Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1917-06-22
BRONSON FIRM To
RETREAO OLD TIRES
ANNOUNCES OPENING OF PLANT
TO TURN THEM OUT LAS
GOOD AS NEW

Opening of a re-treading depart
ment which will turn out rebuilt
tires which look and are las good as
new" is announced this week by w.
e. Bronson of the Bronson Motor
Car company, as another develop
ment of the firms business for which
preparations have been under way
for some weeks. The vulcanizing
and retreading department will be
supervised by E. L. Rowe, an expe-
rfenced tire man who was connected
with several of the largest firms in
Tacoma before he came to Olympia
recently and had also been engaged
in this work in the East.
Few people have any idea of the
various processes through which an
auto tire goes in the operation of
retreading. 1t is first subjected to
n minute inspection to detect fabric
separations or cracks or, If 1t is a
cord tire, to see that none of the
cords is broken. If such faults are
found, the tire is rejected, but if no
material defects are discovered the
old tread is removed and the body
or tire carcass is thoroughly cleaned
Carefully Dried First.
! The casing is then placed in hot
air dryer to evaporate any moisture,
very important step because many
repairs are ruined if the tire is not
properly dried. Then the tire body
is roughed by buffing with rotary
rasp and a heavy rotary wire brush
so that the cements will adhere, and
the casing Is then mounted on a
mandrel or core and subjected to a
gasoline bath to remove every YES
tige of dirt, grease or moisture,
after which several coats of vulcan
izing cement are applied, which
builds up film of vulcanizing
material thoroughly impregnating the
fabric and forming the foundation
upon which the new tread is built.
~ CuSHlOH SCCI VI raw luOOCl
then the heavy breaker strip" more
cushion stock and finally the real
tread are next applied. The unvul-
canized rubber comes in rolls from
18 to SO inches wide and 1-64 to Is
of an inch thick, most of it being
Tic of an inch thick, and the tread
is built up by packing a series of
strips one upon the other until the
required thickness is obtained, great
care being taken to preserve the
shape of the elevations until they
ere permanently vulcanized.
After the tread is built up, the
tire is carefully rolled to eliminate
all air blisters which would have q
tendency to loosen the tread, steel
core is then placed in the tire and
it is clamped into mold which is q
duplicate of those used at tire fac
tory, and is cooked for about an
hour under 1000 pounds pressure
"Cure'' . Particular Job.
\ Particular care has to be taken in
this part of the process, for If there
is not sufficient heat or the tire
isn't cooked long enough, the tread
will be UNDERGONE and doughy, or il
too much heat is used or it is cooked
too long, the result will be a brittle
cver-done tread. So the local firm
uses scientific appliances to main
tain an absolutely even and unvary-
ing temperature in the steam retort
and these in connection with timing
the "cure" right down to the minute
guarantee a perfect 'cure" on every
retread turned out.
The final operation consists OF
buffing the tire with rotary steel
brush running at 1000 revolutions
minute, which smooths the outer
surface and at the same time shows
up any defects.
The tire is then ready for the road
again and no one but an expert, Mr..
Bronson says, can detect the differ
ence between the retread and new
i, tire.