Some interesting facts from the history of car tires
"Tires are the most unreliable part of a car. Nothing interrupts a trip as often as a burst tube."
Engineer I. I. Osipov. Car care. 1931.
Engineer I. I. Osipov. Car care. 1931.
If you ask the first motorist you meet the question: "What is the difference between a tire and a tyre?", I would be very surprised if anyone could answer it correctly. In fact, it's simple: a tire can consist of either a tyre and a tube with a valve (tube tyre), or only one tyre (tubeless tyre). Therefore, in modern passenger cars, a tire and a tyre are essentially the same thing.
But now we are witnessing the final stage of the evolution of tires, which began back in the 19th century.
A little bit of history of tires
It is interesting to note that the appearance of the first pneumatic (air-filled) tires far preceded the advent of automobiles.
In 1835, on the "tire" historical American merchant Charles enters the scene Goodyear (Goodyear), he received a patent for a method of vulcanizing rubber, which was later used in the manufacture of tires.
In 1846, Scottish railway engineer Robert Thomson patented the world's first pneumatic tire, consisting of a chamber with a valve and a leather cover, intended for horse-drawn carriages. But Thomson's work never progressed beyond the manufacture and testing of prototypes of the "air wheel", because interest in the invention was zero - it was far ahead of its time. After Thomson's death in 1873, the invention was safely forgotten.
In 1888, another pioneer of the tyre industry appeared on the historical scene: a veterinarian living in Ireland, John Dunlop. He designed and patented a pneumatic tire for a bicycle. It was a pneumatic tube with a linen cloth stretched over it, which served as a tire. And the valve from a football served as a tire valve.
This time the invention achieved commercial success – bicycle tires were manufactured. Therefore, Dunlop is considered the author of the world's first pneumatic tire, although in fact the laurels of the discoverer belong to Robert Thomson.
In 1895 the brothers Michelin, who already had experience in producing bicycle tires, produced the world's first pneumatic car tires. They were installed on a car participating in the Paris-Bordeaux race.
In 1896, in England, Dunlop tires were installed on a Lanchester car.
In 1898, the first mass-produced cars with pneumatic tires began to appear.
In 1905, the Continental company in Hanover began producing “non-skid” tires with metal rivets on the tread – the forerunner of modern studded tires (pictured below):
In 1943, Continental patented the first tubeless tires.
In 1950, tires designed for driving on slush and snow were released, labeled M+S. It can be concluded that they were the first specially designed winter tires. Due to the rough tread pattern on a smooth road, the tires made increased noise, so they were recommended for use only in winter.
In 1954, tires with metal studs were used for the first time during the Monte Carlo rally.
By the mid-60s, studded winter tires were already widely used in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, England and some US states (see figure below):
In 1973, the now little-known Metzeler company introduced a new generation of winter tires without studs with a blue tread, where the method of using silicon compounds was first used. The tire showed good grip on both snow and ice. This is how the first "Velcro" appeared.
The first company in the world to mass-produce specialized all-season (year-round) tires was Goodyear, which began selling them in the United States in 1977. In 1980, the company began selling the “All Weather” all-season tire in Germany, which had the “M+S” designation on the sidewall (see figure below):
According to the company, this model could be safely used instead of special winter tires, which was achieved by the special properties of the rubber and the tread pattern.
This is how three types of road tires gradually emerged: summer, winter and all-season.
However, some tire companies continued to use the "M+S" marking only on their winter tires, completely confusing motorists. And when choosing tires, they began to focus not on the inscriptions on their sidewalls (which only confused), but on the tread design: the "rougher" the pattern, the better the tire is suitable for snowy winters (picture below):
Subsequently, in order to avoid confusion, some tire manufacturers began to put the inscription “Winter” on the sidewall of winter tires or put a large snowflake next to the “M+S” marking.
It should be noted that some models of "all-season" tires also sometimes had a rough tread pattern (design) with large "checkers" and wide grooves. But the tread pattern of most modern "all-season" tires has become closer to the pattern of regular summer tires, and the difference between them has almost disappeared.
A separate category of tires for off-road vehicles was also developed - with a high profile and large lugs, designed for use on dirt roads and surfaces with low bearing capacity.
Once upon a time in the USSR...
In the Russian Empire, automobile tires were produced by two large companies: the Russian-French Rubber Manufactory Partnership Provodnik in Riga and the Russian-American Rubber Manufactory Partnership Triangle in St. Petersburg. Provodnik and Triangle were world leaders in the tire industry and ranked second and third in the world in tire production, second only to the French company Michelin, and had sales offices on all continents. The tires of those years were not black, but light gray, which is clearly visible in old drawings and photographs.
It is worth noting with pride that by 1925, the USSR already had 4 tire factories that were part of the VSNKh Rubber Trust. And in the early 80s of the last century, as many as 17 specialized enterprises were operating that manufactured automobile tires. And the Scientific Research Tire Institute NIIShP was functioning with its own experimental production.
At the dawn of the domestic automobile industry, tires with excess air pressure were called pneumatics. Low-pressure tires, called "balloon", were used on passenger cars, and high-pressure tires, called "giant", were used on trucks. These names can be found in Soviet automobile reference books of the 30s, but after the Great Patriotic War, a campaign was launched to free the domestic technical language from foreign dependence, and these terms gradually disappeared from technical literature. However, the term "balloon" did not survive completely; it is still used in the colloquial name "balloon wrench" and sometimes even in such a phrase gets into translated "manuals" attached to foreign cars.
Moreover, such a phrase is not found in Soviet instructions for car maintenance, and this tool is called simply – a lug nut wrench.
Even in the 70s, flat tires were not uncommon, but they were especially common for drivers in the days when hundreds of horses harnessed to carts roamed the city streets every day. Nails flying out of horseshoes would immediately try to stick into the tire and puncture the tube. That is why in the 20s and 30s, drivers always carried a spare wheel or tires with tubes.
Soviet passenger car Russo-Balt "type "S" 24-40" manufactured in 1922 with a two-slot tire holder
The chambers were rolled up in a clever way to prevent cracks from forming at the folds and placed in canvas bags (one for each chamber).
The tires of those years were so vulnerable that even a small sharp stone could puncture them. Therefore, after each trip, it was recommended to wash the tires, wipe them dry, and then carefully inspect the tread to remove embedded nails and stones. Any cuts in the tire had to be immediately repaired with a special putty or glued to prevent moisture from penetrating the tire. During overnight parking, it was forbidden to leave the wheels in puddles of water and especially on oil stains. It was also necessary to ensure that the wheel rim was free of rust, which also spoiled and destroyed the tire sides.
In short, in those distant times, caring for tires required a lot of time and effort from drivers, and they had an acute dislike for horses and their drivers.
All of the above factors severely limited the service life of tires, which, for example, in 1933 was only 9,5 thousand km for cylinders and 18 thousand km for giants. By the end of the 50s, tire durability had improved significantly, roads had become better, and there were significantly fewer horses galloping on them, which made it possible to increase the service life of passenger tires to 30-32 thousand km (but in some republics only to 20 thousand).
The vast majority of Soviet drivers had only dealt with tube tires and knew perfectly well how to remove a tire, seal the tube (either cold or using hot vulcanization) and remount the wheel. And those who had not learned this wisdom in driving courses could learn it on their own by reading car repair manuals, hundreds of thousands of copies of which were published in the country.
Tires for personal cars in the USSR were always in short supply, so private owners took care of them, monitored their condition and promptly rotated the wheels according to the instructions included with the car, achieving even wear of the tread on all five wheels.
From the Instructions for the care of the GAZ-21 "Volga" car, 1959.
Those who did not drive in winter (i.e. almost all private owners) jacked up the car and put it on stands (to relieve the load from the tires). And some prudent citizens who did not have a garage even removed the wheels and took them home, and in the summer, when parked for long periods at their dachas, they covered the tires with plywood from the sun's rays.
Winter tires were a rarity in the USSR and were only produced for passenger cars. And they were quite expensive, so those lucky ones who had the opportunity to buy them usually took only two tires and installed them on the drive wheels to improve cross-country ability.
If in Soviet times you were lucky enough to see a passenger car with a private license plate and four winter studded tires, then in 99% of cases it was a KGB operational vehicle with cover numbers.
As a result, many Soviet people living in the provinces and who had never seen winter tires formed the opinion that such tires were not produced in the USSR.
And those who saw it were convinced that only one model was produced, called "Snezhinka". This is a misconception, by the end of the 80s the following models were produced:
M-177 dimensions 165-13/6,45-13 for Moskvich-21406
AI-168U with dimensions 165-13/6,45-13 for rear-wheel drive VAZ and Moskvich-2140, better known under the popular name "snowflake"
AID-23 185-13/7,35-14 for GAZ-24 Volga and its modifications
BCI-280, size 205/70 R14 for GAZ-3102 and GAZ-24-10
In the USSR, the pioneer in the development of winter tires was NIIShP. In 1976, its engineers began to manufacture high-quality winter tires in the size 165/80R13 "NIISHP Rally" or NR for short at the institute's pilot plant. They were produced in small batches and used by athletes and the KGB. Later, the institute developed the following generations: NR2 and NR5 - both in the size 175/70R14.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1996, the institute established relatively mass production of the winter non-studded tire "NIISHP Rally 2000" 175/70R13, which went on sale (figure below):
When I installed these tires on my VAZ-1996 in 21083 instead of the standard all-season tires, I was amazed that driving a car on snowy roads in winter could be so safe. Stability, controllability and braking dynamics improved many times over. And on heavily snow-covered country roads, the tires confidently pulled the car forward right up until the moment when it sat on the oil pan guard.
Their only drawback was increased noise, but against the background of the rest of the noise emitted by the “eight”, this seemed like a trifle and was more than compensated for by the above-mentioned advantages of these excellent tires.
It is interesting to note that the NIIShP Rally 2000 tires outlived the Soviet Union and are still being produced – a truly immortal creation of human hands.
This is how far pneumatic car tires have come over the past 130 years, and as a result, they have gone from being the most problematic part of a car to the most problem-free one.
And you have made it this far, spending only about 15 minutes reading the publication (if, of course, you had enough patience to read the text to the end).
Bibliography:
Automobile reference book. ONTI, 1935.
Backfish K., Heinz S. New book about tires. M., AST "Astrel", 2003.
Volkov A.P. Automobile reference book. State publishing house, 1925
Kirilets S. "The Russian trace in the world automobile history".
Osipov I.I. Car care. Gostransizdat, 1931.
Pneumatic tires. Moscow, Chemistry Publishing House, 1973.
Tarnovsky V.N., Gudkov V.A., Tretyakov A.B. Car tires. Transport Publishing House, Moscow, 1990.
Shestopalov K.S., Demikhovskiy S.F. Passenger cars. Publishing house of DOSAAF USSR, 1989.
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