The Finnish breakthrough that gave us winter tires
HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY. The development of rubber tires has rolled rapidly since the middle of the 19th century. And the most important breakthrough for traveling safer on winter roads was a Finnish tire company.
Charles Goodyear Photo: GRANGER/REX/TT
Vulcanization of rubber
The foundation of tires – and rubber as a useful material – came about by accident. The public had already gotten over the initial fascination with the new rubber material, which proved to be resistant to heat and cold without melting or solidifying. Charles Goodyear’s (1800–1860) breakthrough came when a piece of rubber he was experimenting with and had mixed with sulfur accidentally ended up on a hot stove, and took on a completely new and durable texture. The vulcanization had been discovered. It is worth mentioning, however, that the Olmec people in Central America engaged in a variant of vulcanization with the help of sap from a vine as early as 1,600 years before our era.
Robert Thomson (1822–1873), patented an air-filled tire as early as 1845. Photo: THE PRINT COLLECTOR/HERITAGE/TT
Dunlop’s – and Thomson’s – air-filled tyres
Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop (1840–1922) is often cited as the inventor behind the first pneumatic tire. Annoyed by how uncomfortable it was to travel in a wooden-wheeled cab with a strip of flat iron around it, he built a prototype from a round wooden disc fitted with an inflated rubber tube. It is correct that Dunlop with its patent issued in 1888 was hardly the first. Another Scotsman, Robert Thomson (1822–1873), patented the tire type as early as 1845 (see picture). The high cost was an obstacle for Thomson but was overcome by John Boyd Dunlop, who made a name for himself as the innovator behind pneumatic tires for bicycles.
Edouard Michelin’s team in a car with air-filled rubber tires. Photo: BRIDGEMAN IMAGES /TT
First with tires for cars
Two brothers were the first to use air-filled rubber tires on a car, and to develop the easily removable tire. André and Édouard Michelin (1853–1931 and 1859–1940 respectively) took to a special form of marketing to demonstrate the advantage of the removable tires they had designed. They organized a car competition where Michelin factory employees sonically spread nails on the road and then showed how quickly it was possible to fix the punctures on their tires, compared to the contemporaries who were glued to the rim.
Already early in the 20th century, various types of studs were being tested. An inspiration was probably the methodology used in ice motor sports, where nails were attached to the tires. Photo: CAMERA REPORTAGE/TT
From snow chains to studs
A bit into the 1920s, it was common for motorists to bring snow chains to attach to the then completely patternless tyres. But the method was time-consuming. Studs of various kinds were used, initially different types of nails that were attached to the tires according to the same methodology as in ice motor sports. From the 1960s, there were different varieties of studs and studded tires on the consumer market. Svenska Gummifabriks AB in Gislaved was one of the early Swedish pioneers in stud construction, and as late as 1989 the company presented an “environmental stud”, which would wear less on the road surface than previous variants.
Current Nokian Tires test of winter tires on Lake Pyhäjärvi in the 1930s. Photo: NOKIAN TIRES
The first winter tires came from Finland
The world’s first winter tires, so-called road tires, were launched in 1934. The first ones manufactured by Finland’s Gummifabrik Aktiebolag were for trucks, but two years later smaller winter tires for passenger cars were also developed. The first winter tires had a then completely new pattern with straight transverse grooves that gave good grip on snow and ice. In addition, with a rubber compound that also consisted of synthetic rubber, so that it would have better road characteristics in the cold. The company later changed its name to the now well-known name Nokian Tyres.
The development of the tire’s internal measurement, the steel cord (after the English cord, frame) is an important part of the history of rolling technology. The image shows the structure of a radial tire. Photo: WIKIMEDIA
Durable content provided durable tires
In 1967, Svenska Gummifabriks AB in Gislaved began as one of the first factories in the world to manufacture steel radial tires. In contrast to the previous diagonal tires, they got a steel cord (after the English cord, frame, i.e. the inside measurement of the tire – the picture shows the construction of radial tires) and above that a layer of nylon cord. To that should be mentioned the development that has taken place in the mix between natural rubber and synthetic rubber to get the best possible driving characteristics during different seasons. This was closely related to…
The pattern has changed over time until what is most common today, radial tires. Photo: JONAS FORSBERG/NATURFOTOGRAFERNA/IBL/TT
From diagonal to straight pattern
… the construction of the tire patterns over time. Large tire companies were early in betting on radial tires, but French Michelin is said to have been the first. As early as 1948, they developed the pattern that went straight across the tire instead of a bit criss-cross like the diagonal tires, and which gave better grip on the road. Most manufacturers switched to this pattern in the 1970s and nowadays a large majority of tires sold are of the radial type.
Sources: The book The history of tires – our wheels from then to now by Peter Haventon, Nokian Tyres, Luleå University of Technology
