John Boyd Dunlop
John Boyd Dunlop | |
---|---|
Dean’s Grange Cemetery | |
Nationality | British |
Alma mater | University of Edinburgh |
Known for | Development of the pneumatic tyre Co-founder of the original Dunlop Rubber |
John Boyd Dunlop (5 February 1840 – 23 October 1921) was a Scottish inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he invented the first practical pneumatic tyres for his child's tricycle and developed them for use in cycle racing. He sold his rights to the pneumatic tyres to a company he formed with the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey du Cros, for a small cash sum and a small shareholding in their pneumatic tyre business. Dunlop withdrew in 1896. The company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company, was not incorporated until later using the name well known to the public, but it was Du Cros's creation.
Veterinary practice
He was born on a farm in
, in 1867.Quite early in his life he was told he had been a premature birth, two months before his mother had expected. He convinced himself his health was delicate and throughout his life acted accordingly, but he had no serious illness until he contracted a chill in October 1921 aged 81 and died unexpectedly. Sir Arthur Du Cros described him as a diffident and gentle-mannered man but confident in his abilities.[1]
He married Margaret Stevenson in 1871 and they had a daughter and a son. He established Downe Veterinary Clinic in Downpatrick with his brother James Dunlop before moving to a practice in 38–42 May Street, Belfast where, by the mid 1880s, his was one of the largest practices in Ireland. Downpatrick is now in Northern Ireland.
Dunlop developed pneumatic tyres for his son's tricycle and soon had them made commercially in Scotland. A cyclist using his tyres began to win all races and drew the attention of
J B Dunlop sold out in 1895 and took no further interest in the tyre or rubber business. His remaining business interest was a local drapery.
Pneumatic tyres
In October 1887, John Boyd Dunlop developed the first practical
Two years after he was granted the patent, Dunlop was officially informed that it was invalid as Scottish inventor
Though he did not participate after 1895, Dunlop's pneumatic tyre did arrive at a crucial time in the development of road transport. His commercial production of cycle tyres began in late 1890 in Belfast, but the production of car tyres did not begin until 1900, well after his retirement. J B Dunlop did not make any great fortune by his invention.
Death and legacy
John Boyd Dunlop died at his home in Dublin's
Although the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company no longer exists as a corporate entity, the Dunlop name lives on in a number of
From the 1980s, Dunlop was commemorated in
In 2005, Dunlop was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.[10]
An avenue in the city of Campinas, in southeast Brazil, is also named after him; that is because a Dunlop tyre factory was established there in 1953.
John Boyd Dunlop has been commentated with a blue plaque by the Ulster Historical Circle for inventing the first successful pneumatic tyre. https://openplaques.org/plaques/1333
References
- ^ Sir Arthur Du Cros, Bt, Wheels of Fortune, a salute to pioneers, Chapman & Hall, London 1938
- ^ B. W. Best, Dunlop, John Boyd (1840–1921), rev. Trevor I. Williams, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ a b The Bicycle, UK, 21 July 1943, p3
- ^ The Golden Book of Cycling – William Hume, 1938. Archive maintained by 'The Pedal Club'. Archived 3 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Dunlop, What sets Dunlop apart, History, 1889". Archived from the original on 2 April 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
- ^ Wood, Zoe (27 December 2016). "Sports Direct sells Dunlop for $137m". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "Pam West British Notes - 1988Torrens - SPECIMEN - 1988 - B - 7 digits - J B Dunlop obverse. Satellite dish, computer system reverse. NR113". www.britishnotes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "Northern Bank 10 Pounds, 2004". Ron Wise's Banknoteworld. Archived from the original on 31 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
- ISBN 9781440247958. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
- ^ "John Dunlop". Automotive Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 4 April 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.