Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Sept., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 23rd July, 1894-Accepted, 21st Sept., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres.
We, RICHARD SANDEMAN, of 107 Wood Street, in the City of London,
Commission Agent, and ERNST EMMANUEL WULFF, of 14 Park Villas,
Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Stock Broker, and JOHN MANN ANDREW of
Glen Rosa, Potters Road, New Barnet in the County of Herts, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to pneumatic tyres and is designed to provide more
efficient means than those heretofore adopted for preventing the puncturing of the
air-tubes of such tyres by sharp stones, nails and other objects with which they
are liable to come in contact when travelling over public roads and other ways or
places.
Various suggestions have been made and, in some cases, adopted for accom-
plishing this result, either by chemically treating the air-tube of the tyre or by
providing a supplementary device for protecting the said tube. Such devices have
been, in some measure, successful, but, by our invention, we provide a protecting
device for the air-tube of the tyre, which, whilst it effectually prevents the
puncturing of the said tube, is free from the objectionable features possessed by
some of the devices hitherto employed for the purpose.
In carrying our invention into practice, we combine, with the air-tube, an
improved protecting strip or pad composed of fine fibres of asbestos pressed
together and enclosed in a bag or envelope of thin india-rubber, gutta-percha or
other suitable material, as hereinafter mentioned, which strip or pad forms the
tread of the tyre or is placed between the air-tube and an outer cover or
wrapping.
The said Richard Sandeman has discovered that, when fibres of asbestos of a
sufficient degree of fineness are pressed together, in their natural state, that is to
say, without further treatment and without the admixture of other substances,
they offer very great resistance to puncturing or penetration by a needle, nail
or other pointed object, even when great force is applied to cause such puncturing
or penetration.
In making our improved protecting strip or pad, therefore, we take asbestos in
its natural state, preferably South African asbestos of light specific gravity and
having very fine fibres, and we comb or card the said asbestos in such a manner as
to draw the fibres of the same; we then take a mass of the combed or carded
fibres and press the same together and arrange them in a layer of suitable thickness
in a bag or tube of the required dimensions.
We find it advantageous to place our improved protecting strip or pad between
the air-tube and an outer cover or wrapping, in which case we make the said bag
or tube of india-rubber, gutta-percha or similar material. We can, however,
arrange it in any other suitable manner so that it forms an efficient protection for
the air-tube. For instance, we can arrange it to serve as the tread of the tyre and
make the said bag or tube of some material suitable for resisting ordinary wear,
such, for example, as that of which the outer coverings or wrappings of tyres are
usually composed.
We find that the fibres of the asbestos, when combed or carded and pressed
together as above mentioned, effectually resist puncturing without the admixture of
any other substance with the said fibres. By our invention, therefore, we are
enabled to dispense with resin or similar substances such as are used in some of the

page_text: protecting pads hitherto employed, and which, on account of their stickiness,
render the handling of the material of the pad undesirable.
Dated the 21st day of September 1893.
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres.
We GEORGE PATERSON GILL of Oak Mills, Tillicoutry, in the County of
Clackmannan, Scotland Manufacturer and ROBERT CLAPPERTON of 61 Miller
Street, Glasgow Warehouseman, Executors of Richard Sandeman late of
107 Wood Street in the City of London, Commission Agent, deceased, and
ERNST EMMANUEL WULFF of 14 Park Villas, Blackheath in the County of
Kent, Stockbroker, and JOHN MANN ANDREW of Glen Rosa, Potters Road,
New Barnet, in the County of Herts, Gentleman, 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 pneumatic tyres and is designed to provide more
efficient means than those heretofore adopted for preventing the puncturing of the
air tubes of such tyres by sharp stones, nails and other objects with which they
are liable to come in contact when travelling over public roads and other ways or
places.
Various suggestions have been made and in some cases adopted for accom-
plishing this result, either by chemically treating the air tube of the tyre or by
providing a supplementary device for protecting the said tube. Such devices
have been, in some measure, successful, but by the present invention we provide a
protecting device for the air tube of the tyre, which, whilst it effectually prevents
the puncturing of the said tube, is free from the objectionable features possessed
by some of the devices hitherto employed for the purpose.
In carrying our invention into practice we combine with the air tube, an improved
protecting strip, band or pad composed of fine fibres of asbestos pressed together
and enclosed in a bag or envelope of thin india-rubber, gutta percha, silk or other
suitable material as hereinafter mentioned, which strip, band or pad is placed at the
tread of the tyre or between the air tube and an outer cover or wrapping or is
embedded in or attached to an outer cover, wrapping or tread.
The said Richard Sandeman discovered that when fibres of asbestos of a
sufficient degree of fineness are pressed together in their natural state, that is to
say, without further treatment and without the admixture of other substances,
they offer very great resistance to puncturing or penetration by a needle, uail or
other pointed object, even when force is applied to cause such puncturing or
penetration.
In making our improved protecting strip, band or pad, we take asbestos of the
kind which is of very light specific gravity and bas very fine tough fibres and is
known as blue African asbestos, and we comb or card the said asbestos to a greater
or less extent in such a manner as to draw the fibres of the same; we then take a
mass of the combed or carded fibres and arrange, place, fold or build up the same
to the required dimensions of the band or pad and then place a compressed layer of
suitable thickness in an envelope, bag or tube of the required dimensions. The
combing or carding of the fibres ensures that when pressed together they shall
form a layer, strip or band of practically uniform density but as we have found in
practice that the combing or carding operation is liable to somewhat detract from
the puncture-proof qualities of the material we generally prefer to dispense with

page_text: the said operation, and merely arrange and compress the fibres together. A
pneumatic tyre provided with one of these asbestos bands or pads will "give" to
the uneven surface of the road the same as if the asbestos were not there.
We find it advantageous to place or fix our improved protecting band, strip or
pad between the air tube and the outer cover or wrapping, in which case we make
ile said bag, envelope or tube of india-rubber, gutta percha, silk, silk or canvas
rubber, or similar material. We can, however, arrange it in any other suitable
manner so that it forms an efficient protection for the air tube. For instance we
can arrange it to serve as the tread of the tyre and make the said envelope, bag or
tube of some material suitable for resisting ordinary wear, such, for example, as
that of which the outer coverings or wrappings of pneumatic tyres are usually
composed; or we can embed it in the substance of an outer covering or wrapping
at any suitable part including the tread.
We find that the fibres of the asbestos, when pressed together and whether
previously combed or carded or not as above mentioned, effectually resist puncturing
without the admixture of any other substance with the said fibres. By our invention,
therefore, we are enabled to dispense with resin as used in some of the protecting
pads hitherto employed and which has known objections.
The amount of compression to which the asbestos fibres are submitted for the
purpose of this invention and the means of pressing them together can be varied
but we consider that the compression of a layer of fibres (previously manipulated
and pressed down by hand) into about one fourth (more or less) of its thickness is
a suitable degree of compression. It is however not absolutely necessary although
preferable to compress the fibres in making the strip, band or pad. They become
to a certain extent compressed within the tyre itself particularly when the air
tube is pumped up hard against the outer cover, thus holding the fibres tight. The
thickness of the strip or band at the tread will vary according to circumstances
that is to say whether the cycle or vehicle is intended for heavy or light work, for
rough or good roads, or for racing; a thickness of from th to th of an inch
(more or less, according to the degree of compression) may, however, be taken as a
suitable thickness, and as the material is very light this little extra thickness is
scarcely noticeable to the rider or riders of the cycle or vehicle.
The accompanying drawings illustrate by way of example several methods of
employing our puncture-proof strips, bands or pads.
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a pneumatic tyre in which our puncture-proof
strip, band or pad is placed between the air tube and an outer cover or wrapping.
a is the air tube, the puncture-proof hand, strip or pad, e the outer cover, and d the
rim of the wheel. The strip or pad consists of compressed asbestos encased in a
bag, sheath or tube of india rubber, or silk, or rubber silk or other suitable material.
This method of applying our puncture proof strip is suitable for various forms
of tyres.
In Figure 2 the puncture proof strip or band is shown as embedded in the
substance of an outer cover c which entirely surrounds the air tube a. The strip b
may be thus embedded or attached during the vulcanization or manufacture of the
Cover C.
In Figure 3 the puncture proof strip or band 6 is shown as placed between the
outer cover c and an outer band or protector e such as is sometimes employed around
a pneumatic tyre. The strip may be secured either to the cover c or to the outer
band e by cement solution or otherwise.
In Figure the puncture proof strip or band is shown as embedded in the
substance of a protecting band or tread e.
In Figure 5 the puncture proof strip or band is applied in the same manner as
in Figure 2 but the tyre is detachable as in Figure 1.
It is not necessary although preferable to encase or enclose the asbestos in a
separate envelope, tube or sheath if the outer cover of the tyre is formed with a
flap or pocket adapted to contain it or if the substance of the outer cover is capable
of binding the fibres together or when the asbestos is embedded in the substance of

page_text: the outer cover as in Figures 2 and 5, or in the substance of a protecting band or
tread as in Figure 4.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is 11
1. A puncture-proof band, strip or pad for pneumatic tyres formed of asbestos of
the kind herein described enclosed or encased in an envelope, tube, bag or sheath,
substantially as hereinbefore set forth.
2. The employment of asbestos of the kind herein described in pneumatic tyres
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.
3. An outer cover or wrapping for pneumatic tyres having a band, layer, pad or
strip of asbestos of the kind herein described embedded therein, substantially as and
for the purpose herein before set forth.
4. A protecting band or tread for pneumatic tyres having a layer, band or strip
of asbestos of the kind herein described embedded therein or attached thereto,
substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.
5. A pneumatic tyre having a puncture-proof band, strip, layer or pad formed
of asbestos of the kind herein described, substantially as herein before set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of July 1894.
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.