Today in Technology History
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February 5
Two British inventors share February 5, 1840 as their birthday: Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the machine gun, and John Dunlop, the inventor of the inflatable tire.
Hiram Stevens Maxim was born in Maine, in the United States. He patented several inventions and served as chief engineer at the first American electrical lighting company before he moved to London. In about 1884, he developed the first machine gun, which reloaded itself using the power of its recoil. Even before the end of the century, it was clear that his invention had utterly transformed ground warfare.
Maxim made several other inventions related to weapons. (So did his chemist brother and his engineer son.) He became a British citizen in 1900 and was knighted the next year. He died on November 24, 1916 -- just days after the conclusion of the Battle of the Somme, where over one million soldiers fell in four months of machine gun warfare.
John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish veterinarian. In 1887, annoyed by the uncomfortable combination of rough roads and solid rubber tires (an innovation only introduced six years earlier), he designed new tires out of rubber tubing. He fit the tires on his son's tricycle and inflated them with a pump used for soccer balls.
Dunlop obtained a patent for his pneumatic tires in 1888. The next year, he founded a tire company that eventually became internationally known for rubber products. Dunlop lived until 1921.
Related links:
Click here to read more about Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim.
Click here to read about the other members of the Maxim family of munitions inventors.
Click here to learn about the history of tires.
Click here to see pictures of John Dunlop and his first tire.
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