Tech History Made on February 5, 1840

On this day 168 years ago, not one but two inventors were born. John Boyd Dunlop, the inventor of the first inflatable tire and Hiram Stevens Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim Gun.

On December 7, 1888 Dunlop patented the first pneumatic or inflatable tire. He had tested his tire on his son's tricycle. Like many inventors we have heard of recently, Dunlop had been beaten to the punch. The inflatable tire had already been patented in France in 1846, over forty years before.

In 1881 Maxim developed the Maxim gun, rather the first portable, fully automatic machine gun. We can thank him for one of the greatest moments in movie history,"Say hello to my little friend".