9.1 History of:

• 1844: Charles Goodyear (American) invented the vulcanised rubber that the first tires were to be made from.

• 1845: Robert Thomson (British) was granted a patent for a “vulcanised rubber pneumatic tyre” but it proved too costly to produce in volume.

• 1888: John Dunlop (British) is generally credited with inventing the first practical air filled tire. Dunlop's patent was, however, for an air filled bicycle tire.

• 1895: Andre Michelin (French) was the first to design and fit an air filled tire to the motor car. The first car to be fitted with the new Michelin pneumatic tire was a Peugeot “L'Eclair”.

• 1903: The first tubeless tire was patented by Paul Weeks Litchfield (American) of the Goodyear Tire Company. The first mass produced car was not, however, fitted with a tubeless tire until the 1954 Packard.

• 1911: Philip Strauss (American) invented the first practical tire fitted with an inner tube.