AN IDEA THAT REVOLUTIONISED THE WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 291, 18 January 1910, Page 7

AN IDEA THAT REVOLUTIONISED THE WORLD.

WHAT AN INI-LATED ICLiiiiEii IU-MD HA» Du-\h. •

''Five hundred business men—English-mc-i, Americans, rreiicum>..a, (.leriiMiis, Dutchmen, Scandinavians. Canadians, and men from even fanner afield —met at an historic banquet a; lie Hotel Cecil last Friday nignt to celebrate the eommg-of-age ot what ■. visitor described as 'just an inflated rubber band.' But this simple "rubber band' —die pneumatic tyre —nas worked '>: i iniuicnte upon the world that Las been almost magical,'' sa ,J s the London Ma.!. THE I'X\ ENIOR OF THE iDI-.'A. "It has encircled the gicbe. me capital sunk in '-lie liulusiiic.-, it nas brought into being is now—on the twenty-first anniversary of r.s practical application —estimated at many miliums ot pounds. And the people employed in connection with it—tiie men in die steel, cycle, and motor trades, and the natives who go out into dark forests to obtain raw rubber—may be counted in millions also. All owe their livelihood to the idea which flashed through an inventor's brain. "Sitting near the chairman, Prince Francis of Teck, was the man who had worked the wonder. -\ grey-u \iru.u man of nearly seventy—such is Mr. J. B. Dunlop, whose name is' known the world over. . . THE FIRST EXPERIMENT. '"I tried one of the first pneumatic, tyres I ever made on my son s tricycle,':" he told the Mail, "I fitted two tyres on the tack driving-wheels. The forks of the machine were too narrow, I remember, for me to attach one to the front wheel. Clumsy things they were, you can imagine. My son told me He wanted very badly to win a cycle race against some other boys. I told him my invention would make his machine much faster than the others. And so it did. He won the,race easily.

"'That wits just before July, 18S8, when I patented the tyre. More than once, in working cait iny ideas for the invention, 1 was mmdiu] to give xne whole'thing up. It was so tedious. I had to buy rubber and fashion it to my purpose with my own hands. In is was t:ie problem in my mind —to- invent something in the form of a tyre which would flatten on the road and intercept vibration. The very first pneumatic tyre I made I fitted to a block of wood and ran' it to and fro across my own back vard in order to test it.'

"This ganial old gentleman, whose invention has' made the annual cycle, 'output rise from 150,000 throughout the whole world in ISSS to 800,000 for England alone at the present time, besides rendering practicable the motot-car as a vehicle of speed and pleasure, was a veterinary surgeon in Belfast when the idea which has had such wond-wido results dawned upon him. 3,000,000 Ci'CLES. "And the history : of .the invention of this 'inflated rubber.■tniud.' with its millions of m alley andmiißqns of workers,, was 'completed; as; it was 1, rx*i»te<l out u .by Mr..Harvey t>\\ Cros, whose financial acumen and.aid made possible, the practical application of Mr. Diralop's fortunemaking idea. To Mr. Du Cros, in commemoration of the historic banquet, was presented a ' beautifully-designed "casket. •'Mr. Arthur J. Walter, in proposing the principal toast, that of 'The. pneumatic tyre industry,' said that in 1880 there were 300,000 cycles in use. As the pneumatic tyre became popular they rose in numbers until now there were, approximately, 3,000,000. 'lt is estimated,' said Mr. Walter, 'that £25,000,000 is now sunk in the cycle-making and allied ' industries throughout the world. All this is 1 due to the pneumatic tyre. And this does not include motor-cars, of which there are now 100,000 in use in this country, representing a •capital of £15,000,000.'" THE TYRE AND THE MOTOR-CAR. The Mail, points out that after the cycle had adopted the pneumatic 4yre '•a still more important development followed when the pneumatic tyre was ap r plied to the motor-car, whicn in its early days was fitted with iron and solid rubber tvres. The jolting with these was so fearful that there was always danger, when any speed was attempted, of the frame or engine shaking itself to pieces. With the pneumatic tyre to overcome shocks, the motor-car advanced by leaps and bounds. The petrol engine was improved and perfected, as the result of the enormous demand for vehicles in which great distances could be covered with perfect comfort. And this' development of the petrol engine, again, paved the way for the new art of aviation. THE ENGINE AND THE AEROPLANE. "The dirigible . baloon and the .-.proplane did not become practically successful till extremely light engines were at the disposal of "their designer*, and but for the "progress of the petrol engine between IS9G and 100G would havfremained mere dreams. Thus, the pne-i----matic tyre, that unpretending invention of ISBB, may be said to have revolutionised the art of locomotion and to have influenced social habits and human life more deeply, perhaps, than any mechanical contrivance of the nineteenth century, with.the single exception of the steam locomotive. It has' created gigantic industries, given employment to thousands, and opened new pleasures ill life for the poor and the rich."