In September 1890, he was made aware of an earlier development but the company kept the information to itself. In Dunlop's tire patent specification dated 31 October 1888, his interest is only in its use in cycles and light vehicles. Fagan participated in designing the first pneumatic tires. His doctor, John, later Sir John Fagan, had prescribed cycling as an exercise for the boy, and was a regular visitor. It was an effort to prevent the headaches of his 10-year-old son Johnnie, while riding his tricycle on rough pavements. The first practical pneumatic tire was made in 1888 on May Street, Belfast, by Scots-born John Boyd Dunlop, owner of one of Ireland's most prosperous veterinary practices. However, this never went into production. The first patent for what appears to be a standard pneumatic tire appeared in 1847 lodged by the Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson. A skilled worker, known as a wheelwright, carried out this work. The tire would be heated in a forge fire, placed over the wheel and quenched, causing the metal to contract and fit tightly on the wheel. The earliest tires were bands of leather, then iron, (later steel), placed on wooden wheels, used on carts and wagons. However, over the course of the 20th century, tyre became established as the standard British spelling. The 1911 edition of the EncyclopГ¦dia Britannica states that 'he spelling 'tyre' is not now accepted by the best English authorities, and is unrecognized in the US', while Fowler's Modern English Usage of 1926 says that 'there is nothing to be said for 'tyre', which is etymologically wrong, as well as needlessly divergent from our own older & the present American usage'. The spelling tyre began to be commonly used in the 19th century for pneumatic tires in the UK. The Times newspaper in Britain was still using tire as late as 1905. Nevertheless, traditional publishers continued using tire. The spelling tyre does not appear until the 1840s when the English began shrink fitting railway car wheels with malleable iron. The etymology of 'tire' is that the word is a short form of 'attire', and that a wheel with a tire is a dressed wheel. Metal tires are still used on locomotives and railcars, and solid rubber (or other polymer) tires are still used in various non-automotive applications, such as some casters, carts, lawnmowers, and wheelbarrows. Pneumatic tires are used on many types of vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, buses, trucks, heavy equipment, and aircraft. Early rubber tires were solid (not pneumatic). Before rubber was developed, the first versions of tires were simply bands of metal fitted around wooden wheels to prevent wear and tear. The tread provides traction while the body provides containment for a quantity of compressed air. The materials of modern pneumatic tires are synthetic rubber, natural rubber, fabric and wire, along with carbon black and other chemical compounds. Tires provide a footprint that is designed to match the weight of the vehicle with the bearing strength of the surface that it rolls over by providing a bearing pressure that will not deform the surface excessively. Most tires, such as those for automobiles and bicycles, are pneumatically inflated structures, which also provide a flexible cushion that absorbs shock as the tire rolls over rough features on the surface. Photo src: A tire (American English) or tyre (British English see spelling differences) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide provide traction on the surface traveled over.

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