[2][3] 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.
[2][3][4][5] 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[5]) for £3,000 and floated the first Pneumatic Tyre Company.
[2][5] Hume went on to be the person to introduce the new invention to England, when, in 1889, he raced on pneumatics in Liverpool, winning all but one of the cycling events.
Dunlop's patent was later declared invalid on the basis of Thomson's prior art.
[citation needed] Warwick University - A Catalogue of the papers of John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921).