To achieve — and keep, through the constant weight and the hazards of the road — their rounded shape, early tires required an inner tube inside. Tubed tires were not the safest, as the friction during extended cruising heats up the tire and the inner tube within it and any small puncture could lead to a catastrophic blowout. Heated air escaping through the puncture had the potential of shredding the tire completely. Needless to say, a lot more injurious accidents happened in the days of tubed tire automobiles.

On this day, May 11, in 1947 the B.F. Goodrich rubber company announced they had developed the first workable tubeless tire. Although several patents for tubeless tires were granted before, outside the United States, none proved practical.

As the tubeless tires contain only air, there is not only less internal friction, but also much more efficient dissipation of heat. Goodrich promised its tires, with reinforced walls, would hold up better with punctures, either leaking out slowly or being plugged up by whatever caused the breach in the first place. After the company’s patent was granted and the tubeless tire began to be standardized, the New York Times newspaper calculated out “at least 25 per cent more mileage” and predicted “easier tire changing if [the driver] gets caught on a lonely road with a leaky tire, and almost no blowouts.”