In 1911, Charles Gates, a 32-year-old mining engineer, bought a little company called "The Colorado Tire and Leather Company". About 6 years later his brother, John Gates, invented the V-belt, a revolutionary idea for automotive power transmission. In 1946 the first synchronous belt was developed. These inventions were the start for the continuous development of Gates belts and hoses. At the end of the 50s, the "Gates Rubber Company", based in Denver (Colorado, USA), decided to establish its first production facility in Europe and the Erembodegem site was chosen for its central European location. In the 80s Gates started an expansion strategy which resulted in a larger product range and a reinforcement of its market position. Gates acquired "Uniroyal Power Transmission" in 1986, "Industrias Vulca S.A." (Spanish manufacturer of radiator hose) in 1987, "Stant Corporation" (manufacturer of a.o. screenwiping equipment, thermostats and radiators) in 1997 and "Schrader-Bridgeport" (a worldwide leading company in the field of design, development and production of fluid control components and subsystems and transportation wheel valves) in 1998. The most recent acquisitions are the Mectrol Corporation's polyurethane power transmission and motion control belt business in 2004, under the name Gates Mectrol, and Eifeler Maschinenbau (EMB), manufacturer of hydraulic tube connection systems in 2005. In 1996 the Gates Corporation became part of the London-based "Tomkins PLC". Tomkins is a world-class global engineering group with market and technical leadership across two business groups: Industrial & Automotive and Building Products. The company has 35.000 employees worldwide in 130 operating facilities in more than 20 countries. The Industrial and Automotive Group within Tomkins includes Gates, Stant, Trico, Schrader-Electronics, Stackpole and Dexter Axle employing 25.000 people.