Rubber makes it possible: tyres make history

Hardly anything can get men (and women, too) as excited as a great car – no matter how old it is. For some enthusiasts, the older the better. It may well be that this statement plays into a stereotype. However, the ranks of those who are absolutely mad about old cars are huge, as reflected every year by the Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, which the Automobile Club of Germany (AVD) is organising for the 43rd time from 7 to 9 August 2015. . But it’s not just the metal bodies gliding round the track that are sexy. Quite a few of the visitors are probably also into tyres...

Experts are far from unanimous: the wheel was invented around 5,000 years ago. Whilst there is relative certainty regarding the date, it remains difficult to pinpoint exactly where and by whom it was invented. It seems clear that there was not just one inventor, but many. It’s reasonable to assume that the wheel was developed simultaneously in many places across our planet. After all, even before the wheel was in use, people were already using rolling logs and sledge to move wood, stones and other materials from A to B. On closer inspection, it was only a matter of time before someone discovered the principle of the wheel-and-axle construction and set the wheel in motion: 3,500 years ago in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq, in the Alpine foothills and presumably elsewhere too – even if there is no evidence to support this.

What the ancient wheels lacked, however, was lightness; they were often extremely heavy and difficult to steer. Efforts were made to make them lighter: people carved notches into solid wooden discs, thereby removing material, experimented with the stability of the wooden circle and, sooner or later, invented the spoked wheel: Lighter in weight and, thanks to the laws of physics, extremely robust, even when encountering potholes which could not be avoided per se once the driver spotted them – because the steering was still cumbersome and the rolling resistance simply too great. Metal rings used to encircle the wheel brought some improvement, but were not the ultimate solution. In 1845, however, the Englishman Robert Thomson made a groundbreaking invention – the air-filled tyre made of rubber. This ‘air-filled tyre’ made it possible to reduce rolling resistance. Unfortunately, there was a lack of sufficient practical applications, which meant that the inventor’s name and his patent were consigned to oblivion. Nevertheless, an important step had been taken, paving the way for the development of modern pneumatic tyres. This – if one may be a little vague here – began with the development of the motor car and the experience of speed. Initially, a speed of just 20 kilometres per hour was enough to experience the thrill of speed. As engines evolved, so did the car bodies, and tyres continued to develop – tyres which, at first glance, seemed to play a rather minor role; one simply needed them to be able to drive. Later on, however, it was recognised that tyres fulfil an extremely important function in terms of fuel consumption and safety, to name but a few aspects.

Without giving too much away: tyre development really took off in 1888. John Boyd Dunlop invented the first practical pneumatic tyre. It was a crucial development at just the right time. From then on, things moved in quick succession:

1890: The patent for tyres with a steel cord in the bead on a deep-bed rim, and Barlett’s clamping-jaw tyre. Both simplified fitting and removal. 
1895: First use of pneumatic tyres in a long-distance test by André and Edouard Michelin during the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris car race.
1898: The first cars fitted with pneumatic tyres come onto the market. 
1904: Car tyres are given a cross-section pattern. The addition of carbon black to the rubber increases strength and durability.
1905: Continental launches car tyres with metal studs to prevent skidding, a precursor to studded tyres. 
1906: Michelin’s detachable rim makes the inflated spare tyre possible.
1917: Coinciding with the development of synthetic rubber at Bayer, Goodyear launches the first pneumatic lorry tyre. 
1921: John Boyd Dunlop dies in Dublin at the age of 80.
1922: Dunlop’s debut at the International Motor Show: the first car tyre with steel cord in the bead; from 1924 and remains the production standard to this day. 
1923: Cotton is used for the tyre’s carcass as a load-bearing structure. And Michelin ushers in a new era with the low-pressure ‘Confort’ balloon tyre. The tyre is operated at 2.5 bar (15,000 kilometres’ mileage); whereas 4.5 bar had previously been the norm.
1930: Dunlop was the first to vary the spacing of the tread blocks – already commonplace on car tyres – resulting in reduced road noise. 
1932: Michelin introduced the “Super-Confort”, which required an air pressure of 1.5 bar and was designed to last for up to 30,000 kilometres. 
1933: For the first time, the tyre carcass is made from rayon (artificial silk/nylon fibre) instead of cotton.
1934: Michelin launches a new “SuperConfort”. It features sipes for the first time, giving it exceptionally good grip on wet roads. 
1943: Jubilation at Continental: the company is granted a patent for the tubeless tyre – something we take for granted today.
1946: Michelin is also delighted to have been granted a patent. Namely, the one for the steel-belted ‘Michelin X’ tyre, which is also manufactured as a radial tyre. These contain carcass cords arranged radially, i.e. at right angles to the direction of travel.
1950: The first mud and snow tyres (M+S) come onto the market. 
1953: Trends are also changing in the tyre industry: Pirelli introduces the ‘Cinturato’, the first textile-belted tyre.
1959: The first round-shoulder tyres are launched on the market. 
1962: Tyres are fitted with a polyester cord carcass.
1964: The first ‘super-low-profile tyre’ (0.82) is unveiled. The sidewall height for all sizes is therefore only 82 per cent of the respective tread width.