15 Inventions That Quietly Changed The World But We Take For Granted On A Daily Basis

“As a young woman, she had the means to go places and no longer worry about getting home from them without fear. She could get a job a few towns away and support her family. Prior to that, you needed to travel with someone knowledgeable and strong enough to deal with the tires when they popped, not just if. I don’t think reliable tires get the hype they deserve. When was the last time you actually considered what your tires do for you? Meanwhile, how different would our lives be if they didn’t work as reliably as they do?”

–potbellyjoe

The invention of vulcanized rubber (which made the creation of the tire possible) was actually a complete accident. In 1839, Charles Goodyear dropped rubber mixed with sulfur on a hot stove. Doing so led him to discover the process of vulcanization, which created the rubber we see in tires today.