Willie Hume

William Hume (3 April 1862 – 1941 ) was an Irish cyclist. He demonstrated the efficiency of John Boyd Dunlop's newly invented pneumatic tyres in 1889, winning the tyre's first ever races in Ireland and then England.

Career In March 1889 Hume, the captain of the Belfast Cruisers Cycling Club, was the first member of the public to purchase a "safety bicycle" fitted with Dunlop's newly patented pneumatic tyres.

Entrepreneur and paper manufacturer Harvey du Cros was present at the meet, and was so impressed that within six months he had acquired the patent rights (or in 1896

Patent dispute Dunlop's patent, which he had sold to Du Cros, was legally disputed. Two years after he was granted the patent Dunlop was officially informed that it was invalid as Scottish inventor Robert William Thomson (1822–1873) had patented the idea in France in 1846 and in the US in 1847. Dunlop's patent was later declared invalid on the basis of Thomson's prior art.