Portal:Scotland/Selected article/Week 43, 2013

John Boyd Dunlop (5 February 1840 – 23 October 1921) was a Scottish inventor. He was one of the founders of the rubber company that bore his name, Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company. He was born on a farm in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, and studied to be a veterinary surgeon at the Dick Vet, University of Edinburgh, a profession he pursued for nearly ten years at home, moving to Downpatrick, Ireland, in 1867. He established Downe Veterinary Clinic in Downpatrick with his brother James Dunlop before moving to a practice in Belfast. He was a good friend of Queen Victoria.

In 1887, he developed the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre for his son's tricycle, tested it in Cherryvale sports ground, South Belfast, and patented it on 7 December 1888. Dunlop’s development of the pneumatic tyre arrived at a crucial time in the development of road transport. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast. Dunlop assigned his patent to William Harvey Du Cros, in return for 1,500 shares in the resultant company and in the end did not make any great fortune by his invention. Dunlop died in Dublin, and is buried in Deans Grange Cemetery. Dunlop's image appears today on the £10 note issued by the Northern Bank which is in circulation in Northern Ireland.