Dunlop, John Boyd

The first commercially successful pneumatic tire was developed in 1888 in Belfast by the Scottish veterinarian John Boyd Dunlop primarily to improve the riding comfort of bicycles. Dunlop also showed, albeit qualitatively, that his air-inflated pneumatic took less effort to rotate than did the solid rubber tires in use at that time. His qualitative tests were the first known rolling resistance experiments on pneumatic tires. Due to this significant reduction in rolling loss, many professional cyclists in Britain and Ireland adopted air-inflated tires for their bicycles by the early 1890s. Pneumatics for the nascent automobile industry soon followed. 

Scottish inventor John Boyd Dunlop creates an air-inflated rubber tire. 

Reinvented by John Boyd Dunlop Pneumatic tyres for bicycles... 

Hancock made solid rubber tires for Queen Victoria s carriage in 1846 and was moderately successful in his English rubber business. However, Robert William Thompson had previously invented pneumatic rubber tires in 1845 and these were reinvented by John Boyd Dunlop in 1888. 

Pneumatic rubber tire (John Boyd Dunlop) Dunlop s pneumatic tires revolutionize the ride for cyclists and motorists. 

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