[url=http://www.jbs.org/node/7010]A little guy comes up with a new idea and hopes to make a difference in the automotive world.
Innovators do not always win out in the marketplace. In the 1940s, automotive visionary Preston Tucker designed a car — the “Tucker Torpedo” — which, in its original conception, had many features that later became standard in autos, including seat belts, disc brakes, and fuel injection. But lack of financing and a highly questionable government investigation hamstrung his effort to produce the cars. Only 51 of the legendary Tuckers were built, 47 of which still survive.
Godly Charles Goodyear would probably smile to learn today that a new product is competing with his own. But Amerityre does not wish to supplant the big rubber tire makers — only to collaborate with them, showing them a cheaper, more efficient way to make a superior tire. With just 28 employees, Amerityre is too tiny to attempt global tire production. However, it is currently seeking a partner to help it build a pilot mass-production facility.
[/url]The technology behind the tire is pretty interesting.
Today, the legacies of Charles Goodyear and Henry Ford are converging in Boulder City, Nevada, at a little-known company called Amerityre (
http://www.amerityre.com). Here, a combination of inventing and streamlining may achieve one of the auto industry’s most dramatic changes in decades: a superior tire, made from polyurethane, that could make rubber tires obsolete. Lee Iacocca, former president of Ford and CEO of Chrysler, calls it “the first big innovation in tire technology since the introduction of the steel-belted radial,” and says it “will change the way tires are produced forever.”
While building homes, Steinke first noticed polyurethane’s dynamic properties. Inspired to explore its potential uses, he entered the chemical industry. During the 1980s, he developed and patented polyurethane wheelchair tires, shoe insoles, ski boots, and other products. In 1995, he founded the American Tire Corporation (now “Amerityre”). It utilizes a remarkable polyurethane foam to make tires for bicycles, wheelchairs, golf carts, and garden equipment. Completely airless, these tires literally cannot go flat, even if pierced by an electric drill or bullet.
Also interesting is why he decided to make them for cars.
In 2000, a national controversy soared over fatal failures of tires on SUVs. The daughter of one of Steinke’s friends died in such an accident. He then turned his attention to inventing a polyurethane automobile tire — a goal that other tire manufacturers had previously pursued without success. In 2003, Steinke and Manual Chacon, head of Amerityre’s chemical development, developed a polyurethane polymer ideal for highway use.
