John Boyd Dunlop
(1840-1921)

Born on February 5, 1846 in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, Dunlop was originally a successful veterinarian working near Belfast. Later on however, he would become instrumental in creating the first usable pneumatic tire, a device which is essential in the modern automobile. Dunlop was not the first person to invent the device (it was first conceived by another Scotsman, Robert William Thomson, in the 1840's), but Dunlop was the first to develop and patent a practical version of it. In the long tradition of major discoveries and inventions coming about through coincidence, accident or necessity, the beginning of Dunlop's legacy occurred when, in 1888, he was watching his son ride his tricycle. Noticing that his son was encountering difficulty and discomfort while riding over cobbled ground, Dunlop realized that this was because of the vehicle's solid rubber tires and began looking for a way to improve them.

The solution he came up with was a rubber tube filled with air to give it cushioning properties. Dunlop patented the design and it wasn't long before bicycle and automobile manufacturers recognized the design's potential usefulness in their fields. Within ten years of patenting the device, it had almost entirely replaced solid tires and had been implemented for use in automobiles by Andre and Edouard Michelin. Through the company he founded, Dunlop Tires, his name is still associated with the automobile industry today.