John Heppenstall
of Doncaster
Iron Founders and Machine Makers.
1857 "The first tire rolled from a solid block appears to have been made by Charles Bartholomew and John Heppenstall, who in 1857 took out a patent-No. 1369 - for "Machinery for Rolling Tires and Hoops for Railway and other Wheels." In 1861 and 1862 two patents were granted to the same inventors for making "Circular Blooms for Tires, &c." The specifications say the blooms may be made of iron or steel, the iron or steel was to be cut into pieces and piled to form a circular bloom, which was welded either by a steam hammer or in a die, and afterwards rolled by the machine patented by the same inventors in 1857..."
Extract from "The Manufacture of Railway Tires" by and engineer of 1874, from the journal The Engineer 1924/05/30