Who invented pneumatic rubber tire

The timing was right for Dunlop; the bicycle was popular and his tire did a lot to enhance that popularity, again by providing a much smoother ride. Dunlop's tire remained the industry standard for half a century, until the appearance of the bias ply tire. Big Museum, Tiny Cars. Topics Discoveries. They provide a smoother ride and better traction since the wheel deforms slightly where it meets the road.

But inflatable tires have one big disadvantage: they lose pressure and can blow out altogether. Solid tires, on the other hand, can take a serious beating and still keep working. That makes them ideal for vehicles like forklifts. John Dunlop and his young son would certainly appreciate the irony in that twist of affairs. A flat tire on a Mercury Villager van. This is Andy Boyd at the University of Houston where we are interested in the way inventive minds work.

Accessed February 9, Willie Hume. Robert William Thomson. Theme music. While it was an improvement over a bare wooden or iron wheels, solid rubber tires could still rattle the bones of carriage passengers. In 18 45, Englishman Robert Thomson first conceived of an air-filled tube to provide a cushion between a carriage and the road, but his invention was rather crude — a rubber tube wrapped in leather — and was soon forgotten.

Forty-three years would pass before the idea of a pneumatic tire would again be tested. In , Dunlop a practicing veterinary surgeon, watched as his 9 -year — old son Johnny struggled with his tricycle mounted with solid rubber wheels. Using a big wooden disk as a wheel, he formed a tube using sheet rubber.