7 interesting facts about car tires

In this article, we have prepared some interesting facts about tires that you may not have heard of or simply did not think about.

1. Did you know that the natural color of a tire is white? Tire manufacturers add carbon particles to a tire to improve its properties and extend its life. For the first 25 years of the car's life, the tires were white.

2. More than 250 million tires are used worldwide every year. Some recycling companies use old tires to make asphalt and fertilizer, while others use recycled raw materials to make new tires.

3. The largest tire manufacturer in the world is Lego. The company produces 306 million small diameter tires per year.

4. The first internally sealed pneumatic tire was created in 1846 by Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson. After Thomson's death in 1873, the invention was forgotten. In 1888, the idea of ​​a pneumatic tire arose again. The new inventor was again a Scot - John Boyd Dunlop, whose name became known throughout the world as the creator of the pneumatic tire. In 1887, Dunlop decided to put a wide garden hose on his 10-year-old son's bicycle wheels and inflate it with compressed air, making history.

5. American inventor Charles Goodyear in 1839 discovered the process of hardening rubber in tires, known as vulcanization or hardening. He experimented with rubber since 1830, but was unable to develop a suitable hardening process. During an experiment with a rubber / sulfur mixture, Goodyear placed the mixture on a hot plate. A chemical reaction takes place and forms a solid lump.

6. Voltaire and Tom Davis invented the spare wheel in 1904. At the time, cars were produced without spare tires, which inspired two innovators to expand them to the American market and some European countries. The car of the American brand "Rambler" was the first to be equipped with a spare wheel. The spare wheel became so popular that some cars were even equipped with two, and manufacturers began to offer them in pairs.

7. Currently, most new cars do not have a spare wheel. Car manufacturers are desperate to reduce weight and equip cars with an on-site flat tire repair kit.