The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio, one of the largest tire makers in the world. It was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling, who named the company after Charles Goodyear, the inventor of vulcanized rubber decades earlier, even though Goodyear himself had died in poverty and had no direct connection to the company bearing his name. Goodyear grew alongside the American automobile industry through the twentieth century into one of the dominant global tire manufacturers, and the company is also widely recognized for the Goodyear Blimp, a fleet of airships it has operated for advertising and aerial television coverage since 1925.