Career
He demonstrated the supremacy of John Boyd Dunlop"s newly invented pneumatic tyres in 1889, winning the tyre"s first ever races in Ireland and then England. Dunlop suggested that it would be advantageous to Hume to use them in a race. 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) for £3,000 and floated the first Pneumatic Tyre Company.
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, 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 United States in 1847.
Dunlop"s patent was later declared invalid on the basis of Thomson"s prior art