Improvements in Pneumatic Tyres.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Aug., 1898-Accepted, 3rd Sept., 1898
Improvements in Pneumatic Tyres.
A communication by CHARLES S. SCOTT, of Cadiz, in the County of Harrison and
State of Ohio, United States of America, Manufacturer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Štreet,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, 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:-
The object of this invention is to produce a pneumatic tire which is automatically
attached by the act of inflation, which is easy of manipulation, which is perfectly
flexible when un-inflated and free from encumbrance with stiff and unyielding wires,
which is firmly held to the rim and yet has no tendency to split wood rims, in which
the forces brought into play by rolling are such as to balance each other and result
in no tendency of creeping on the rim, which is held from a sidewise rolling off the
rim and which has sufficient compass to be applied to rims of different sizes.
To this end is secured to each side of the shoe of the tire, preferably by embedding
therein, a band of shrinkable metal fabric which is shown as diagonally woven wire
fabric. The inflation of the tire by forcing the band to assume the shape of the tire
causes an extension of the upper or outer edges of these bands and a corresponding
contraction of the lower or inner edges thereof, the band as a whole or circular
structure assuming a frustro conical shape closely conforming to the shape of the part
of the inflated tire in which it lies and becoming substantially rigid edgewise. The
contraction of the lower edges of the bands may cause them to grip to the rim by a
radial contracting pressure which would be in the direction of the wheel spokes and
thus has no tendency to split the rims as would be the case if the pressure were
perpendicular to the spokes and wheel rim. The extended outer edges of the bands
also forin a base line against which the part of the tire between it and the rim can
expand against the rim thus still further securing the tire to the rim. Again the
distortion of the band into frustro conical shape makes it rigid edgewise. This is due
to the peculiar strain put upon the metal fabric due to its distorted shape. Being
rigid edgewise the hand cannot leave the rim without expanding as a whole into a
circle larger than the wheel rim. This, however, the air pressure is not sufficient to
effect.
There is a somewhat curious feature connected with this part of this invention. It
is known that if a pair of endless wires be secured to the tire below the wheel rim
there is a tendency to creep of the tire in one direction. My correspondent has
discovered that a pair of endless wires secured to the tire above the wheel rim
causes a creeping of the tire in the opposite direction. He has furthermore discovered
that in the tire of this application in which the band edges are preferably one above
and the other below the rim edge, these two opposite tendencies to creep balance each
other so that with this tire there is not only no creeping on the rim but no tendency
to creep.

page_text: It will be seen that the bands when made of diagonally woven wire fabric do not
interfere with the flexibility of the tire. In fact they can only be detected by
close examination. It is also apparent that this invention may be applied to single
tube tires in which the air holding casing is permanently secured to the tire shoe or
to double tube tyres in which these parts are separate and unattached.
In the drawings :
Fig. 1 is a central section of the tire and rim ;
Fig. 2 a section of the tire shoe and
Fig. 3 a plan of the band.
The shoe B is made of the usual materials, canvas coated with rubber. Secured
thereto, preferably by embedding therein, are a pair of shrinkable bands here shown
as consisting of diagonally woven wire fabric Chaving selvages C¹ C². These bands
are preferably so arranged in the shoe that their lower edges C¹ will come slightly
below the upper edge A¹ of the grooved rim A and that their upper edges C² will
come somewhat above the rim edge A¹. The edges of the shoe rib B¹ fitting in the
groove B. The inner tube D is of the usual construction.
To place the tire upon the rim, the inner tube D is placed within the shoe B and
the rib B is pressed into the channel B2. The structure is then slid upon the rin
precisely as if it were a plain rubber tube which was to be cemented to the rim.
The air pipe is then applied and the expansion of the tire causes a distortion of the
diagonally woven fabric of the bands C causing the meshes along the upper
edges C to stretch and the ineshes along the lower edge C¹ to contract, the whole
assuming a frustro-conical form conforming to the shape of the tire as before
explained and becoming quite rigid edgewise that is measured from the edge C¹
to the edge C2 perpendicular to these edges and across the strip of fabric owing
to its distorted shape. The distortion of the meshes, elongated at C2 and
contracted at C¹ cannot well be shown in the drawing. The lower edge C may grip
the rim radially by its contraction and the upper edges C² acts as a base against
which the shoe between it and the rim is pressed radially against the rim, both of
these actions being additive to hold the tire firmly on the rim. The rigidity of the
distorted band also effective for this purpose. On the other hand the tendencies
to grip caused by the edges C1 C2 respectively being in opposite directions neutralize
each other. There is sufficient stretch in the fabric of the bands to admit of the
use of the tire with rims of somewhat different sizes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. An automatically attachable pneumatic tire having primarily flexible bands of
diagonally woven wire fabric secured in its sides, the inflation of the tire causing a
distortion of the bands into frustro conical shape and a consequent rigidity edgewise
or across the bands, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a grooved wheel rim and an automatically attachable
pneumatic tyre having primarily flexible metal bands secured in its sides, the edges
of the band being respectively above and below the rim edges and the inflation
of the tire causing a distortion and consequent rigidity of the bands in a direction
measured crosswise thereof, substantially as described.
3. The combination of a wheel rim and an automatically attachable pneumatic
tire having a pair of flexible bands of diagonally woven wire fabric in its sides, the
inflation of the tire causing a distortion and consequent rigidity edgewise or across the
bands, substantially as described.
1000