Life, 1915-07-08 · page 3 of 44
Life — July 8, 1915 — page 3: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a political cartoon or satirical content** — it's a straightforward **automobile tire advertisement** for Goodyear Cord Tires, published in *Life* magazine. The page promotes Goodyear's 11-year development of cord tire technology. It claims innovations including increased air capacity (30% boost), a "No-Rim-Cut" feature, reinforced braiding, all-weather tread, and ribbed designs. The company positions these as essential improvements that add "21 to 30 per cent to the mileage" of any vehicle. The decorative classical columns frame the ad in *Life*'s typical high-design house style, but the content is purely commercial messaging emphasizing durability and value — a product pitch rather than satire or political commentary.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
11-YEAR TYPE | Goop Corp TIRES “YEAR | AKRON, ONIO VIRTUES Cord Tire Evolution From the first-type Cord Tire to the Goodyear is a very long advance. It has taken us 11 years to complete it. But the result 1s now a vast Cord Tire revival—a fast multiplying vogue. You can now secure all the Cord Tire’s virtues, without its faults, by demanding these Goodyear betterments. Long Obscurity Cord Tires were invented many years ago. At one time, through their super-comfort, they attained vast popularity. Then they dropped for some years into semi-obscurity. That was the original type. That relapse was due mainly to high cost per mile, The first-type Cord Tire gave about as much comfort, power-saving and resiliency as the Good- year Cord Tire of today. But cost-per-mile con- fined that type largely to electric cars, where com- fort and power-saving made them essential. Fighting the Fault The Goodyear Cord Tire is now 11 years old. For some years we also built them mainly for Elec- trics, Then we found ways to vast extra mileage, offsetting their extra cost. Now gasoline car owners by the thousands are adopting the Goodyear Cord Tire. Some leading car makers, including Packard and Franklin, will hereafter make them regular equip- ment. Most makers of high-priced cars now supply them as extras. In six months the demand has multiplied at least 25 times over. Long-Life Extras These are our chief im- provements: Goodyear Cord Tires now have from 6 to 10 cord lay- ers. Our 4-inch Cord Tire is &ply; our larger sizes are 1o-ply. That means extreme reinforcement. They are vastly oversize. We increased the air capacity by 30 per cent, which, by accepted for- mula, adds 75 per cent to the life. We gave them our No-Rim-Cut feature, which combats a major waste. For extra security we vul- canized 126 braided piano wires into each tire base. To prevent skidding, we offered the All-Weather tread, tough and double-thick, with resistless grips. Also, we retained the Ribbed tread, always so pop- ular with foreign makers. All these things were added—all exclusive to Goodyears—without sacri- ficing one iota of the virtues of Cord Tires. This Type Will Stay Don’t judge the Goodyear Cord Tire by what you know of others, past or present. This new-type Cord will stay. Tt has that wondrous comfort which won men to old types. It has all their shock-absorbing qualities, all of their power saving—every iota. And we've ended the first-type faults. Cord Tires are essential on pneumatic-tired Electrics, They add 25 to 30 per cent to the mileage per charge. On any car, gasoline or electric, they mean amazing comfort. But get the Goodyear Cord Tire, for you want long endur- ance, too. Goodyear costs no more than others. Most makers of cars, gasoline or electric, will supply them on request. Any year dealer can get them. Any Goodyear branch—in 65 Cities—will direct you to a stock. THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. Akron, Ohio