Search our website
Key in a search term below to search our website.
Key in a search term below to search our website.
This revolutionary pneumatic tyre was donated to the museum by its maker, John Boyd Dunlop, in 1910. But who really invented the pneumatic tyre?
Date
1888
Made in
Edinburgh, Scotland
Made by
John Boyd Dunlop
Made from
Arbroath sailcloth and India rubber
Acquired
Gifted by J.B. Dunlop, Dublin
Museum reference
On display
Technology by Design, Level 3, National Museum of Scotland
Did you know?
Dunlop tested the tyre by fitting it to the front wheel of his son’s bicycle.
Almost every road vehicle on the planet now uses pneumatic tyres. Development came in two stages, both by Scottish inventors.
The first pneumatic tyre was invented to improve horse-drawn carriages, while the second was developed for the bicycle. Both came at important stages in the development of those vehicles. Pneumatic tyres first appeared on the market in Scotland in 1895, coinciding with the appearance of the first car.
“These tyres are icons of the modern world, changing lives across the planet.- Louise Innes, Principal Curator of Transport
Robert Thomson (1822 – 1873) is the rightful inventor of the pneumatic tyre. In 1839 a new process called Vulcanisation added sulphur to rubber to make it pliable but not sticky. Thomson soon saw a use for this material to improve the efficiency and comfort of horse-drawn carriages. Thomson successfully applied for a patent and tests in Hyde Park, London, in 1847 proved the efficiency.
Above: This model represents the Brougham carriage used by Thomson to demonstrate his tyres. The Brougham was a new lightweight design by Edinburgh-born Lord Brougham.
Above: John Boyd Dunlop.
John Boyd Dunlop (1840 – 1922) invented the pneumatic tyre in 1888, unaware that Robert Thomson had already patented a design for a pneumatic tyre in 1846. Dunlop went on to market his design, initially for bicycles but the company that bore his name were soon making tyres for the new motor cars that were emerging in the 1890s.
Above: Dunlop tyre and wheel, 1888.
Above: This bust of John Boyd Dunlop, by Glasgow sculptor Henry Snell Gamley, is also in our collection.
