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.
Brief Tire History
On 10 June, 1846 an application was sent to a patent office. It said: “The essence of my invention lies in the application of elastic supporting surfaces around rims of the carriage wheels. The technology will allow to spend less energy to make them move as well as reduce the level of noise that they create.”
Robert William Thomson marked the era of tires by this invention. Since those times the tire has continued its victorious procession on the planet. In spite of the remoteness Thomson described the essence of his invention on an extremely high technical level. He not only described the design but also clearly determined the production technology.
Initially the tire rested upon the wooden rim with wooden spokes. The rim was reinforced by metal insertion. The tire itself consisted of layers of cloth drenched in rubber. The pieces of leather reinforced by metal rivets contacted with the road surface. The first specimens of tires showed substantial decrease of energy spent on the moving of carriages. The great plus was excellent comfort and high noiselessness of riding. All this determined further vector of the development of wheels for vehicles. Since then the design of the tires has been constantly changing.
Unfortunately after the death of the inventor in 1873 the design of Thomson was almost forgotten. In 1888 a common Scottish veterinarian John Dunlop applied pieces of garden hose and wide hoops for the three-wheel bicycle of his son. The result exceeded all expectations – the shaky carriage turned into reliable and comfortable vehicle.
The success inspired the inventor and 1890 he founded a company that manufactured rubber products. However, Dunlop forgot about the patent owners. The court made him leave the business. The small reward was the preservation of the company’s name.
Pirelli Yielded to Hankook On The European Market?
Will Hankook push out Pirelli from the top five tire manufacturers of Europe?
The market research conducted by Hankook showed that the Michelin company remains an absolute leader on the tire market (both in segments of passenger and truck tires). At the same time a new player appeared in the previously stable top five – namely Hankook.
Why did Hankook decided to publish its research now, after one of the most difficult periods in the history of the market? It can be explained by the fact that 2009 was an extremely successful year for the Korean company. The peculiar combination of factors has changed the state of affairs during last 12 months. The major question now – will Hankook be able to retain its positions in Europe in the following years?
Here is the forecast of Hankook for the end of 2009 (passenger tires market): Michelin will remain the leader with the market stake of 20%, the second place goes to Goodyear Dunlop (18%), the third – to Bridgestone (12%), Pirelli has 8%. The most interesting fact here is that Hankook holds the 7th place with 7%. It means that its lagging behind Pirelli is not so big.
What concerns truck tires the first place again goes to Michelin (32%), the second place – Goodyear Dunlop (18%), Continental holds 16% of the market, Bridgestone – 13%. According to Hankook, it performs even better in this segment and holds the 5th place thus having overtaken Pirelli.
Since December has just begun the data can be regarded only as a forecast. At the same time Hankook gives 18% to other companies what means that its research is based on the analysis of the whole market. It also cannot be the result of companies that are members of ERMC Europool because the stake of Cooper and Trelleborg would be much higher in this case. Thus, there may be doubts regarding the correctness of the data in respect of sales volumes of Cooper, Kumho, GTRadial, Nexen, Nokian, Toyo, Yokohama etc. The rise of their stake will inevitably lead to the reduction of that of the five major companies. Anyway, only time can eliminate the doubts.
Winter Set For Aston Martin
Cargrpaphic studio presented wheel/tire sets for the owners of Aston Martin who want to preserve showy looks of their cars in winter.
One of the disadvantages of sport cars is that the summer tires become rigid and unstable with the advent of winter and fall of the temperature. As a result their performance worsens to a great extent.
Besides this, salt and road garbage begin to leave spots on the polished wheels. That’s why German tuning studio Cargraphic presented a set of wheels/tires for Aston Martin (V8 Vantage and DB9) that not only makes the looks of the car more attractive in any time of the year but also provides optimal traction performance. The set consists of solid Cargrpahic IS-ONE wheels developed exclusively for low temperatures and Dunlop Wintersport M3 and Dunlop Wintersport 3D tires.
The unique manufacturing process guarantees outstanding performance of IS-ONE forged wheels. The blank is straightened at high temperature and then shaped. All the wheels are produced solely in Germany what guarantees excellent quality of Cargraphic. The elegant design of bifurcated spokes perfectly combines with the design of Aston Martin and emphasizes the sport spirit of the British car.
To make the looks of Aston Martin attractive in the winter period the wheels were covered with colorless lacquer that protects the surface from salt and negative influence of winter conditions. Cargraphic IS-ONE are available both separately and in combination with winter tires of different sizes. The first set consist of 8.5×19” wheels at the front and 9.5×19” wheels at the back, as well as Dunlop Wintersport M3 tires (sizes 235/40R19 and 275/35R19). There is one more set that can be ordered – 9.5×19” wheels at the front, 11.5×19” wheels at the back, plus Dunlop Wintersport 3D tires (255/35R19 and 295/30R19).
If the owner of Aston Martin doesn’t want to mount old wheels with the advent of spring, Cargraphic offers similar sets for the summer period.
