Improvements in and connected with Tyres for Velocipedes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 21st Sept., 1892--Accepted, 12th Nov., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Tyres for Velocipedes.
I, THOMAS PICKIN of 83 Bridge Street, Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
Taxidermist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to aircushioned tyres for velocipedes and has for its object
to render said tyres less liable to collapse through puncture than the pneumatic
tyres at present in use and easily repairable when injured in any part.
My improved tyre consists of an outer cover open on the inner side and
attached to the underside of a concave rim of the usual form by means of hooks and
eyes or their equivalents and preferably filled with hollow indiarubber balls. The
cover consists of india rubber lined with canvas to the inner side of which a bent
strip of leather is attached on the tread of the tyre, which strip protects the balls
against puncture. The canvas lining is doubled back at the edges and cemented or
otherwise fixed to the outer side of the cover and has metal eyes of ordinary_shape
fixed to it. To the underside of the rim hooks, which may be single or double, are
soldered or otherwise fixed, upon which the eyes are hooked for attaching the cover
to the rim. Or one side of the cover may be cemented to the rim or fastened with
wire or otherwise and the other side provided with eyes. The hollow balls of india-
rubber are preferably filled with compressed air.
For filling the tyre with balls, a short portion of the cover is first hooked to the
rim and balls are forced in endways by means of a bar or other tool till they are
flattened against each other and compressed and the fixed part of the cover is filled or
nearly so, when the next eyes are placed on the hooks and another ball is inserted
and so on, one ball at a time being pushed in and compressed till the tyre is almost
filled, when the last balls are forced in sideways. In this way the difficulty hitherto
experienced in filling tyres with compressed hollow balls is overcome. If any ball
becomes punctured, the cover can be unhooked at that place and the ball taken out
and repaired or replaced by a new one. The hooks and eyes may be covered by an
easily detached strip of waterproofed material.
The cover hereinbefore described may also be used with inflated air tubes instead
of balls.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Tyres for Velocipedes.
I, THOMAS PICKIN of 83 Bridge Street Manchester in the County of Lancaster,
Taxidermist, 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 :-
My invention relates to air cushioned tyres for velocipedes and has for its object
to render said tyres less liable to collapse through puncture than the pneumatic
tyres at present in use, and easily repairable when injured in any part.
My improved tyre consists of an outer envelope or cover attached to a concave
rim or felloe of any convenient section, by means of hooks and eyes or their
equivalents, or in such manner that the edge or edges of the tyre may be readily
027

page_text: attached or detached in sections or parts, and the interior of the tyre closely
packed with hollow flexible inflated or air tight balls in each of which the air is
compressed by the packing operation.
In my improved tyre each of the hollow balls forms a separate chamber or cell of
compressed air. The balls are preferably inflated after being formed, and by the
act of packing them into the tyre and rim the air contained therein is compressed
or further compressed. It is necessary for the ready fitting up or packing of the
tyres that the envelope be formed in such manner that it may be secured in part at
a time as the work of packing the balls in proceeds. When the tyre is filled with
the hollow balls, a specially formed tool is inserted between two balls and forces
them apart leaving room for another ball which is inserted. This is repeated until
the tyre is packed to the required degree of hardness, the envelope remaining
unsecured only for so much length as permits the tool to operate and a ball to be
inserted. When the operation of packing is completed the unsecured part of the
envelope is fastened. A tyre formed according to this method will not be seriously
affected even though it receives several punctures, as if any ball is pierced and
collapses the space occupied by it will be taken up by the remaining balls expanding
in the direction of the length of the tyre. The punctured ball may moreover be
readily removed and repaired and reinserted or by preference replaced by a perfect
ball.
In order that my invention may be more readily understood I have attached here-
unto a sheet of drawings to which I will now refer.
In the said drawings
+
Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of a portion of my improved tyre, half of the
view being in section..
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional elevation of the said tyre through the line a.
To the rim A are attached a number of hooks a preferably in the manner shewn
in the drawings, the hooks on one side of the rim I purpose attaching in such manner
that they may be turned round with a tool to the position indicated by the dotted
lines a Figure 2. To the envelope B which slightly overlaps the outer edges of
the rim, I attach eyes b or their equivalents in any suitable manner. The envelope B
is by preference first attached along one edge to the rim A, and is then filled with
the balls C, and the other edge then secured for the greater part of its length before
the last few balls which are forced in between the others are inserted. For the
purpose of packing the remaining balls an expanding tool having flat jaws is inserted
closed between two balls which are forced apart thereby while another ball is inserted.
This operation is repeated at different parts until the tyre has the requisite number
of balls to give the desired degree of hardness.
I may use any suitable construction of tool, and I do not now make any claim to
the use or construction of any particular form of tool.
The envelope B may be formed with a flap to cover the interior of the felloe, or
a protective strip of pliable material may be fitted therein as shewn a².
Any degree of hardness may be obtained in the tyre by the employment of balls
having a thinner or thicker shell, and, more or less closely packed, and also by the
air pressure contained therein previous to packing.
I am aware that tyres filled with balls are not new, and that the method of
attaching a tyre to the felloe by hooks and eyes is not novel, and I wish it to be
distinctly understood that I make no claim to the exclusive use of balls in a
common envelope, or to the method of attaching the envelope to the felloe herein
described; but
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
The construction and use of a tyre consisting of a hollow flexible longitudinally
divided envelope readily attachable to and detachable from the felloe at any part of

page_text: envelope in such a manner that the confined air contained therein is compressed
by the packing substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the
drawings.
Dated this 20th day of September 1892.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.