This “The Pneumatic” golf ball  It is marked “Pat Aug 19, 1902” on one pole and “The Pneumatic” on the other.  “The Pneumatic” stamped on the ball is still very readable. 

Not only is this the first and one of the very few balls to be made with a para rubber cover during the early part of the rubber core era, it has a Pneumatic core as covered under a patent filed on August 19, 1902 by Addison T. Saunders who assigned half of it to Frank Seiberling, the man who founded Goodyear Tire &  Rubber in 1898.  Addison had patented his design 16 months earlier in the UK. 

The making of this ball was a bit of a marvel in and of itself.  According to the attached 1905 advertisement, the wall of wound thread between the cover and the pure Para Rubber “jacket” that held the compressed air consisted of a single thread of Sea Island cotton over one thousand feel long that was wound with perfect accuracy and uniformity.  The cover of the ball was also made from pure para rubber.

In the center of the ball, inside the para rubber “jacket” is compressed air. The accompanying Goodyear ad from 1903 shows the core of compressed air and the other layers. 

This Ball is in the accompanying 19-ball group image.