As a break from our typical racing, wrecking, and funny videos, here’s a quick history lesson on how tires were constructed during the early years of the automotive age. This video was produced in 1934 by the Brunswick tire corporation, which, interestingly enough looks to actually be B.F. Goodrich, as Brunswick (Then Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company) had sold their tire line to BFG in 1922. BFG is obviously still in existence today as is Brunswick, although the latter company appears to have stopped production of most automotive-related products.
Being Bangshifters we’re all familiar with bias-ply tires, but actually seeing the rubber plies laid down by hand, one on top of the other, is pretty cool (Well, at least to me, but I geek out on this kind of stuff).
The “stress” tests performed on both experimental rubber compounds and cords and the finished tires are great to watch as well. As basic computers, let alone automated computerized equipment, were still years away from being developed, every component of these tires was moved, shaped, heated, and inspected by a trained professional. Really neat stuff to watch.
Without further ado, here’s your Wednesday morning automotive history lesson, courtesy of BangShift!
This is a fantastic video. It’s astonishing how much labor went into a tire, and the amount of industrial equipment used . This was in the “manufacturing age” and it shows. A lot of thought went into this process.
No repetitive stress weenies here!