Improvements in Pneumatic or the like Tyres for Wheels of Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 1st June, 1897-Accepted, 16th Oct., 1897
COMPLETE DIEULTIVATION.
Improvements in Pneumatic or the like Tyres for Wheels of
Vehicles.
A communication from abroad by CHARLES JOHN BAILEY of Newton in the County
of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts one of the United States of America,
Manufacturer.
I ALFRED GEORGE BROOKES OF 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of London,
Chartered Patent Agent 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 has for its object the production of a highly resilient tyre for
bicycles or other vehicles, of such construction that side-slip or slip in the plane
of rotation is reduced to a minimum or altogether prevented, and also acting to
repel mud or dirt from lodgement thereon, such small portions as may momentarily
adhere being dislodged and freed at a point so near the contact of the tyre with
the ground or other supporting surface that they are not thrown upwards or
forwards.
Fig. 1. in side clevation shows a wheel provided with a tire, a part of the surface
thereof showing my invention.
Fig. 2. is an enlarged cross section taken through the rim of said wheel and
the tire thereon, and
Fig. 3. represents a part of the tire laid out flat, to more clearly show the
arrangement of the projections or teeth thereon.
The vehicle tire herein shown is of the single-tube variety, but any other
known variety may be used as my peculiar tread surface is equally applicable
to any form of india rubber or pneumatic tire.
The tire is represented by A, and the rim on which it is placed by A', and from
the surface of the tire is extended a series of separate and distinct resilient projec-
tions or teeth 6, about three-thirty seconds of an inch in height and tapering
from their bases to their outer ends, which may approximate three-sixteenths of
an inch in diameter, said projections being preferably frustro-conical in form,
with their bases approximately tangent to each other.
A series of resilient, independent columnar projections or teeth are thus formed,
adapted to be flexed an equal amount in any direction laterally, and relatively
soft, so that under compression they will spread or flex laterally as well as be com-
pressed towards the surface of the tire.
The edges or junctions of the sides and faces, the latter being substantially
flat, engage and cling to the roadway or other surface upon which the tire is
moving.
At such time the projections will, under the weight of the rider, bend or flex
laterally by impact with the road, or with any unevenness or inequality thereof,
such bending or flexure with the compression causing the teeth to tend momentarily
to more or less fill the spaces between them, the greatest compression and flexure

page_text: being at the point of greatest pressure, and decreasing gradually therefrom, while
each projection or tooth us it is released from pressure will by its inherent resiliency
resume quickly its normal position.
This return of the projections to normal position is most effective in freeing
the tire from mud, dirt or water between them, such foreign substance being
instantly thrown off downwardly behind the wheel onto the roadway, so that it
caunot strike the rider.
As shown in Fig. 3, representing a part of the tyre spread out flat, the projec-
tions & are stuggered or offset one from the other in the direction of the length and
transversely of the tread surface, obviating any straight lines of grooves or
depressions and also affording a more equable and uniform support.
The peculiar construction described is very effective and especially applicable
to bicycle tires as it obviates any slipping of the tire laterally or in the plane of
the tire, even on very smooth or slippery surfaces, for the less compressed projec-
tions adjacent the point of greatest pressure engage the roadway or supporting
surface, about such point, the more compressed projections at the same time per-
forming their share of the work by engaging the roadway.
If a tack or thorn is met by the tire it will, on striking one of the flexible
projections, be tipped or turned around usually flat or lengthwise, the height of
the projection also preventing liability of puncture of the main body of the tire.
A tire having a substantially smooth tread surface, when flattened on the
roadway or other support, excludes the air between it and such support, producing
a suction which causes the tire lo stick or drag, retarding the speed of the wheel
and requiring an increased expenditure of power to overcome it.
Tires have been scored to prevent this drag or suction, with the idea that air
would always remain in the scores between the tire and roadway, but in practice
the scores become filled with and retain mud and dirt, defeating their object.
By providing the tread surface with the independant flexible and separated
projections or teeth, mud and dirt is to a great extent prevented from adhering
to the tire by the substantial filling up of the spaces by compression of the teeth
as the tire advances, theroby preventing a nearly smooth surface at the point
of contact with the road, and any slight amount of mud or dirt which may be
caught between the teeth as they are thus compressed will be loosened and thrown
off by the contraction of the teeth or projections as they assume their normal
positious, immediately after contact with the ground or other supporting surface
As the projections meet the road or other surface the numerous air spaces between
them will prevent any projection or series of projections from getting anything
like a suction hold on the supporting surface or roadway.
Consequently my improved tire may be run with the minimum expenditure of
power, and the speed of a wheel provided with such a tire may, with the same
expenditure of power be greatly increased.
The projections may vary in diameter, shape and length from what is described
herein, so long as the projections rise separately from the surface of the tire,
are resilient and free to be flexed equally in any lateral direction, and in being
flexed tend to momentarily fill more or less the spaces between them.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A pneumatic, or like tyre having a tread surface provided with a series of
relatively soft, separate and distinct resilient teeth, leaving spaces between them
which in the use of the tire in riding are momentarily filled by the compression
and flattening of the teeth, substantially as described.
2. A pneumatic, or like tire composed of an endless inflatable tube having an
integral tread surface provided with a series of frustro-conical resilient projections
having flattened outer ends, the bases of said projections being substantially 5

page_text: tangent to each other and staggered in the direction of the length of the tire tread
surface, whereby the spaces between the side walls of said projections will be
momentarily filled upon compression and flattening thereof in use, to thus form
an evenly yielding cushion contact for the tire, substantially as described.
3. A pneumatic, or like tyre having a tread surface provided with a series of
separate and distinct flexible teeth extended from a base line, said teeth being
located close together so that pressure applied to said tread bends said teeth over
one on or against the other, the said teeth returning to correct position when
relieved from pressure, substantially as described.
4. A pneumatic, or like tyre having a tread surface provided with a series of
separate and distinct resilient, columnar projections, said projections being free
to yield laterally when compressed and momentarily fill the spaces between them,
whereby the tread and surface is substantially flattened at the point of contact
and immediately resumes its normal irregular contour upon release of the com-
pressed projections, substantially as described.
5. A pneumatic, or like tyre having a tread surface provided with a series of
frustro-conical resilient projections having flattened outer ends, the bases of said
projections being substantially tangent to each other, whereby the spaces between
the side walls of said projections will be momentarily filled upon compression and
flattening thereof, to form an evenly yielding cushion contact for the tire, sub-
stantially as described.
6. A pucumatic, or like tyre having a tread provided with a series of relatively
soft, separated and distinct resilient teeth, the teeth being gradually compressed
and flattened when in use to fill the spaces between them and present a sub-
stantially continuous tread surface at the contact point of the tyre, and the teeth
thereafter instantly contracting to open up the spaces, displacing and freeing
the tyre from mud or dirt, substantially as described.
WM. BROOKES & SON,
55 & 56 Chancery Lane, London, Agents for the Applicant.