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N0KFQ > TODAY 11.05.17 14:33l 57 Lines 2669 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 32073_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - May 11
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 170511/1230Z 32073@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1947
B.F. Goodrich Co. announces development of tubeless tire
On this day in 1947, the B.F. Goodrich Company of Akron, Ohio,
announces it has developed a tubeless tire, a technological
innovation that would make automobiles safer and more efficient.
Pneumatic tires - or tires filled with pressurized air - were used on
motor vehicles beginning in the late 1800s, when the French
rubber manufacturer Michelin & Cie became the first company to
develop them. For the first 60 years of their use, pneumatic
tires generally relied on an inner tube containing the compressed
air and an outer casing that protected the tube and provided
traction. The disadvantage of this design was that if the inner
tube failed - which was always a risk due to excess heat generated
by friction between the tube and the tire wall - the tire would
blow out immediately, causing the driver to lose control of the
vehicle.
The culmination of more than three years of engineering,
Goodrich's tubeless tire effectively eliminated the inner tube,
trapping the pressurized air within the tire walls themselves. By
reinforcing those walls, the company claimed, they were able to
combine the puncture-sealing features of inner tubes with an
improved ease of riding, high resistance to bruising and superior
retention of air pressure. While Goodrich awaited approval from
the U.S. Patent Office, the tubeless tires underwent high-speed
road testing, were put in service on a fleet of taxis and were
used by Ohio state police cars and a number of privately owned
passenger cars.
The testing proved successful, and in 1952, Goodrich won patents
for the tire's various features. Within three years, the tubeless
tire came standard on most new automobiles. According to an
article published in The New York Times in December 1954, "If the
results of tests_prove valid in general use, the owner of a 1955
automobile can count on at least 25 per cent more mileage, easier
tire changing if he gets caught on a lonely road with a leaky
tire, and almost no blowouts." The article quoted Howard N.
Hawkes, vice president and general manager of the tire division
of the United States Rubber Company, as calling the general
adoption of the tubeless tire "one of the most far-reaching
changes ever to take place in the tire industry." The radial-ply
tire, a tubeless model with walls made of alternating layers - also
called plies - of tough rubber cord, was created by Michelin later
that decade and is now considered the standard for automobiles in
all developed countries.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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