John Boyd Dunlop noticed how his son stumbled with his bicycle over cobbled streets. In 1888, when pneumatic tires didn’t exist, Dunlop was the first to develop an air-cushioning system for his son’s tricycle tires. He wrapped its wheels in thin rubber sheets, glued them together and inflated them with a football pump. An invention - he later patented and grew into a commercial venture: Dunlop Pneumatic Tire Co. Ltd.