On Mon, 17 Oct 2005 00:51:25 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:

,;Don Bruder wrote:
,; In article ,
,; Jeff Wisnia wrote:
,;
,;
,;Randy Replogle wrote:
,;
,;
,;On Sun, 16 Oct 2005 00:10:17 -0400, Jeff Wisnia
wrote:
,;
,;...the process of treating rubber with sulfur and heat to
,;
,;
,; make it more durable.
,;
,;
,;
,;I remember seeing my dad patch tire inner tubes back in the early
,;60's. The patch was a thin metal "piece" with the patch on one side
,;and a flammable material on the other. It was clamped over the hole
,;with the patch side against the inner tube and the flamable material
,;was ignited with a match. This adhered the patch to the tube and was
,;called "vulcanizing".
,;Randy
,;
,;
,;I remeber those too, and I don't think they're around any more.
,;
,;I also remember when tire blowouts were far more commonplace than they
,;are now.
,;
,;My dad's idea of heaven was a place where as you entered one of St.
,;Peter's flunkeys handed you a set of four brand new "Goodyear Lifeguard"
,;tires and tubes.
,;
,;Those beasts had a second inner tube so that if the main one blew out
,;the backup one kept you from swerving into oblivion.
,;
,;Here's a radio commercial for them, probably from near the end or just
,;after WWII:
,;
,;http://www3.telus.net/public/xerog/goodyear.mp3
,;
,;The references to "today's maximum speeds of 35 MPH" and "not rationed"
,;sound like holdovers from WWII. IIRC petroleum supply wasn't the major
,;reason for gas rationing then. Rather it was because we hadn't much of a
,;synthetic rubber capability and the Japanese had occupied the places we
,;got much of out natural rubber from. Rationing gas had the direct effect
,;of reducing the number of tires needed for civilian autos.
,;
,;
,; Makes sense, sort of... Until you consider that both gas AND tires were
,; rationed.
,;
,;You could be correct, but I know the rubber part is true, you couldn't
,;legally buy a new tire without begging the ration board for permission
,;and giving them affidavits from not one, but two, repair shops that your
,;old tire was irreparable. The used tire market went through the roof
,;during WWII.
,;
,;Here's a bit of nostalgia on the rubber tire part:
,;
,;http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/5/19-0402a.gif
,;
,;And, "Straight Dope" concurs with my memories of those times:
,;
,;http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_382b.html


"Straight dope" forgot about the "T" stamp which were for commercial
trucks. How do I know? My father had a bulk gas delivery dealership
for a major oil company. We had mountains of those ration stamps piled
on the table from the gas stations and farmers.

Unfortunately we burned the leftovers after WII.