Pneumatic tires

The pneumatic tire is designed to provide a flexible cover with an impermeable lining to contain and restrain the compressed air. This cover is provided with a rubber tread portion that is designed to withstand the cutting and abrasive wear of road contact and to protect the tire against puncture and loss of air. Such a structure has, as distinct from a solid rubber or cushion tire, no capacity in itself either to carry load or absorb shocks. It is entirely dependent on the contained compressed air to enable it to function.

The first patent for a pneumatic tire was issued to Robert William Thomson in England in 1845 for a hollow leather tire filled with air. Although a set of Thomson's “Aerial Wheels” ran for 1,200 miles on an English brougham, the same inventor's solid-rubber tires were more popular; and thus, for almost half a century, air-filled tires were forgotten.

The growing popularity of the bicycle in the late 19th century revived interest in tire design, and in 1888 John Boyd Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, obtained patents on a pneumatic tire for bicycles. Pneumatic tires were first applied to motor vehicles by the French rubber manufacturer Michelin & Cie. For more than 60 years, pneumatic tires had inner tubes to contain the compressed air and outer casings to protect the inner tubes and provide traction. In the 1950s, however, tubeless tires reinforced by alternating plies, or layers, of cord became standard equipment on new automobiles. In that decade Michelin introduced the radial-ply tire, which is now standard for all automobiles in developed countries.

Pneumatic tires are usually retained on the wheel through the use of beads (hoops of wire) that are molded into the tire edges. The tire edges are placed in a shaped channel on the wheel rim's circumference and are held firmly against the channel's edges by the pressure exerted once the tire is inflated with air. Pressures range from about 30 pounds per square inch (200 kilopascals) for large, soft tires to approximately 100 pounds per square inch (700 kilopascals) for high-pressure, high-load applications. The pressure is carried by layers of cords embedded in a rubber cover that in turn serves to contain the air, protect the cords, and give high friction with the ground. This felicitous combination is the reason why pneumatic tires are so widely used for transportation. More than 200 million of them are manufactured for motor vehicles alone each year, 90 percent for automobiles and 10 percent for trucks.

Pneumatic tires are designed to meet five main goals: low rolling resistance, low vertical stiffness (to cushion the ride), high sliding friction in both wet and dry conditions, high longitudinal and lateral stiffness (to minimize sliding motions in the “contact patch” where the tread meets the road), and resistance to wear and damage such as cutting, puncturing, and abrasion. In order to achieve these goals, tire designers must choose appropriate combinations of materials and structures.

II. Look through the text again and answer the following questions:

1. What is the pneumatic tire designed for?

2. When was the first patent for a pneumatic tire issued?

3. Who were pneumatic tires first applied to motor vehicles by?

4. Are pneumatic tires usually retained on the disc through the use of beads?

5. What main goals are pneumatic tires designed to meet?

III. Match the words with their definitions and make up your own sentences with these words:

1. tire	a) smth. that can scrape or rub smth.;
2. to withstand	b) to strengthen;
3. to restrain	c) to resist;
4. abrasive	d) a covering fitted round the edge of a wheel to absorb shocks;
5. casing	e) the ability of a tire or wheel to grip without a sliding;
6. truck	f) making a small hole in a tire;
7. wheel rim	g) to protect smth with a cushion;
8. to cushion	h) the edge of a wheel on which a tire is fitted;
9. traction	i) any covering used to protect things;
10. puncturing	j) an open railway vehicle for carrying goods;

IV. Find the information about new kinds of tires. While looking for information you are free to use the internet sites given below as well as any other online resources. Make a short presentation in front of the class.

Resources recommended:

www.automobile.ru

www.wikeipedia.com

www.motorcar.com

www.familycar.com

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