May 11: He helped turn Akron from the cereal capital of the world into the Rubber Capital of the World, but Benjamin Franklin didn’t start out with that goal. In fact he attended Cleveland’s Medical College specializing in surgery. After the War of Rebellion, Benjamin had seen enough butchery and decided to leave his medical professional.
For a time he became involved in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania. Then he moved on to New York City and opened a real estate office. A few years later he had the opportunity of buying a rubber manufacturing company located along the Hudson River valley. Like the previous company owner, Benjamin found the rubber manufacturing competition in the valley too stiff and decided to take the equipment and move it back to Ohio, and in particular to Akron which had long ago become a major shipping point to the world for its processed grains and corn. In Benjamin’s mind, there was no difference between the two. Akron residents encouraged to see a new business come to town, invested 1000s of dollars into the venture.
In 1871 Benjamin opened his Akron Rubber Works, and immediately Benjamin hired 20 employees to assist him in the manufacturing of fire hoses. He soon began manufacturing solid rubber tires that were only slightly better than the steel-rimmed wagon wheels they were intended to replace. In 1888 John Dunlop invented the inflatable tire for a new invention that was sweeping the country: the bicycle.
Dunlop’s pneumatic tire process was quickly adopted as the industry standard and Benjamin began making his own inflatable tires. In a few years the market for Benjamin’s tires would sky rocket with Henry Ford’s Model T.
On this day May 11, 1947 the company formed by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, the BFGoodrich Company, announced the development of the tubeless automobile tire, now the world standard in tires.
Frank Herzegh was born in Cleveland, obtained his bachelor’s degree in Physics from Case Institute of Applied Science and then joined the B.F. Goodrich Company as a research and development engineer. In addition to the tubeless tire, he also obtained over 100 other patents. After a 42-year career with Goodrich, Frank retired in 1972, and six years later he was awarded the Charles Goodyear Medal
