The pneumatic tire was invented in 1845 by the Scotsman Robert Thomson. Vehicles of that time had wooden wheels with steel tires, which wore well but produced a jolting, vibrating ride were subject to skidding. Thomson designed a great improvement, a non-stretchable cover over a rubber inner tube pumped up with air. Although Thomson's " Aerial Wheels" did give a much smoother ride, they attracted little interest and were soon forgotten.

Solid rubber tires began replacing steel tires in 1870 in England, but they didn't solve the vibration problem. As the bicycle craze grew in the 1880s, the need to improve the ride of these "boneshakers" became more pressing. A Scottish veterinarian practicing in Ireland, John Boyd Dunlop, found the solution for his son's tricycle. He put together a rubber tube with a one-way valve for inflating, covered it with a rubber casing, and attached it to the trike's...