John Boyd Dunlop (February 5, 1840 - October 23, 1921) was a Scottish inventor who founded the rubber company that bears his name. He was born on a farm at Dreghorn , Ayrshire, and studied to be a veterinary surgeon, which profession he followed upon moving to Belfast in 1867.
In 1887 he developed the first practical pneumatic tyre for a boy's tricycle, tested it, and patented it on December 7, 1888. Dunlop's invention arrived at a crucial time in the development of transport. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast. Dunlop assigned his patent to William Harvey Du Cros , in return for 1500 shares of stock in the resultant company, and in the end did not make any great fortune by his invention. Dunlop died in Dublin.
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