In school, I had read the story of John Dunlop cutting up a garden hose to make tyres for his son's bicycle. The story had impressed on me the fact that tyres are made up of rubber. It was on my first visit to my husband's (then boyfriend's) tyre factory, Innovative Tyres and Tubes, near Vadodara, Gujarat that I discovered that tyres are indeed made of nylon, steel, rubber and carbon. I figured the different patterns - the lugs in back tyres for greater traction and ribs in front tyres for better steering control. I noticed the sizes, and the numbers used to depict them - from the smallest autorickshaw tyres to the largest ones for the tractors. The number of processes that go into manufacturing a single tyre are many. And with all the carbon around, it's not a clean job. Yet, just watching a flat sheet of rubber being moulded into the form of a tyre that gets an ISI stamp, can be very inspiring. The history of the tyre is the history of industrial development as you can see from this link. My husband has started a Facebook Page for the company. No, we don't expect you to buy tyres on Facebook but it will give you updates on what's happening at the factory every now and then. Do check it out!
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