ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | JULY/AUGUST 2025 28 Drawn to Akron, Ohio, in the early 1900s because of its rubber industry, Arkansas native Vernon Smithers was looking for more than a job. He wanted to create a service for measuring the electrical power required to run rubber factory machinery on a regular basis. He ran the idea by Albert Michelson, an executive at the Nation Rubber Machine Company in Akron. The two then came up with the idea of starting an independent service that would analyze the quality of tires. And so, Smithers Laboratories was born. THE EARLY DAYS Using laboratory equipment he was able to gather, Smithers began testing passenger car tires. He issued the first tire report in 1925. The tests were extremely detailed for the time period given the limited technology supporting the type of testing he wanted to conduct. Tests included evaluating the wrapping paper that covered new tires, the tire itself, and the inner tubes. Tire appearance, thickness, lettering, bead wires, and placement of mold marks were evaluated and documented with painstaking detail. In the wake of World War I, natural rubber became in demand yet was geographically limiting. Firestone, B.F. Goodrich, and Goodyear all began developing synthetic products. This meant that the young Smithers company had to create new testing methods and invest in new testing equipment. The next challenge to the business came during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a plea to TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT A CENTURY OF TESTING EXPERTISE AT SMITHERS With origins as an independent tire testing company, Smithers celebrates 100 years of growth and evolution across various materials industries. that at some point the tires on most of those vehicles would come under close scrutiny of a Smithers analyst. The company was poised to enter another new era. Vernon Smithers was looking toward his next venture, heading up Smithers Oasis Company, and wanted to find a suitable successor to take the helm at Smithers Laboratories. He found the ideal candidate in Bob Dunlop, who had just left his testing job at B.F. Goodrich. With the new testing methodologies and equipment demanded of Dunlop’s enterprise, the company needed more laboratory space. Under Dunlop’s leader- ship, the company moved to 425 West Market Street in Akron. Today this site houses the Smithers Materials Science and Engineering Division and the Information Division. Another business leader in the area, Herman Hochschwender, joined forces with Dunlop in 1972 to form Smithers Scientific Services. Hochschwender, originally from Heidelberg, Germany, held a Yale degree and had attended Harvard Business School. He the American people to reduce their usage of rubber to free up supply for the war effort. In response, U.S. citizens were no longer allowed to buy new tires. As his civilian tire business was drying up, Vernon Smithers traveled to Washington, D.C. to defend his company to the Rationing Board by presenting data emphasizing the importance of testing. He convinced them. Smithers was permitted to receive commercial tires and other materials to test during the war. LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSIFICATION By 1950, foreign and domestic demand for synthetic rubber reached record proportions. Automobile registrations were up 44% over 1941 figures. Detroit produced 8 million new cars and trucks in 1950 alone. It was likely Testing rubber strength on an Instron tensile machine. From left: Robert Dunlop, Vernon Smithers, and Herman Hochschwender.
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