How Belarusian tires conquered the South Pole
In 1999, when the whole world was waiting for a global computer crash, the Arctic EC decided to celebrate the New Year at the South Pole - where there are no state borders, as noted by the polar explorer Vladimir Chukov. The expedition involved representatives of 18 countries, such as Russia, Belarus, the USA, Djibouti, and others, and in particular, a high-speed trip was made on all-terrain vehicles produced by the Minsk Bearing Plant, which overcame about 4,000 km on shell tires produced by Belshina.
About how the "polar" tires were developed, the publication "Shinnik" told one of their creators, Tatyana Surovtseva, who still works in the design and technical department of the Belshina large-size tire plant.
"The technical task was received on July 6, 1999, and we quickly completed the full cycle of work, since already in December of the same year, all-terrain vehicles on our tires went to the pole. It was interesting to work, and in such a case, the work goes quickly," she noted.
According to Surovtseva, the development of low-pressure tires was carried out by the leading engineer Valentina Solenkova, engineer-designer Tatyana Vezhnovets, and herself. "We designed the tires based on the 1300x530-533 sled chamber," she said. "The rubber mixture was developed in the CZL [central factory laboratory] - taking into account the given parameters: the temperature limit of the rubber's brittleness should have been no lower than minus 50 degrees."
The main difficulty, as Surovtseva says, was to increase the tread (protector) and strengthen the sidewall, and the first had to be twice as thick. "For this purpose, a rubber-cord belt was used. It was glued to the necessary parts, and then the chamber 'turned' into a tire by re-vulcanization. The workers of the factory's molding technology workshop are experienced, skilled guys - they did their job perfectly," she noted.
The engineers watched how the tires performed on TV, and after the expedition was completed, the all-terrain vehicles were brought to the tire enterprise. "They drove right along the alley near the AIC [administrative and engineering building]. Colleagues came to us even then, they say: 'There, all-terrain vehicles on your tires are prancing...' " - recalls Surovtseva.
The shell tire was included in the official documentation under the name Bel OSH-1, and it is still present in the company's catalog. Tires of this type are designed to provide maximum passability in any conditions, while not damaging the soil and vegetation, as a result of which Bel OSH-1 has found application in agriculture, and now its analogs are equipped with machines from the "ROSA" complex of agricultural means.
Photo: Arctic EC, "Shinnik"