The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-10-30
n,F. =. LocKHAI.. A. A. d.

great war, from the car oWhSA
standpoint, was the adoption OF GER
tain tire standards which are rigid
~ adhered to on all cars being pro-
duced in this country at the present
time. The adoption of these stand
ards made II possible for the tire
manufacturer and the rim maker TO
discard q large number OF useless
types and sizes and concentrate on
q range OF tires Of a single type
produced In enough sizes to do JUS
tice TO cars of all weights.
Gin this process of elimination, the
straight side type of tire was
picked as the type that Is to persist
in every case except small tires for
light vehicles, such as motorcycles
and very light cars. The clincher
bead type of tire which once was
tho universal type and which still
is the universal type abroad, was
cast out In favor of the straight
side type.
Just why the straight side type
should be adhered to as standard
in preference to the clincher tire
Ia a question that has often been
propounded and which 10 Of particu-
lar interest to owners of cars fitted
with the clincher rims who, within
the next year or so, are to be faced
with the possibility Of not being
able to obtain their favorite make
of tire in q type to At their anti
quated rims. Likewise. folks abroad
who have purchased American cara
are interested In view Of the fact
that foreign tire makers are not In
a position to supply shoes to Mt the
new standard American rims ex-
cept in few instances.
It will be recollected that the
original clincher tire was stretched
over a solid rim, the clinches Of the
tire beads being forced into place
under the clinches OF the rim by the
air pressure when the tube was in
flated, this gripping being SUFFICIENT
to keep. the tire firmly in place
without any other device except the
valve nut in the case Of the small
sized tires. For larger sized tires,
however, II was necessary, in order
to insure fastness Of the tire to the
rim, to use lug screws spaced
equally about the wheel rim. The
tire bead itself was made soft and
somewhat flexible, so that II could
be stretched over the rim clinches
when the tire was put on or taken
off and when II was necessary to
remove the inner tube.
When the quick detachable
clincher rim came into beings
type which Is purely American and
which has never been exploited to
any great extent across the waters
1T provided the means for placing
and removing the tire from the rim
without stretching the beads; the
necessity for the flexible bead was
done away with. The practice grad
ually grew UP OF reinforcing the
beads Of the tires intended for use
on Q. D. rims with wires embedded
in the beads. rendering them non,
stretchable: this also altered the
shape Of the bead somewhat, so that
the clinch was not q good Mt to
the old style clincher rim. For the
past several years. therefore, we
have been exploiting In this coun.
try these two types OF clincher
tires. the @. d. type rapidly dis
placing the ordinary clineher in all
sizes except the very smallest
An in the meantime 1t was dis
covered that better results and
stauncher construction was obtained
by doing away with the clinch on
the bead altogether and relying Or
the embedded wires in the bead to
hold the tire firmly In place on the
rim: and the straight side tire came
in for development. 1t was not long
before the Q. D. rim was so altered
that the rings forming the clinch
members could be faced one way to
take the @. D. clincher tire and the
other way to take the straight side
type.
Then the demountabIe rim de-
veloped along two distinctive lines
the cross split rim, which is the
standard today. and the circum-
ferentially split rim. Both types
provide for mounting the wired-on
tires without the necessity Of
rim. This type Of rim, while a de-
cided improvement from the stand
point Of convenience In the case of
the interchangeable feature Of the
to either type of bead construction.
Quite naturally, then, when war
necessity demanded retrenchment
on labor as we'll as material, in
vestigation was made to determine
better, and It was deeermihed that
the straight side type has many ad-
vantages over the clincher type, and
that type was consequently adopted
for all large size tires, For motor
cycles and for cheap. light cars the
use Of demountable rims 10 not de-
sirable either from the standpoint
Of convenience. In the case Of the
motorcycle, or from cost In the case
Of the light car-for these vehicles,
therefore, the old or regular
clincher type of tire 10 regularly
supplied. ''z'
Briefly. the advantages Of the
straight side tire are that IL can
be placed on the rim-a special rim,
Of course-withoul the necessity Of
using tire irons or levers. II Is
kept in position on the rim, not by
the pressure Of the inflated inner
tube, as in the case of the regular
clincher tire, but by the At Of the
tire edge on the rim, backed up
by the wires used in reinforcing
the bead. Due to this fact. in the