Tire technology then and now
Changing the tires on the car, from summer tires to winters in the fall and back in the spring, made me think about how tires have changed over the years. Before the turn of the 20th century, when vehicles were horse-drawn, most tires were steel.
One buggy which we have at the Father Pandosy Mission site has solid rubber tires. Early bicycles used solid tires until the invention of pneumatics. Steel tires on buggies and wagons had to be heated in the forge, and then shrunk onto the rim. Then, when the steel stretched from running on the road, it needed to be shrunk. There is a tool for that job, on the back of the blacksmith shop at the Mission.
At the dawn of the auto age, most cars were like buggies and used solid rubber tires. Then, when pneumatics were invented, they were mostly smooth. The first tire with any kind of tread pattern was probably the non-skid tire. Many years ago, I saw some of these tires on the remains of an old wooden-framed car in Dawson City, Yukon. The words “NON SKID” were embossed across the tread, over and over. Those letters provided a better grip than the smooth ones.
Trucks continued to use solid tires for some time, as pneumatics wouldn’t carry heavy loads. Some tires were smooth, while others had a tread. Truck speeds were pretty slow, but still the road would have been bumpy.
Forklift trucks often use smooth solid tires, not needing to go outside in the snow. A problem with the smooth solid tires on the old trucks was, according to my Dad, stopping on some horse manure. Slippage would result.
In the 1920s or maybe in the ’30s, manufacturers came out with the knobby tire. This had many round or octagonal blocks on the tread. They were an improvement over summer tires, but many people preferred to use chains.
Later came the suburbanite tire by Goodyear. These had smaller, chevronshaped blocks, which gave a good grip, especially when tractionized; this operation consisted of running the tire on a set of drums, with spikes all around. It probably took many miles off the tire’s life, but it added some to its grip. Jenkins Cartage owned a pickup truck which worked well on snow, but was inclined to wander a bit at speed when on bare pavement.
Another means of improving tires’ grip was siping, done by, I believe, O.K. Tire. In this process, the tire had many slits cut across the face, leaving lots of biting edges to grip the ice and snow. I think siping is still used.
Military tires, known as combat tread, were okay in mud. For snow and ice, they needed chains. The notches from either side were great for gripping the chains. I discovered this with my 1954 Dodge army truck, a communications van designated as M152CDN.
Tires have certainly undergone quite a revolution — no pun intended. The way sizes have changed over the years, for example, with Fords, the 1928 Model A with 4:40X21.
In 1930, they were 5:00X19, in 1932 18 inch, in 1933 17 inch, then the 1935 model was 6:00X16, which went on until about 1948. Now, in 2017, the sizes are quite complicated and the tires’ tread patterns have a great number of varieties.
A. Charley Adam has lived all of his life in Kelowna. He is a descendant of the pioneer Clement family, which came to Kelowna in 1898. This article is part of a series submitted by the Kelowna Branch, Okanagan Historical Society. Additional information would be welcome at P.O. Box 22105, Capri P.O., Kelowna, B.C., V1Y 9N9.