John Boyd Dunlop

How are you related to John Boyd Dunlop?

Connect to the World Family Tree to find out

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

John Boyd Dunlop

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Dreghorn, Ayr, Scotland
Death: October 24, 1921 (81)
Dublin, Ireland
Immediate Family:

Son of John Dunlop and Agnes Boyd
Husband of Margaret Stevenson
Father of John Boyd Dunlop and Jane Willis Dunlop
Brother of Jean Dunlop; Agnes Dunlop; Hugh Dunlop; James Dunlop and Margaret Dunlop

Managed by: Eugene Thomas
Last Updated:
view all

Immediate Family

About John Boyd Dunlop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boyd_Dunlop


Born into a farming family in Dreghorn in Ayrshire, John Boyd Dunlop was a veterinary surgeon by profession, having qualified at Edinburgh Veterinary College (now part of Edinburgh University ) when he was only 19. He worked as a vet in Edinburgh for nearly ten years before moving to Belfast. He built up a large practise in Ireland but found the rough roads and the iron, wood or solid rubber wheels an uncomfortable way to travel. He experimented with his son's tricycle and in 1887 he came up with a design based on an inflated rubber tube and patented it the following year. This was not the first time someone had tried this - another Scot, Robert William Thomson had patented the idea in 1845 (though Dunlop was unaware of this).

He established what would become the Dunlop Rubber Company but had to fight and win a legal battle with Thomson. John Dunlop did not benefit much financially from his invention - he sold the patent and company name early on. Despite Thomson's earlier work, Dunlop is credited with the invention of the modern rubber tyre.

Dunlop retired to Dublin and died there in 1921.

Source: http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfamdunlop.htm


https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3SHQ-YMT

view all

John Boyd Dunlop's Timeline

1840
February 5, 1840
Dreghorn, Ayr, Scotland
February 18, 1840
Dreghorn, Ayr, Scotland
1877
August 27, 1877
Belfast, Antrim, Ireland
1880
1880
Belfast, Antrim, Ireland
1921
October 24, 1921
Age 81
Dublin, Ireland