The Dunlop Story

The smörgåsbord of companies that now use the Dunlop brand all started with one man – John Boyd Dunlop. He was a Scottish vet living in Ireland and serial inventor who hit upon the rubber pneumatic tyre in 1888. This wasn’t the first time the pneumatic tyre had been invented – it had originally been invented in 1847 by fellow Scot Robert William Thomson. So, you could say the Scots were the first to invent the pneumatic tyre – twice! Nothing was done with the original invention in 1847, but by 1888 there was a clear use for Dunlop’s invention – the bicycle. Early bikes had been known as “bone shakers” due to the lack of any suspension. Pneumatic tyres allowed for enough suspension to make the ride comfortable, and by the 1880s bicycle designers had hit upon a practical design that was easy to get on and off and used gears to get to decent speeds. The new diamond framed bike became known as the “safety bicycle”, and Dunlop’s invention was the final piece in the puzzle towards making a truly practical device.

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