1.
Akron, Ohio
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Akron /ˈækrən/ is the fifth-largest city in the U. S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau. As of the 2015 Census Estimate, the city proper had a population of 197,542. The Akron, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area covers Summit and Portage counties and it is also part of the larger Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, which in 2013 had a population of 3,501,538, ranking 15th. Co-founded along the Little Cuyahoga River in 1825 by Simon Perkins and Paul Williams, it was done so being a point at the summit of the developing Ohio. The name derived from the Greek word ἄκρον signifying a summit or high point, due to Eliakim Crosby founding North Akron in 1833, South was added to its name until the two merged into an incorporated village in 1836. Neighboring settlements Kenmore and Ellet became annexed in 1929 and it is a setting for several movie films, television shows and novel stories, and is the origin of fictional characters. Residents of the city are called Akronites and it has had many nicknames, three of which are Rubber Capital of the World, Rubber City and City of Invention. Akron became a manufacturing center owing to its location on the canal, as well as being connected to numerous others and railroad lines. The city is home to the All-American Soapbox Derby, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens, Akron City Hospital, the Goodyear Polymer Center, and Alcoholics Anonymous. Listed by Newsweek as one of ten Information Age high tech havens, it was awarded by the National Civic League, residents Frank and Charles Menches have a disputed claim of inventing the hamburger thus the annual national festival is hosted in the city. A creature often referred to as the Kenmore Grassman is reported through history, Notable historical events that occurred in the city includes the Akron School Law of 1847 creating the K-12 system, and Sojourner Truth giving her Aint I A Woman. Resident Ferdinand Schumacher supplied the Union Army with quaker oats during the American Civil War. Akron is known for the rubber, tire, and airship industries among others, including the trucking, stoneware, sewer pipe, fishing tackle, farming equipment, mining, match, zipper, and toy industries. With a population increase of 201. 8% during the 1910s, three major civil unrest events took place during the riot of 1900, rubber strike of 1936, and the Wooster Avenue riots of 1968. Du Bois and President Bill Clinton gave speeches on race relations in the city, while visiting during August 1914, Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association. In 1971, James R. Williams founded Alpha Phi Alpha Homes Inc. to build the Channelwood Village area of Akron. During a 2016 march on West Market Street, purple heart Vietnam War veteran, Notable criminal history includes mobster Rosario Borgio headquartering the areas black hand operations, and Pretty Boy Floyds Walker-Mitchell mobs activities
2.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
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The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, SUVs, race cars, airplanes, farm equipment, the company was named after American Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanized rubber. The first Goodyear tires became popular because they were easily detachable, Goodyear is also known for the Goodyear Blimp. Though Goodyear had been manufacturing airships and balloons since the early 1900s, today it is one of the most recognizable advertising icons in America. The company is the most successful tire supplier in Formula One history, with starts, wins. They pulled out of the sport after the 1998 season and it is the sole tire supplier for NASCAR series. Goodyear is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company opened a new headquarters building in Akron in 2013. The first Goodyear factory opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1898, the thirteen original employees manufactured bicycle and carriage tires, rubber horseshoe pads, and poker chips. The company grew with the advent of the automobile, in 1901 Frank Seiberling provided Henry Ford with racing tires. In 1903, Paul Weeks Litchfield was granted a patent for the first tubeless automobile tire, by 1908 Ford was outfitting his Model T with Goodyear tires. In 1909 Goodyear manufactured its first aircraft tire, in 1911 Goodyear started experimenting with airship design. It later manufactured airships and observation balloons for the United States Army Air Service during World War I, the transport and reconnaissance capabilities that Goodyear provided contributed significantly to the Allied victory. In 1916, Litchfield found land in the Phoenix area suitable for growing long-staple cotton, the 36,000 acres purchased were controlled by the Southwest Cotton Company, formed with Litchfield as president. In 1924, Litchfield, as Goodyear Vice President, forged a joint venture with the German Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company to form the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, by 1926 Goodyear was the largest rubber company in the world. Only four years earlier it was forced to halt production of racing tires due to heavy competition. Nevertheless, the popularity of the Goodyear tire on the circuit led to a popular demand for the return of the brand. On August 5,1927, Goodyear had its public offering and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange
3.
Tire
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A tire or tyre is a ring-shaped vehicle component that covers the wheels rim to protect it and enable better vehicle performance. Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, provide traction between the vehicle and the road providing a flexible cushion that absorbs shock. The materials of modern tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with carbon black. They consist of a tread and a body, the tread provides traction while the body provides containment for a quantity of compressed air. Before rubber was developed, the first versions of tires were bands of metal fitted around wooden wheels to prevent wear and tear. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks, heavy equipment, and aircraft. Metal tires are used on locomotives and railcars, and solid rubber tires are still used in various non-automotive applications, such as some casters, carts, lawnmowers. The etymology of tire is that the word is a form of attire. The spelling tyre does not appear until the 1840s when the English began shrink fitting railway car wheels with malleable iron, nevertheless, traditional publishers continued using tire. The Times newspaper in Britain was still using tire as late as 1905, the spelling tyre began to be commonly used in the 19th century for pneumatic tires in the UK. However, over the course of the 20th century, tyre became established as the standard British spelling, the earliest tires were bands of leather, then iron, placed on wooden wheels, used on carts and wagons. The tire would be heated in a fire, placed over the wheel and quenched, causing the metal to contract. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work, the outer ring served to tie the wheel segments together for use, providing also a wear-resistant surface to the perimeter of the wheel. The word tire thus emerged as a variant spelling to refer to the bands used to tie wheels. The first patent for what appears to be a standard pneumatic tire appeared in 1847 lodged by the Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson, however, this never went into production. The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 on May Street, Belfast, by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop and it was an effort to prevent the headaches of his 10-year-old son Johnnie, while riding his tricycle on rough pavements. His doctor, John, later Sir John Fagan, had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the boy, Fagan participated in designing the first pneumatic tires. In Dunlops tire patent specification dated 31 October 1888, his interest is only in its use in cycles, in September 1890, he was made aware of an earlier development but the company kept the information to itself
4.
Dunlop Rubber
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Dunlop Rubber was a British multinational involved in the manufacture of various rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had invented and developed the first pneumatic tyre. It was one of the first multinationals, and under du Cros and, after him, J B Dunlop had dropped any ties to it well before his name was used for any part of the business. After taking on excessive debt Dunlop was acquired by the industrial conglomerate BTR in 1985, since then, ownership of the Dunlop trade-names has been fragmented. In 1888, John Boyd Dunlop, a Scottish veterinary surgeon living in Ireland discovered the pneumatic tyre principle, willie Hume created publicity for J B Dunlops discovery by winning seven out of eight races with his pneumatic tyres. To own the rights and exploit the discovery, the Pneumatic Tyre, Ltd was incorporated in 1889 and floated by Harvey du Cros who was, amongst other things, president of the Irish Cyclists Association. The invitation to du Cros to participate was made by William Bowden, J B Dunlop who could see no prosperous future in his discovery, had informally made over his rights to Bowden. Initially J B Dunlop held a 20 percent stake in the venture and it was a period of great demand for John Kemp Starleys new safety bicycles. Pneumatic Tyre began cycle tyre production in Belfast in late 1890, however, in 1890 J B Dunlops patent was withdrawn. It had been discovered that Robert William Thomson had first patented the pneumatic tyre in 1845, J B Dunlop and Harvey du Cros together worked through the ensuing considerable difficulties. They employed inventor Charles Kingston Welch and also acquired rights and patents which allowed them to protect their businesss position to some extent. In the early 1890s Pneumatic Tyre established divisions in Europe and North America sending there four of du Cross six sons, factories were established overseas because foreign patents rights would only be maintained if the company was engaged in active manufacture where its tyres were sold. Pneumatic Tyre partnered with local firms such as Clement Cycles in France. An American business was established in the USA in 1893 with a factory in Buffalo, in 1893 home manufacture was relocated from Belfast and Dublin to Coventry, the centre of the British cycle industry. The Dublin Corporation had launched a case against Pneumatic Tyre claiming nuisance from the smell of rubber, Pneumatic Tyre soon spread developing interests in Birmingham. The following year a major interest was taken in their component supplier Byrne Bros India Rubber of Lichfield Road, the same year du Cros started Cycle Components Manufacturing in Selly Oak to supply inner tubes. J B Dunlop resigned in 1895, and sold most of his interest in Pneumatic Tyre, in 1896 Harvey Du Cros persuaded his board to sell Pneumatic Tyre to financier Ernest Terah Hooley for £3 million.7 million. Associate and supplier, Byrne Bros India Rubber, at their Manor Rubber Mills, Aston Cross, had moved from making tyre and tube components to complete inner tubes, in June 1896 du Cros formed a new company, Rubber Tyre Manufacturing, to acquire Byrne Bros
5.
Lilly Ledbetter
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Lilly Ledbetter was the plaintiff in the American employment discrimination case Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. She has since become a womens equality activist, Ledbetter was born Lilly McDaniel in Jacksonville, Alabama and graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1956. McDaniel was a mechanic at the Anniston Army Depot, after graduating from high school, Lilly McDaniel married Charles Ledbetter, they had two children and remained married until Charless death in December 2008. In 1968, Lilly Ledbetter passed the H&R Block tax preparation exam, around the mid-1970s, Ledbetter later became an office manager at an accounting firm in Gadsden and a gynecologists office. Lilly Ledbetter worked at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, in 1979, Lilly Ledbetter was hired by Goodyear, she retired from Goodyear in 1998 and then sued the company for paying her significantly less than her male counterparts. The lawsuit eventually reached the Supreme Court, which denied her claim because she did not file suit 180 days from her first pay check even though she said she didnt know it at the time. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority, passage of the act did not result in Ledbetter receiving a settlement from Goodyear. Speaking at an interview in 2012, Ledbetter said that the pay disparity further led to inequity in her pay, contributory retirement,401. On August 26,2008, Lilly Ledbetter spoke at the Democratic National Convention, on the topic of pay equity, in February 2012, Ledbetter released Grace and Grit, a memoir that details her struggle for equal pay. On September 4,2012, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. On October 31,2012, Lilly Ledbetter appeared as a guest on the Colbert Report to promote her book, Grace and Grit, My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond
6.
Goodyear, Arizona
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Goodyear is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is a suburb of Phoenix and is in the Phoenix metropolitan area, according to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 65,275. Goodyear was the third fastest-growing place among all cities and towns in Arizona of any size between 1990 and 2000, the July 1,2015, MAG population estimate was 79,003. The city is home to the Goodyear Ballpark, where the Cleveland Indians, on June 6,2008, Goodyear won the All-America City Award, sponsored by the National Civic League. The city is named after the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Goodyear was established in 1917 with the purchase of 16,000 acres of land by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company to cultivate cotton for vehicle tire threads. World War II was important to Goodyear in the 1940s as the current Phoenix Goodyear Airport was built, but after the war, Goodyear became a town on November 19,1946. At the time, it had 151 homes and 250 apartments, a store, a barber shop, beauty shop. In January 1965, the Phoenix Trotting Park, a racing track opened. At the time, there was no Interstate 10 or any major roads from Phoenix to Goodyear for access to the track and it closed under two years later, but still stands, and has been abandoned ever since. It is located south of Interstate 10 and is visible from the freeway. The town became a city in 1985, in the same decade, the remaining 10,000 acres of the original farmland was sold for future development. The Phoenix Goodyear Airport received its current name in 1986, throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, new homes and communities brought the population increasing rapidly. Goodyear continues to grow as more communities and homes are continuing to be built, Goodyears population is projected to be 358,000 by 2035. Goodyear is located at 33°27′00″N 112°21′30″W, nearby cities include Avondale, Litchfield Park, Tolleson and Buckeye. Goodyear is about 17 miles west of downtown Phoenix, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 116.5 square miles, all of it land. The Gila River passes through the city, the largest master planned community is Estrella, south of the Gila River, located near the Estrella Mountains. The Estrella Mountain Regional Park covers almost 20,000 acres and it contains eight trails over 30 mi in length combined, two baseball fields, and a 9.5 mi track. Goodyear has a desert climate due to its location in the Sonoran Desert
7.
Goodyear Blimp
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The Goodyear Blimp is any one of a fleet of airships operated by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, used mainly for advertising and capturing aerial views of live sporting events for television. The term blimp itself is defined as a non-rigid airship – without any internal structure, from the launch of the Pilgrim in 1925 to the decommissioning of the Spirit of Innovation in 2017, Goodyear generally owned and operated non-rigid airships in its global public relations fleet. In 2014, however, Goodyear began a process of replacing its three U. S. non-rigid airships with three new semi-rigid airships, each of which will have an internal frame. Although technically incorrect, Goodyear has planned to use blimp in reference to these new semi-rigid models, Wingfoot One, the first such model in Goodyears U. S. fleet, was christened on August 23,2014, near the companys world headquarters in Akron, Ohio. There are currently two airships in Goodyears U. S, Goodyear relocated America to Akron for cost cutting measures. The Houston blimps wintered in Houston and spent the summer traveling North America, all two craft are outfitted with LED sign technology Goodyear calls Eaglevision. This allows the aircraft to display bright, multi-colored, animated words, Goodyear also has blimps operating in other parts of the world. These airships are built and operated by Van Wagner of Orlando, in May 2011, Goodyear announced it will be replacing its fleet of non-rigid airships with three semi-rigid airships built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin. The new airships are 246 feet long,52 feet longer than Goodyears old model, the Zeppelin NT model is also slimmer, has a top speed of 70 miles per hour, and has a passenger gondola that seats 12. The gondola even has a bathroom, the blimps are filled with helium. The helium is maintained under low pressure, so small punctures do not pose serious consequences for the blimp, One inspection element of the blimps is to look into the envelope for pinpoints of light which are indicative of small holes. The Goodyear blimps were non-rigid dirigibles, inside their exterior envelope, the Goodyear blimps are fitted with air–filled ballonets. As the blimp ascends or descends, the internal ballonets expand or contract to compensate for density changes and to maintain uniform pressure in the envelope. The latest craft, a Zeppelin NT is a departure from this tradition, GZ stands for Goodyear-Zeppelin, stemming from the partnership Goodyear had with the German company when both were building airships together. However these models came many years after this partnership had dissolved during the start of World War II, the GZ-1 was the USS Akron, the U. S. Navys fourth rigid airship used for several tests including as a flying aircraft carrier. GZ-19, Introduced in 1963 and discontinued in 1978 after the Mayflower was destroyed by a tornado, the design for this class resembles the U. S. Navys L class blimp. GZ-20, This class was introduced in 1969, with America, the Europa followed in 1972 and was based in Italy, the first Goodyear blimp operated outside of the United States. These blimps are slightly longer than the GZ-19, beginning in 2014, Goodyear began retiring the GZ-20 and replacing them with the Zeppelin NT
8.
Bicycle
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A bicycle, often called a bike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist, Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century in Europe and as of 2003, more than 1 billion have been produced worldwide, twice as many as the number of automobiles that have been produced. They are the means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a form of recreation, and have been adapted for use as childrens toys, general fitness, military and police applications, courier services. The basic shape and configuration of an upright or safety bicycle, has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. But many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and these have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for many types of cycling. The bicycles invention has had an effect on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. The word bicycle first appeared in English print in The Daily News in 1868, to describe Bysicles and trysicles on the Champs Elysées, the word was first used in 1847 in a French publication to describe an unidentified two-wheeled vehicle, possibly a carriage. The design of the bicycle was an advance on the velocipede, Other words for bicycle include bike, pushbike, pedal cycle, or cycle. In Unicode, the point for bicycle is 0x1F6B2. The entity 🚲, in HTML produces
9.
John Boyd Dunlop
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John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish-born and educated inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he re-invented pneumatic tyres for his childs tricycle, the company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, was not incorporated until later using the name well known to the public, but it was Du Cross creation. Quite early in his life he was told he had been a premature birth and he convinced himself his health was delicate and throughout his life acted accordingly, but he had no serious illness until he contracted a chill in October 1921 aged 81 and died unexpectedly. Sir Arthur Du Cros described him as a diffident and gentle-mannered man and he married Margaret Stevenson in 1871 and they had a daughter and a son. Dunlop developed pneumatic tyres for his sons tricycle and soon had them made commercially in Scotland, a cyclist using his tyres began to win all races and drew the attention of Harvey Du Cros. Dunlop sold his rights into a new business with Du Cros for some cash, with Du Cros he overcame many difficulties experienced by their business, including the loss of his patent rights. The pneumatic tyre revolutionised the industry, which had boomed after the 1885 introduction of J K Starleys safety bicycle. J B Dunlop sold out in 1895 and took no further interest in the tyre or rubber business and his remaining business interest was a local drapery. He died at his home in Dublins Balls Bridge in 1921 and is buried in Deans Grange Cemetery, Dunlops image appeared on the £10 note issued by the Northern Bank, which was in circulation in Northern Ireland. The tyre was a tube of sheet rubber. He then took his wheel and a wheel from his sons tricycle. The metal wheel stopped rolling but the pneumatic continued until it hit a gatepost, Dunlop then put pneumatics on both rear wheels of the tricycle. That too rolled better, and Dunlop moved on to larger tyres for a bicycle with even more startling results and he tested that in Cherryvale sports ground, South Belfast, and a patent was granted on 7 December 1888. Unknown to Dunlop another Scot, Robert William Thomson from Stonehaven, had patented a pneumatic tyre in 1847, willie Hume demonstrated the supremacy of Dunlops tyres in 1889, winning the tyres first-ever races in Ireland and then England. The captain of the Belfast Cruisers Cycling Club, he became the first member of the public to purchase a bicycle fitted with pneumatic tyres, so Dunlop suggested he should use them in a race. On 18 May 1889 Hume won all four cycling events at the Queens College Sports in Belfast, among the losers were sons of the president of the Irish Cyclists Association, Harvey Du Cros. Seeing an opportunity, Du Cros built an association with J B Dunlop. To capitalise on pneumatic tyres for bicycles, Dunlop and Du Cros resuscitated a Dublin-listed company and renamed it Pneumatic Tyre, in 1896 Du Cros sold their whole bicycle tyre business to British financier Terah Hooley for £3 million
10.
Charles Goodyear
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Goodyear is credited with inventing the chemical process to create and manufacture pliable, waterproof, moldable rubber. However, the Mesoamericans used stabilized rubber for balls and other objects as early as 1600 BC, Goodyears discovery of the vulcanization process followed five years of searching for a more stable rubber and stumbling upon the effectiveness of heating after Thomas Hancock. His discovery initiated decades of successful rubber manufacturing in the Lower Naugatuck Valley in Connecticut, as rubber was adopted to multiple applications, including footwear, the The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is named after him. Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Amasa Goodyear, and his father was a descendant of Stephen Goodyear of London, Middlesex, England, one of the founders of the colony of New Haven in 1638. In 1814, Charles left his home and went to Philadelphia to learn the hardware business, on August 3,1824 he married Clarissa Beecher. Two years later the moved to Philadelphia, and there Charles Goodyear opened a hardware store. This is where he did most of his work and this continued to increase until it seemed that he was to be a wealthy man. Between 1829 and 1830 he broke down in health, being troubled with dyspepsia, at the same time, the failure of a number of business endeavors seriously embarrassed his firm. They struggled on, however, for time, but were finally obliged to fail. Between the years 1831 and 1832, Goodyear heard about gum elastic, the Roxbury Rubber Company, of Boston, had been for some time experimenting with the gum, and believed it had found means for manufacturing goods from it. It had a plant and was sending its goods all over the country. It was some of Roxburys goods that first attracted Goodyears attention, soon after this, Goodyear visited New York, and his attention went to life preservers, and it struck him that the tube used for inflation was not very effective nor well-made. Therefore, upon returning to Philadelphia, he made tubes and brought back to New York. The manager was pleased with the ingenuity that Goodyear had shown in manufacturing the tubes. He confessed to Goodyear that the business was on the verge of ruin, to their surprise, thousands of US$ worth of goods that they had determined to be of good quality were being returned, the gum having rotted, making them useless. Goodyear at once made up his mind to experiment on this gum, however, when he returned to Philadelphia, a creditor had him arrested and imprisoned. While there, he tried his first experiments with India rubber, the first thing that he made was shoes, and he used his own house for grinding, calendering and vulcanizing, with the help of his wife and children. His compound at this time consisted of India rubber, lampblack, and magnesia and it was not long, however, before he discovered that the gum, even treated this way, became sticky
11.
Erdington
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Erdington is a suburb and ward of Birmingham that is historically part of Warwickshire. Its postcodes include B23, B24 and B72 and it is 5 miles northeast of central Birmingham, England and borders Sutton Coldfield. It is also a constituency, managed by its own district committee. Stockland Green was formerly part of Aston, Kingstanding part of Perry Barr, Erdington was part of the Sutton Coldfield constituency before 1974. Erdington had its own house, Erdington Hall, which was protected on three sides by a double moat and on the fourth by the River Tame. It had developed from a fortified homestead constructed by an Anglo-Saxon named Eardwulf in the area of Bromford. Demolished in the 17th century, it stood on a hill at the junction of what are now Wheelwright Road, the double moat was drained in the 18th century by Sir Charles Holte. Until 1912 another building stood, but this was demolished for the construction of the Tyburn Road, Erdington developed as a village as a result of settlers travelling up the course of the River Tame from Tamworth in the 9th century. The settlements of Minworth and Curdworth were also established and it is believed that the Roman track Ridgeway, now Chester Road, was another route for settlers, since the early nucleus of the village which was a very short distance from the path. At the time of the Norman conquest the Earls of Mercia had possession of the village, Edwin, grandson of Lady Godiva and he tried to resist the Normans attempts to gain possession of Erdington, but he was executed in 1071. The earldom then passed to William I who placed the manor and village in the possession of William Fitz-Ansculf and he then gave the manor to Peter de Erdington. Erdington was mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Hardintone and was under the possession of Peter and it had arable land for six ploughs, a mill and 5 acres of meadows and woodland. It was valued at 30 shillings and was one mile in length, as Erdington was near Sutton Forest, the Normans imposed strict laws on the village forbidding the hunting of wild animals and the keeping of sheep. Tenants were permitted an allowance of timber from the forest, Erdington remained within the precincts of Sutton Forest until 1126, when Henry I exchanged the Manor of Sutton, with forest, for two manors in Rutland belonging to Roger, Earl of Warwick. The forest became a chase and the laws were relaxed. The mill mentioned in the Domesday Book was located in Bromford, close to the house at a loop in the river. The mill was owned by the lord of the manor and the tenants were obliged to grind their corn there, Erdington was connected to Bromford via Bromford Lane, which still exists today in the middle of a 1960s council estate. In the 15th century, a chapel was built at the side of the house for the residents of Erdington
12.
Goodyear MPP
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The Goodyear Massively Parallel Processor was a massively parallel processing supercomputer built by Goodyear Aerospace for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Development of the MPP began circa 1979, it was delivered in May 1983 and it was based on Goodyears earlier STARAN array processor, a 4x256 1-bit processing element computer. The MPP was a 128x128 2-dimensional array of 1-bit wide PEs, in actuality 132x128 PEs were configured with a 4x128 configuration added for fault tolerance to substitute for up to 4 rows of processors in the presence of problems. The PEs operated in an SIMD fashion - each processor performed the same operations simultaneously, on different data elements, under the control of a microprogrammed control unit. After the MPP was retired in 1991, it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution and it was succeeded at Goddard by MasPar MP-1 and Cray T3D massively parallel computers. The MPP was initially developed for high-speed analysis of satellite images, in early tests, it was able to extract and separate different land-use areas on Landsat imagery in 18 seconds, as compared with 7 hours on a DEC VAX 11/780. 40 projects were accepted, to form the MPP Working Group, results of most of them were presented at the First Symposium on the Frontiers of Massively Parallel Computation, the Array Unit was the heart of the MPP, being the 128x128 array of 16,384 processing elements. Each PE was connected to its four nearest neighbors - north, south, east, the array could be configured as a plane, a cylinder, a daisy-chain or as a torus. The PEs were implemented on a custom silicon-on-sapphire LSI chip which contained eight of the PEs as a 2x4 subarray, each of the PEs had arithmetic and logic units,35 shift registers, and 1024 bits of random access memory implemented with off-the-shelf memory chips. The processors worked in a bit slice manner and could operate on variable lengths of data, the operating frequency of the array was 10 MHz. A register in each PE controlled masking of operations — masked operations were performed on those PEs where this register bit was set. The Array Control Unit broadcast commands and memory addresses to all PEs in the Array Unit and it performed bookkeeping operations such as loop control and subroutine calling. Application program code was stored in the ACUs memory, the ACU executed scalar parts of the program and it also controlled the shifting of data among PEs, and between the Array Unit and the Staging Memory. The Staging Memory was a 32 mebibyte block of memory for buffering Array Unit data and it was useful because the PEs themselves had only a total of 2 mebibytes of memory, and because it provided higher communication bit rate than the Host Processor connection. The Staging Memory also provided data-manipulation features such as corner turning, data was moved between the Staging Memory and the array via 128 parallel lines. The Host Processor was a front end computer that loaded programs and data into the MPP, the original Host Processor was a PDP-11, this was soon replaced by a VAX 11/780 running VMS programmed via MPP Pascal, connected to the MPP by a DR-780 channel. Frontiers of massively parallel scientific computation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Office. Design of a Massively Parallel Processor, retrospective, architecture of a massively parallel processor
