Robert William Thomson, a British engineer and inventor, is best known for inventing the vulcanized rubber pneumatic tire (1845). His tire was a hollow belt of India rubber inflated with air so that the wheels presented "a cushion…to the ground, rail or track on which they run." This elastic belt of rubberized canvas was enclosed within a strong outer casing of leather that was bolted to the wheel. Further development was abandoned for cost considerations. Some 43 years later, the pneumatic tire returned when John Boyd Dunlop developed it as a bicycle tire. Thomson’s other contributions included the self-filling pen, improvements in steam boilers and steam gauges, Steam omnibuses and the application of steam power in cultivating land.

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