The Kelly Springfield Tire Company
The Kelly - Springfield Tire Company was founded in 1894 in Springfield, Ohio by Edwin S. Kelly ( 1859-1934 ) and Arthur Grant.
Formation
Edwin Kelly called the company originally called " The Rubber Tire Wheel Company " because they produced rubber tires for carriage wheels. Arthur Grant was awarded for its solid rubber tires with a rim a United States patent ( ( Cite patent | USA | 554675 ) ). The tire is held on the wheel by two embedded in the rubber longitudinal wires, which had a smaller circumference than the tire. Due to the high quality of the connection, the rubber kept permanently on the wheel and the tire was immediately successful on the market.
Name Changes
The company was sold in 1899 for $ 1,200,000 to the McMillan group. Arthur Grant received USD 166,000 in shares and $ 33,000 in cash for his company shares. The McMillan Group was operating the new company until 1914 under the name " Consolidated Rubber Tire Company". The New York sale 1911 daughter got the name "Kelly - Springfield Tire Company ". The business name of the Consolidated was adapted in 1914. 1932 set to the prefix "The " before the name, and so it became " The Kelly - Springfield Tire Company ".
Self- development
The tire manufacturing was done at a plant in Akron ( Ohio) and another plant was purchased in 1915 in Wooster (Ohio ) and used until 1921. The company's growth continued on.
1916 General Van Cartwell decided to build a new plant in Cumberland ( Maryland) and signed this agreement on November 4. According to the plans the city of Cumberland had free provide on the ground and to make a contribution to building costs of $ 750,000. The city had to also provide services for roads, water and sewer and other important construction projects. The factory site comprised 330,000 m². The system should employ more than 3,000 employees and increase the production capacity of the company at that time to five times. The first tire was manufactured on April 2, 1921 and the "Kelly - Springfield Tire Company " continued to grow.
Under Goodyear
Fourteen years later (1935 ) came the Kelly Springfield Tire Company at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and was run as a wholly owned subsidiary under Edmund S. Burke (Director General from 1935 to 1959 ).
The company continued to grow. In 1962, a new plant added in Tyler (Texas ); another plant was built in 1963 at Freeport ( Illinois) and the third plant in 1969 in Fayetteville (North Carolina).
1987, just 66 years after the first tire had left the factory in Cumberland, the plant was closed. In the same year, " Lee Tire & Rubber Company " came into the possession of the Kelly - Springfield. In November 1987, the corporate offices moved to a new seat at the Willowbrook Road in Cumberland. The original manufacturing plant with land went back to the city.
In 1994, The Kelly - Springfield Tire Company celebrated 100 years of existence. At this time she was the oldest tire manufacturer in the United States. In the 1990s, the parent company Goodyear built the daughter Kelly - Springfield and moved the headquarters to Akron, Ohio.