John Boyd Dunlop | |
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Born | |
Died | 23 October 1921 | (aged 81)
Resting place | Dean’s Grange Cemetery |
Nationality | Scottish |
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 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 and, despite its name, was Du Cros's creation.