GOODRICH COMPANY

in full B.f. Goodrich Company, major American manufacturer of specialty chemicals, plastic materials, and other related products. Headquarters are in Akron, Ohio. The company was incorporated in 1912 as the successor to a corporation of the same name formed in 1880, which grew out of a partnership-Goodrich, Tew and Company-formed in 1870 by Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The earlier company in 1896 produced the first automobile tires made in the United States. Other technological innovations from the company included the first rubber-wound golf ball, the first cotton-covered rubber fire hose, the first commercial tubeless tire, the first U.S. space suits, and the development of man-made rubber. As the company diversified, it became one of the largest producers of polyvinyl chloride in the United States. This material has a wide range of applications, particularly in the construction industry. In 1986 the Goodrich Company merged its tire operations with those of a rival tire manufacturer, Uniroyal Inc., to form the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company. In the following year Goodrich sold its 50-percent interest in Uniroyal-Goodrich and thenceforth concentrated on the production of vinyl resins and other materials.