They get us from A to B in comfort and safety, as technology is always giving increasing features to make the trip even more pleasant.

But at the end of the day it is those four little doughnuts one at each corner, with their four little palm size contact points that make it all possible.

Well yeah, but let's not forget that had it not been for the quantum leap from solid rubber to pneumatic versions that made it all possible.

Although thought to have been 'invented' in 1888 by John Dunlop, it was actually patented by another Scotsman, Robert William Thomson in 1845, although his tyre never made it through to production.

But it was John Dunlop who made it into production in 1888.

Like many other great 'inventions', it was driven by necessity, and not a flash of inspiration.

John Dunlop was a veterinary doctor in Belfast, when his son complained of headaches while riding his bike of the rough rural roads of the day.

So the extra comfort sought by his son's request bloomed into the level of comfort we enjoy today.