inventor who founded the rubber company that bears his name, Dunlop Tyres.
He was born on a farm at Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, and studied to be a veterinary surgeon at the Dick Vet, University of Edinburgh, a profession he pursued for nearly ten years at home, moving to Belfast in what is now Northern Ireland, in 1867.
In 1887, he developed the first practical pneumatic or inflatable tyre for his son's tricycle, tested it, and patented it on December 7, 1888. However, two years after he was granted the patent Dunlop was officially informed that it was invalid as Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson, had patented the idea in France in 1846 and in the US in 1847. Dunlop’s development of the pneumatic tyre arrived at a crucial time in the development of road transport. He also had his own veterinarian practice in Ireland. Commercial production began in late 1890 in Belfast. Dunlop assigned his patent to William Harvey Du Cros, in return for 1,500 shares in the resultant company, and in the end did not make any great fortune by his invention. Dunlop died in Dublin, and is buried in Deans Grange Cemetery.
Charles Goodyear was born in New Haven, Connecticut on December 29, 1800. He was the son of Amasa Goodyear, and the eldest of six children. His father was quite proud of being a descendant of Stephen Goodyear, one of the founders of the colony of New Haven in 1638 .
In 1816, Charles left his home and went to Philadelphia to learn the hardware business. He worked industriously until he was twenty-one years old, and then, returning to Connecticut, entered into partnership in his father's business in Naugatuck, where they manufactured not only ivory and metal buttons, but a variety of agricultural implements, which were just beginning to be appreciated by farmers.
In 1839 Charles Goodyear was credited with the discovery of the vulcanization process. Vulcanization is the process of heating rubber with sulfur. This transforms sticky raw rubber to firm pliable material which makes rubber a perfect material for tires.
The story of Charles Goodyear is a sad one, although he dedicated his entire life to making rubber a better form he would never profit from all his work. Charles Goodyear died bankrupt.
Goodyear died July 1, 1860, while traveling to see his dying daughter. After arriving in New York, he was informed that she had already died. He collapsed and was taken to the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City, where he died at the age of fifty-nine. He is buried in New Haven at Grove Street Cemetery.
Forty years later a rubber company would honor his hard work by using his name for their new tire company.