Improvements in Pneumatic Tires..
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 3rd Mar., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE PROVIDENCE TIRE Co., a corporation
organized under the laws of Maine, and located in the City of Saco, York
County, Maine, United States of America.]
Improvements in Pneumatic Tires..
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Hasletine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
This invention relates to that class of wheel-tires, commonly known as "pneumatic
tires," in which a rubber tubular shoe or cover fitted upon the wheel-rim, is
distended by an inner rubber tube, into which air is forced to expand the same.
This invention consists of the combination of a tubular shoe or cover fitting
upon a wheel-rim, and two expansible tubes, within said shoe or cover, the outer
one of which serves to distend the shoe or cover and the other is contained within
the former, as a supplemental tube, occupying, when not in use, a position where it
will not be exposed to injury, but which, whenever necessary, may also be expanded
to distend the outer tube and shoe or cover. The said device being provided with
two valve-stems, one entering the inner and one entering the outer tube, as will be
hereinafter particularly specified.
This improved tire is especially adapted for use upon the wheels of bicycles, and
other vehicles, and serves as an inflated cushion between the wheel-rim and the
roadway, and by its elasticity conduces to the comfort of the rider. But such
inflated tubular tires are liable to be cut or punctured by sharp stones, nails or
other things, having a cutting edge or point, over which the wheels may pass in
the progress of the vehicle along the road, and when so injured, the tubular tire
collapses by the escape of the compressed air through the opening, thus accidentally
made.
It has been the practice hitherto to provide the tubular shoe or cover with a
lining tube of rubber, which, when expanded by the pressure of air forced therein
by a pump, or other suitable device, serves to distend said shoe or cover and make
When the
it sufficiently firm to form an elastic pneumatic tire for the wheel.
outer shoe or cover and the inner expanding tube are both cut or punctured, as
above described, the tire is rendered useless, and if the accident occurs far from
home, or in an inconvenient locality, the rider is practically helpless to repair the
injury.
The invention herein described, is believed to be the first device having an inner
or supplemental tube, which, when not needed, is carried in a safe position, in
reserve, within the outer expanding tube, and in such a manner as not to impair
the function of either the shoe or its usual lining tube.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 shows in side elevation, a wheel, having my improved tire, the wheel-
rim and tire being shown in longitudinal, vertical section.
Figure 2 is a cross section of the wheel-rim and tire, on line wo wo of Figure 1,
drawn to an enlarged scale.
Figure 3 is a cross section of the wheel-rim and tire, on line x, x, of Figure 1,
on an enlarged scale.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the wheel-rim and tire, on an enlarged
scale, on line y y, of Figure 3.

page_text: Figures 5 and 6 are detail views partly in side elevation and partly in section,
showing the inner expanding and supplemental tubes with their respective
valve-stems.
Figure 7 is a detail view showing in top plan the inner and outer tubes, each
having a closed end, and also the means of connecting said tubes to each other, and
Figure 8 is a sectional view on line of Figure 7.
Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures of
the drawings.
A represents a bicycle wheel, having the usual rim a, whose outer surface is
concave, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and the spokes b, passing from the hub to
the rim. B is the tubular shoe or cover, which forms the tread of the wheel, and is
secured to the rim a, by cement, wires, or in any approved manner.
C is an
expansible lining tube, of thin material, preferably sheet-rubber, and somewhat
longer than the circumference of the wheel-rim a, and D is an inner expansible
tube, of like material and length, and of a diameter slightly less than that of the
tube C. The tube D is hereinafter called the supplemental tube. It may be
secured at intervals by unvulcanized cement, to the interior surface of the tube C,
on the side nearest the wheel-rim.
A valve-stem E, which is either a small rubber or metallic tube, passes through
an opening c in the wheel-rim a, (see Figures 1 and 2) and through an opening in
the shoe or cover B and the expanding tube C, being firmly held to said shoe or
cover and tube by cement and strengthened in position by a perforated disk d of
rubber, cemented to said valve-stem E and to the inner surface of the tube C, as
seen in Figures 2 and 6. A sleeve or tube F, of rubber or metal, extends through
the opening e, in the wheel-rim, and through openings in the shoe B, and tube C,
being cemented and strengthened in position by the perforated rubber disk f, (as
seen in Figures 3 and 4) which disk is cemented to the tubes C and D.
A valve-stem G, which is either a small rubber or metallic tube and has a
diameter to fit the bore of the tube F, passes through the tube F, into the
supplemental tube D, through an opening in the latter, where it is secured in
position by a perforated rubber disk g, cemented to the inner surface of the tube D..
The valve-stem G is not cemented to the sleeve F, but fits loosely therein, so as to
be easily withdrawn. If desired, the tubes C, D, can be cemented to each other
just around the sleeve F, and the disk f, may thus be dispensed with.
The valve-stems E and G are provided with the usual cups, not shown in the
drawings.
The ends of the tubes C, D, may be united either by telescoping, as shown in
Figure 4 and uniting them with an unvulcanized cement in the usual manner, or
preferably, may be made each with one end solid as at m, n, in Figures 5, 7, and 8,
and the other end open, which open ends can be pinched together and united by an
unvulcanized cement, as at o, p, in Figure 5. The solid end m, of the tube C and
the solid end n, of the tube D are connected together by canvas strips s, t, the
strips's, being cemented to the tube C and opening outward, and the strips t, being
cemented to the tube D and having their ends enter between the ends of the
strips s, where they are cemented together, as seen in Figures 7 and 8. Although
in Figures 7 and 8 these tubes appear extending away from each other, yet, in use,
as in Figure 5, the tube D is within the tube C, the latter having been drawn over
the other, or, in other words, the tube C in Figures 7 and 8 appears as turned
inside out, for the sake of illustrating the connecting strips s, t, and their attachment
to each other, and to their respective tubes. The closed end m, of the tube C and
its pinched end o, are united by an unvulcanized cement.
The parts of the invention having been thus described, the operation of the
device is as follows:
To distend the tubular shoe B, air is forced by an air-pump, as usual, through
the valve-stem E. As the tube D is not cemented to the tube C, except at the
ends m, n, but lies loose therein, the air readily passes between said tubes and
expands the tube C, until it stretches out the tubular shoe or cover B to its full

page_text: capacity. But the expansive force of the air exerted upon the exterior of the
tube D presses said tube into the concavo-convex shape illustrated in the drawings
in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, so that said tube D is crowded up snugly toward the
wheel-rim a, away from the tread of the shoe or cover B, and is there entirely
safe from puncture, and in nowise affects the useful qualities of the expanded
tubes C, B.
Suppose now that the tubes B, C, have both been punctured and therefore
collapsed. The supplemental tube D, which has hitherto been in reserve, is at once
useful to serve as an expanding tube. Air is forced now through the valve-stem G
and inflates the tube D, until it fully expands the tube C and the shoe or cover B
to their former diameters, and as said tube D is unpunctured, the tire is as
serviceable as before.
In repairing the tire, when so injured, the tubular shoe or cover B, is opened
through the usual slit at one side of it, the ends m, o, of the tube C are separated
and said tube withdrawn. The tube D'is removable from the tube C by separating
the pinched end p, from the pinched end o of the tube C, then after separating the
valve-stem G from the opening in the tube C, through which said valve-stem
passes, the valve-stem can be pushed its entire length through said opening, into
the tube C. The tube C can now be drawn off the tube D to the position shown
in Figures 7 and 8, and the cut or punctured portions of the several tubes are then
patched or repaired as may be necessary.
It is obvious that two or more supplemental tubes may be provided, if desired, in
which case each of the tubes should have an independent valve-stem as above
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a wheel-tire, the combination with the tubular shoe or cover B, of the
expanding tube C contained therein and provided with a valve-stem E, opening
into said tube C and passing through a perforation in the shoe B, the sleeve F,
extending through perforations in the shoe B and the tube C and secured thereto,
the supplemental tube D, contained in the tube C and provided with the valve-
stem G, which opens into said tube D and passes through the sleeve F, substantially
as and for the purpose specified.
2. In a pneumatic wheel-tire, having a tubular shoe, or cover, the combination of
two inflating tubes therein, one within the other, a valve-stem opening from the
inner of said tubes and passing through the outer tube and the shoe or cover and a
valve-stem opening from the outer of said tubes and passing through the shoe or
cover, substantially as shown.
3. In a pneumatic wheel-tire, the combination with the tubular shoe or cover B
thereof, of the outer and inner inflating, tubes C, D, having, respectively, the solid
ends m, n, and the pinched ends o, p, which solid ends and pinched ends are
respectively cemented to each other, the tube C being united at its ends mo by
overlapping and cementing the same, and means for inflating said tubes, C, D,
independently of each other, substantially as described.
4. The combination of the tube C, having the closed end m and the tube D
having the closed end n, said tube D being of a less diameter than the tube C and
adapted to be contained therein, and the strips s, t, cemented to said tubes
respectively and to each other, substantially as specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.