The Belding banner-news., 1921-11-23
DUNLOPS DEATH
sRECALLS THE FIRST
PNEUMATIC TIRE
IRISH INVENTOR CONCEIVED
IDEA OF AIR CUSHION FROM
WOODEN LAND ROLLER


(By Madelaine Rita in Michigan
manufacturer and Financial Record)
How many users Of pneumatic
tires ever stop TO wonder just what
prompted or suggested such an in
vention? How many know that in.
spiration was CLEANED from an old
wooden agricultural roller back in
Ireland in 1887?
j. b. Dunlop was a boy in school
then. One day he observed the ap-
parently contradictory fact that the
big roller was easier to draw than
the smaller roller of less diameter.
Searching about for the reason, Dun
lop came to the conclusion that the
larger roller SKINNED over the sur
face of soft ground because the area
of the surface of the roller in con-
tact with the ground was compare
lively large, and therefore the pres
sure per unit of area comparatively
small. Through the years of his
boyhood he dreamed of spring wheels
with flexible steel rims, instead of
wood, that would fatten out on the
road and thus increase the contact
area as well as reouce road shock.
The more he studied the roller, the
more vivid and realistic his dreams
became finally, he started his ex-
periments, using as his model the
tricycle. of his nine-year-old son
1t was de-, riven with center
drop frame and small tires, similar
TO racing tires. He procured a small
disc of wood, made an air tube of
sheet rubber 1872 Of an inch thick
and secured it to the disc with
thin strip Of cover of linen Goth. The
front wheel with its small solid tire
was removed and the relative trac
tion speed Of the two t res tested
proved the faster Of the two. In
this humble fashion the first real
step in the proc uction of pneumatic
tires was made.
Dunlop then made and fitted two
very large tires to the rear wheels
of the tricycle., the front fork being
too narrow to admit an air tube. The
air tubes and outer rubber were
made of 1882 inch sheet stock, each
rair supply tube having non-return
valve. The supply tubes outs de of
the wooC en- rims were laced like
those of a football and concealed in
recesseS in the ms. On February
28. 1883, the tires were finished, and
after several hours use not scratch
was found on their surfaces. The
next evening the tricycle. was dis
mantled and it was never ricen again
To further his experiments Dun
lop purchased another tricycle., mi
nus driving wheels and spokes, and
with untapped hubs. The spokes
were heaced, long and very heacy,
with rims of elm, two inches broad
and fiat on the outer surface To
these he fitted tires with outer rub
Der on the tread, one-quarter inch
thick, which were used for more
than 5000 miles.
The first bicycle tire ever MAZE by
Dunlop. was presented to the COVER
nors of the Royal Scottish Museum,
Edinburgh. The canvas is still in
tension at the tread, causing the tire
when debated, to cling to the rim.
The all rubber ar tube, which is pur-
posely exposed to view, may be seen
clinging to the rim TO prevent its
creeping and doubling up the calce.
The rim is badly bent, one spoke
broken, another bent and the valve
almost torn out, but the tire is still
intact. The tire never had been
punctured, repaired or removed from
the rim.
Twelve or tn rteen months after
Dunlop's pneumatic tire was placed
on the market, it developed that pa
tents had been taken out in 1845 for
an air tire by Robert Thompson, of
Westminster, under the name of
Improvements in Carriage Wheels.
In 1845, the patent Offices in the 3
kingdoms had not been amalgamat-
ed and a patent had to be taken out
for each country There should have
been no difficulty in establishing the
validity of Dunlap's patent in the
face of Thompson's air tire which
was neved made, but in 1847 there
was a set of air tires made and fitted
To a brougham totally different from
Thompson's first ones. These tires
were said to have been manufactured
by a Manchester concern. A set of
them were fitted to brougham be,
longing to an Englishman, but were
unsatisfactory and soon removed.
After his invention of the pneu-
matte tire in Belfast, Dunlop refused
to supply anyone outside the city un-
til the tres had been under observa-
zion for some time and thoroughly
Vested. II has been claimed that he
was not the inventor of the pneuma-
tic, that honors should really go to
Thompson. No matter who improved
on his tire, it was his fiea that led
up to the making of the 1847 tire
But the 1847 tire led ony to a blind
alley, whereas the pneumatic made
money from the very first. Nc
amount of advertising could have as.
sisted in the introduction of the tire
The tire first had to be CONSTRUCTED
so as to be durable and reliable. II
was only when the tire was useC
that its comfort and speed qualities
were realized.
Considering the years that have
elapsed between the patenting o.
Thompson's first air tire and the ad
vent of the pneumatic, as well as the
,idic,1ln and cnntemnt with which ths