Although having no corporate relationship to the inventor, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company takes its name from Charles Goodyear, paying respect to the inventor that makes tire technology possible.

It was on this day, June 15th, in 1844 that Charles Goodyear patented the vulcanization process to strengthen rubber.

Goodyear had developed the process five years earlier while he was working in Springfield, Massachusetts. While he is credited with the invention, Mesoamericans are believed to have used a similar process in order to create rubber balls and other objects around 1600 BC.