the.com/tire swing
Childhood's first taste of centrifugal force, disguised as roadside décor.
means A used tire hung from a rope or chain on a tree branch, spun and swung as a simple backyard playground seat.
from A plain compound of 'tire' (the rubber wheel-covering, from 'attire'—the thing that 'tires' or dresses a wheel) and 'swing' (Old English 'swingan', to swing or beat). The object itself is a 20th-century folk invention—no inventor, no patent—born simply from someone noticing a worn-out car tire and a sturdy tree limb could, together, make a child happy.
- origin
- repurposed waste rubber, 1900s farm ingenuity
- physics lesson
- teaches angular momentum before kids can spell it
- rope wear
- friction slowly saws through the branch above
- radial flaw
- modern radial tires swing worse than old bias-ply