It was also around this time that legislation was put into effect that discouraged the use of solid rubber tires. In 1895 the pneumatic tire was first used on automobiles, by Andre and Edouard Michelin. With that victory, people began to take notice of the pneumatic tire. Dunlop’s tire, like Thomson’s, didn’t seem to sell at first - until a bike race in Belfast was won by a rider using his tires. It wasn’t until 1888 that John Boyd Dunlop, unbeknownst to him, reinvented the pneumatic tyre whilst trying to improve his son’s bike. However, despite this new breakthrough in tires, the old solid rubber variety was still favoured by the public, leaving the pneumatic tire out in the wilderness. This meant that it would take more than one puncture before the iyre deflated. His design used a number of thin inflated tubes inside a leather cover (see illustrated). It was in 1845 that the pneumatic or air-filled tire - which works by air within the tire absorbing the shocks of the road – was invented and patented by RW Thomson. They were simple tires the rubber carried the load entirely. It was in the mid 1800’s that the first tires made using rubber appeared. Luckily, with the discovery of rubber things changed. The very first tires were bands of iron placed on the wooden wheels of carts and wagons.
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