Editing Tire (section)

==History==
[[File:John Boyd Dunlop (c1915).jpg|thumb|upright| [[John Boyd Dunlop]] on a bicycle, {{c.|1915}}]]
[[File:The Employment of Women in Britain, 1914-1918 Q28265.jpg|thumb|upright|Factory workers making tires, 1918]]
The earliest tires were bands of [[leather]] in [[Sumer]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Bertman |first=Stephen |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1C4NKp4zgIQC&q=ancient+mesopotamian+leather+tires&pg=PA35 |title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780195183641 |page=35 |access-date=2014-08-02}}</ref> then [[iron]] (later [[steel]]) placed on wooden wheels used on carts and [[wagon]]s. A skilled worker, known as a [[wheelwright]], would cause the tire to expand by heating it in a [[forge]] fire, placing it over the wheel, and quenching it, causing the metal to contract back to its original size to fit tightly on the wheel.

The first patent for what appears to be a standard pneumatic tire appeared in 1847 and was lodged by Scottish inventor [[Robert William Thomson]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://v3.espacenet.com/origdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5104&F=0&QPN=US5104 |title=Original document: US5104 (A) ― 1847-05-08 - R.W. Thompson Carriage Wheel |work=Espacenet patent search |access-date=6 December 2023 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> However, this idea never went into production. The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 on May Street, [[Belfast]], by Scots-born [[John Boyd Dunlop]], owner of one of Ireland's most prosperous veterinary practices. It was an effort to prevent the headaches of his 10-year-old son Johnnie while riding his [[tricycle]] on rough pavements. His doctor, John, later Sir John Fagan, had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the boy and was a regular visitor. Fagan participated in designing the first pneumatic tires. Cyclist [[Willie Hume]] demonstrated the supremacy of Dunlop's tires in 1889, winning the tire's first-ever races in Ireland and then England.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.thepedalclub.org/archives/goldenbook/u-z/WilliamHume.html |title=William Hume, 1938 |website=thepedalclub.org |archive-date=3 April 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120403120845/http://www.thepedalclub.org/archives/goldenbook/u-z/WilliamHume.html |access-date=3 January 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dunlop.eu/dunlop_uk/what_sets_dunlop_apart/history/ |title=Technology & Innovation |website=dunlop.eu |url-status=dead |access-date=27 February 2018 |archive-date=2 April 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110402192832/http://www.dunlop.eu/dunlop_uk/what_sets_dunlop_apart/history/ }}</ref> In Dunlop's tire patent specification dated 31 October 1888, his interest is only in its use in cycles and light vehicles. In September 1890, he was made aware of an earlier development, but the company kept the information to itself.<ref>{{cite book|first=Arthur |last=Du Cros |author-link=Arthur Du Cros |title=Wheels of Fortune, a salute to pioneers |publisher=Chapman & Hall |location=London |date=1938}}</ref> In 1892, Dunlop's patent was declared invalid because of the prior art by forgotten fellow Scot Robert William Thomson of London (patents London 1845, France 1846, USA 1847). However, Dunlop is credited with "realizing rubber could withstand the wear and tear of being a tire while retaining its resilience".<ref>{{cite book |title=Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography |last=Dunlop |first=John Boyd |year=2008 |publisher=AccessScience |access-date=9 July 2009 |url= http://www.accessscience.com}}</ref> John Boyd Dunlop and [[Harvey du Cros]] worked through the ensuing considerable difficulties. They employed inventor Charles Kingston Welch and acquired other rights and patents, which allowed them some limited protection of their [[Dunlop Rubber#Pneumatic Tyre|Pneumatic Tyre]] business's position. Pneumatic Tyre would become Dunlop Rubber and [[Dunlop Tyres]]. The development of this technology hinged on myriad engineering advances, including the [[sulfur vulcanization|vulcanization]] of natural rubber using sulfur, as well as the development of the "clincher" rim for holding the tire in place laterally on the wheel rim.

[[Synthetic rubber]]s were invented in the laboratories of [[Bayer]] in the 1920s.<ref name="Ullmann">{{cite book |title=Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry |doi=10.1002/14356007.o23_o01 |first1=Werner |last1=Obrecht |first2=Jean-Pierre |last2=Lambert |first3=Michael |last3=Happ |first4=Christiane |last4=Oppenheimer-Stix |first5=John |last5=Dunn |first6=Ralf |last6=Krüger |chapter=Rubber, 4. Emulsion Rubbers |date=2003 |publisher=Wiley-VCH|isbn=978-3-527-30385-4 }}</ref> Rubber shortages in the United Kingdom during WWII prompted research on alternatives to rubber tires with suggestions including leather, compressed asbestos, rayon, felt, bristles, and paper.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); The Scribe.--> |date=28 March 1947|title=Tyre Substitutes|magazine=The Autocar |publisher=Iliffe & Sons |location=London |page=736}}</ref>

In 1946, [[Michelin]] developed the [[radial tire]] method of construction. Michelin had bought the bankrupt [[Citroën]] automobile company in 1934 to utilize this new technology. Because of its superiority in handling and fuel economy,<ref name="michelinag.com">{{cite web|url= http://www.michelinag.com/Innovating/Radial-vs.-Bias-technology |title=Radial or bias, the right choice / Properly use your tires - Michelin Agricultural Tires|last=Michelin |website=michelinag.com |language=en-US |access-date=2017-08-04|archive-date=11 July 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160711050404/http://www.michelinag.com/Innovating/Radial-vs.-Bias-technology |url-status=dead}}</ref> use of this technology quickly spread throughout Europe and Asia.<ref name="jags.org">{{cite web|url= http://www.jags.org/TechInfo/2001/05May01/tires/historyoftires.htm |title=History |website=jags.org|access-date=12 May 2015|archive-date=6 March 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150306211250/http://www.jags.org/TechInfo/2001/05May01/tires/historyoftires.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the US, the outdated bias-ply tire construction persisted until the Ford Motor Company adopted radial tires in the early 1970s,<ref>{{cite magazine|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=y-QDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22radial+tire%22+history%5D&pg=PA60 |title=Tires: A century of progress |last=Schultz |first=Mort |date=June 1985 |magazine=Popular Mechanics |pages=60–64 |volume=162 |issue=6 |access-date=2 January 2023 |via=Google Books}}</ref> following a 1968 article in an influential American magazine, ''[[Consumer Reports]]'', highlighting the superiority of radial construction.<ref name="A Tale of Two Tires">{{cite news|url= https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2006-05-04/a-tale-of-two-tiresbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice |title=A Tale of Two Tires |last=Welch |first=Ted |date=May 4, 2006 |work=Bloomberg |access-date=2019-05-05}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.city-journal.org/html/akron-ohio-16038.html |title=Middle City, USA|last=Renn|first=Aaron M.|date=2018-07-16 |newspaper=City Journal |access-date=2019-05-06}}</ref> The US tire industry lost its market share to Japanese and European manufacturers,<ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/resistingprotect0000miln |url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/resistingprotect0000miln/page/151 151] |quote=radial tire market share.|title=Resisting Protectionism: Global Industries and the Politics of International Trade |last=Milner|first=Helen V.|date=1989-09-21|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691010748|language=en}}</ref> which bought out US companies.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rP5lDwAAQBAJ&q=%22radial+tire%22+history%5D&pg=PA2218|title=Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History|last=Morris|first=Peter|date=2010|publisher=Berkshire Publishing |pages=2218 |language=en |chapter=Rubber}}{{dead link|date=December 2020}}</ref>