ecological boom”. Europeans are worried about the global climate change and take care of the environment and ecology on the European continent. Different ecological and energy-saving projects are widely spread in the united Europe. The European Union also fosters ecological upbringing of its citizens.
Polyethylene bags are being replaced with paper bags, it’s practically impossible to find common filament lamps, all domestic waste is being sorted and recycled… Automobile tires are very difficult for recycling but they have been successfully recycled in Europe for many years. Moreover, in some European countries tire recycling level has approached 100% over past years!
Rapid development of automobile transport in Europe over past years has entailed growth of amount of waste consisting of tires. This toxic waste that would have lied in earth for centuries is now successfully recycled. The Europeans killed two birds with one stone: stopped the pollution of the environment and got a great source of recyclable materials for the further production of useful products.
It may seem that old automobile tires are completely useless. Nevertheless, old summer and winter tires represent very valuable material as they are a wonderful source of durable rubber.
Modern technologies allow to transform old tires into unique products. For example, winter truck tires are used for the production of rubber crumb that is later used for the manufacture of rubber mats, shoe soles, rubber seals, hoses and pipes, construction and finishing materials. The recycling of automobile tires allows to synthesize liquid synthetic fuel the properties of which don’t yield to masout. New technologies that have been adopted recently allow to obtain technical carbon as side product of tire recycling. This material can be used both as fuel for industry and as a sorbent of sewage water. Different fractions and gases that are obtained from the tire rubber can be used for the manufacture of paints, solvents and lacquers.
The History Of Goodyear Company
The history of the Goodyear company started in 1898 when Frank Seiberling decided to name his newly-founded company after Charles Goodyear, great inventor of rubber compounds. The full name of the company – Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Frank Seiberling purchased his first plant for the money borrowed from his stepbrother. A former plant on the production of cardboard on the bank of the Cuyahoga River in eastern Acron, Ohio became the first enterprise of the company. Rubber and cotton were to be transferred from the other part of the world in a small town with restricted railway network. The staff of the company included only thirteen workers who were producing tires for bicycles and carts. The company also produced fire hoses and even rubber poker chips.
Seiberling also invented a trade mark – a sandal with wings that appeared in the newspaper commercials already in 1901. It was also the year when Seiberling offered his tires to a young car producer Henry Ford for his first racing car. It was the first time when Goodyear tires participated in motor races.
In 1903 the first tubeless tire was patented, in 1908 – the first all-weather tire. In 1909 Goodyear opened “aerospace” page – the company presented special tires for planes. Before this skis or bicycle tires were used for landing. In 1910 the company opened a plant in Canada and entered international markets. In a year Goodyear tires “flew” over the whole continent – from Long Beach in New York to Long Beach in California. Of course the flight wasn’t non-stop and took 84 days. In 1912 the first airship of the company appeared. In the same year Goodyear started its activity in Europe – London representative office was opened.
The Goodyear company passed a way from the first bicycle tire to the largest tire manufacturing company. This honorable title was given to the company already in 1916. It was the time when the slogan “Goodyear tires are used wider than any others” appeared. In 1926 Goodyear became the biggest tire company. These first legendary years predetermined its working pace that can be felt even today. At the moment the company produces tires for almost all kinds of transport – from motorcycles to buses.
Today the Goodyear company is the largest tire producer in the world, it works on six continents and its sales volume amounts to more than 15 billion dollars a year. Besides tires under Goodyear trade mark the company also manufactures tires of other world-renowned brands: Dunlop, Kelly, Fulda, Lee, Sava and Debica. The company also produces rubber technical goods and polymers for automobile and industrial markets.
Innovations – uninterrupted stream of new ideas, materials and technologies – has always constituted the basis of the company’s activity. In 1943 Goodyear founded the first research laboratory that later got thousands of patents. Many of the Goodyear specialists’ inventions were applied not only in tire and automobile industry but also for the production of artificial heart and joints, glues, artificial lawns for sport grounds, food packing, etc.
Today the Goodyear research center employs scientists and engineers from all over the world who contribute to the state-of-the-art scientific field engaged in the production of rubbers and polymers.
