Improvements in Covers for Pneumatic Tires, and Process of Making same.
Year: 1894

page_text: [This Print is in accordance with the Original Specification as it stands after
Amendment (under Section 18 of the Patents, &c. Act, 1883) as required by
the decision of the Chief Examiner of the 18th day of February 1898.]
Date of Application, 16th Feb., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 12th Nov., 1894-Accepted, 15th Dec.,
1894
Improvements in Covers for Pneumatic Tires, and Process of
Making same.
I, THOMAS BUCKLAND JEFFERY, of 222 to 228, North Franklin Street,
Chicago, County of Cook and State of Illinois, United States of America,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to covers or outer sheaths for pneumatic tires,-that is,
tires adapted to be inflated, and having an elastic core which is thus inflated, the
same being located within a protecting sheath which is secured at the edges or
sides to the rim of the wheel. The improvement consists in making such tire
cover in the form of a flat belt or endless band whose extent is substantially the
circumference of the wheel, and whose width is something more than the circum-
ference of the exposed portion of the tire from edge to edge of the rim, and mak-
ing such band with beads or ridges upon one or both sides at a short distance
from the edges respectively, which, when the cover is folded into tubular form
to enclose the inflatable core, afford means for engaging with the rim in which
there may be provided suitable recesses to form seats for such beads. It consists
specifically in making such tire cover of layers of bias fabric preferably with
interposed layers of rubber, and creasing the fabric from one side to form beads
or ribs on the other side, and rendering such creases and ribs permanent by hav
ing the fabric saturated with an adhesive gum, so that the threads retain their
new position when the creasing is formed by their adhesion to each other, and
further, as a preferable means of completing the tire, employing, as an adhesive
substance with which the fabric is saturated, rubber gum, and vulcanizing the
band after the creases are thus formed in it, and thereby rendering the creases
and ridges permanent.
My invention also comprises other means of rendering the creases and ribs
permanent which may be employed in connection with the means specified as well
as independently of them;-such, for example, as securing an adhesive strip across
the crease to bind the opposite folds together and prevent the return of the fabric
to its original position, and thereby make the bead on the opposite side permanent.
It also comprises filling the creases with a cord or strip of any desirable substance
to reinforce them and give them greater body when desired.
My invention also contemplates, as a method of making the tire cover in the form
described, wrapping the strips of bias fabric upon the flat periphery of a drum or
pulley which is peripherally grooved at the circumferential lines where it is
designed to form the beads by creasing the fabric; and forming such beads by the

page_text: use of a suitable tool to stretch or fold the fabric into the grooves, thus making
the creases described.
In detail, my invention also comprises the making of one of the layers of fabric
wider than the other, and folding its excess over the edge of the other to make a
finished edge for the tire cover. It also comprises, as another detail, preferably,
but not necessarily, the use of fabric having the threads in one direction frequent
or close and those in the other direction sparse or comparatively widely separated,
and cutting or placing the strips opposite ways of the bias, so that the correspond-
ing threads cross each other substantially at right angles. When my improved
tire cover is fully formed on the drum or wheel, if rubber gum has been employed
to saturate the fabric as suggested, it may be vulcanized on the wheel, and thereby
rendered in every respect permanent in form and also rendered sufficiently elastic
so that it will readily stretch to relieve the beads formed from the grooves in which
they are formed and permit the band to be removed from the wheel and put in
use. A tire cover of this general character and made in this general manner
may have both surfaces provided with a tread rubber, and thereby it may be
adapted to be worn either side out. In such case, the ribs or beads may be formed
upon both sides, the groove first formed being filled with a strip which protrudes,
and another layer of fabric being applied and formed over the protruding strip,
thus making a bead protruding from the opposite side from that from which the
bead which is formed in the groove of the pulley protrudes.
Dated this 16th day of February 1894.
R. HADDAN,
Agent for Applicant.
Improvements in Covers for Paeumatic Tires, and Process of
Making same.
I, THOMAS BUCKLAND JEFFERY, of 222-228, North Franklin Street,
Chicago, in the County of Cook, in the State of Illinois, United States of America,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:―
Figure 1 is an axial section through a drum or pulley used in making, my
improved tire cover, showing the same thereon and the tool for forming certain
features of it operating to produce such formation.
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same, with a portion of the rim of the pulley
broken away to show the tire cover undergoing the process of formation.
Figure 3 is a perspective of a hand tool which may be employed in the same
process.
Figure 4 is a section across the band or belt which constitutes the tire cover in
one form in which it may be made adapted to be turned either side out.
Figures 5 and 6 are similar sections in slightly modified forms, each of these
being adapted for wear only upon one side.
Figure 7 is a detail section of the molding wheel or pulley and a hand tool
employed in connection therewith to form a tire cover like that in Figure 4.
Figure S is a cross section of a complete tire wheel rim on which it is mounted,
the cover being of the form shown in Figure 4.
Figure 9 is a detail of a piece of the fabric from which my tire cover is made,
showing one layer folded back at the corner to disclose the layer beneath.

page_text: Heretofore it has been customary to make covers for pneumatic tires by molding
them in the tubular or cylindrical form which they necessarily assume when in use
on the wheel, such tube split or rifted at the inner circumference being made
either in an endless circuit or ring to fit about the wheel, or being made in the
form of a straight tube and wrapped about the wheel, having its ends joined. My
improved tire cover differs from these familiar forms first, in that it is made as a
simple endless band or short cylinder whose diameter is approximately that of the
wheel which the tire is to fit and whose height or length is substantially the cir-
cumference of the tire tube, as if such tube having been split or rifted at the inner
circumference should be then flattened out transversely retaining the form of a
ring or band of the diameter of the wheel. One advantage of making the cover
in the form of such a band instead of molding it in the tubular form which is
customary is that when its lateral edges are folded inward, making it enwrap the
core transversely, the natural reaction of the cover tends to force the edges apart
and so greatly assists their engagement with the rim when such engagement is
effected by a means which I consider especially desirable, to wit, ribs or lips on
the cover fitting recesses formed by means of overhanging lips or flanges on the
rim. Another advantage of this form is that it is much cheaper in construction
and much more economical and convenient in storage and shipment than the
tubular form. Another advantage is that it can readily be made alike on both
sides and therefore adapted to be turned and worn either side out, giving it double
the life of a cover of the old construction.
Another distinguishing feature of my invention is the formation of the ribs or
ridges which constitute the beads or lips of the cover which engage the rim; these
beads being formed by creasing or folding the fabric of the band at two parallel
lines near the edges forming substantially U-shaped grooves upon one side and
correspondingly shaped projections or ridges on the other side, the fabric being
filled or saturated with a stiffening substance causing these bends to be permanent
when the cover is completed, or such bends being filled with a cord or strip and
thereby being rendered permanent; or an adhesive strip may be applied across
the back of the rib which is formed by it, thus securing the folds of the crease
and making the rib or bead permanent; or the permanence of the ribs or beads
may be secured by the combination of these several methods or any two of them.
A is the wheel rim having the inturned flanges A' A¹ forming the recesses a¹ a¹-
for the engagement of the beads, ribs or lips with which the cover may be pro-
vided. B is the inflatable core. C is the cover in which my invention consists.
In Figures 4 and 8 I have shown this cover in a form adapted to be worn either
side out and in this form as well as all of the other forms in which it is shown it
is first made in the general form of a short cylinder or band, such as will be
understood to be formed upon the pulley or drum E seen in Figures 1 and 2,
which, however, show in process of formation not a tire cover adapted to be worn
either side out, but one having the tread and rim-engaging ribs only upon one
side. In each of the forms, however, a short cylinder approximately of the
diameter of the wheel to be fitted is made with beads or lips C¹ C₁ at a distance
apart corresponding to the exterior portion of the circumference of the tire from
lip to lip of the rim in which it is to be seated. Between these two ribs the tire
cover may be provided with any desired form of rubber covering for the tread.
I have shown in several of the figures a roughened or ribbed tread, but it will be
understood that this feature stands for any desired form of tread surface. The
beads or ribs C'C' will usually be placed a little distance from the lateral edges
of the band which forms the tire cover leaving, the portions C2 C2 outside of them
which occupy a position and perform a service within the rim when the tire cover
is in use which will be further mentioned. Many variations of the form of the
bead or lip C¹ and of the precise relation thereto of the exterior portion C² may
be made according to the precise form of the rim to which the tire is adapted,
and I have represented the simple forms shown in Figs. 1, 2, 5 and 6, and the
double or reversible form shown in Figures 4 and 8, chiefly to indicate the

page_text: capacity for modification of my invention without departing from its substance.
In the form shown in Figure 5 the marginal wings C2 C2 are at a slight angle to
the middle or tread portion which will be effected in the making by suitably
shaping the molding wheel on which the tire cover is formed. This adapts the
wings to assume a certain position with respect to each other when the cover is
wrapped about the core on the wheel adapting them to operate as lever bases
which are pressed by the core as the latter is inflated according to a principle and
method which is well understood; and the specific shape of the beads or ribs C¹
in this form is also specially adapted to afford secure engagement under the over-
hanging lips or flanges of the rim. Specifically, as above stated, my invention
involves in its most desirable form the ribs or beads C on the band made by
forcing the U-shaped fold or crease into the band and in any manner stiffening
the material in that form to render the shape permanent. In the form shown in
most of the figures, creasing of the fabric being accomplished by any suitable
means, the permanence of the rib thus made is effected by stiffening material with
which the fabric is filled or saturated. It will be understood that fabric charged
with rubber gum being used for this purpose, and being thereby rendered very
adhesive, will retain the form into which it may be forced in making such a
groove and bead, by the adhesion of its folds upon each other, and that being
subsequently vulcanized absolute permanence of the bead will be obtained, and
that even without vulcanizing a sufficient degree of permanence to serve quite
well the purpose in question is possible. In the form shown in Figures and 8
the stiffening and further reinforcing of the lip or bead is effected by filling the
groove with a suitable strip D. If it were desired to make a cover to be worn
only large enough to occupy the groove formed in the fabric, but when it is
desired to make a double cover, or one adapted to be reversed, the filling strip may
be made large enough to protrude from the surface and another fabric layer being
applied outside and stretched over the ribs formed by the protruding filling strip,
and being either in that process of stretching it over the protruding ribs, or
preparatory to it, creased in the same manner as the first fabric layer was creased
or grooved to receive the filling strips, the tire cover is made double as shown.
When the band has been formed in the manner described it is applied to the
wheel by folding its edges inward toward each other, to bring the ribs or beads C¹
into position to enter the recesses a¹ in the rim, the inflatable core being enclosed
within it in that process and the marginal portions C2 extending within the rim
underneath the core and subject to its pressure when inflated. The band when
thus folded forms substantially a tube around the core, and when the core is
inflated to distend this tube symmetrically, the circumference at the treadh being
greater than at the lines of engagement of the cover with the rim, the cover must
be stretched at the middle part as compared with the edges or with the locating
lines of the beads C¹ C¹. In order to adapt it to stretch thus and to cause it in
stretching to preserve a symmetrical form and not become distorted in stretching
I make the band of bias-cut fabric, using preferably two layers of such fabric
and preferably interposing between them a thin layer or film C³ of rubber or like
substance which will be both yielding and elastic, that is, adapted both to be
stretched and to be compressed and to follow readily, therefore, all the movements
of the threads of both layers of the bias fabric. A very fair degree of utility
would be obtained by using for both layers fabric of common construction as
cotton duck or sheeting having the same number and quality of threads running
both ways and woven with those threads under substantially the same tension
so far as possible, and having both layers cut and placed bias in the same direction
But inasmuch as there is a
with respect to the respective threads of the cloth.
difference in tension of the warp and filling of any ordinarily woven fabric so
that it will stretch more freely in one direction than the other, bias cut strips
from such fabric do not stretch precisely alike in both directions, and in order
to equalize these different capacities and cause the tire cover made from them
to stretch symmetrically, the two bias strips when made from the same fabric, and

page_text: that fabric of common construction, should be cut or placed opposite ways of the
bias. I prefer, however, to use a special fabric in which the threads in one
direction are sparse and those in the other as close as usual and to make the layers
of strip cut or placed opposite ways of the bias of such fabric. It will be obvious
that this fabric will be strong in one direction and yielding in the other and the
two bias strips, one of which has the direction of strength at right angles to the
direction of strength of the other will move relatively to each other as the tire
cover is stretched at the middle under the inflation of the core, and as it is
stretched and relaxed in use of the tire on the wheel in riding, the layer of rubber
between preventing friction of the threads upon each other and by its elasticity
assisting in drawing the threads of each layer individually back to their respective
normal positions when the local pressure which causes the distortion or stretching
is passed. This structure, therefore, makes a cover with peculiar quality for
accommodating itself to the varying conditions of its use over an inflated core.
In order to give the edges a finished character, one of the layers of bias fabric
is made wider than the other, and the excess at both sides is folded back over the
edges of the narrower piece as seen in the drawings. A very efficient mode of
rendering permanent the beads formed by the creasing of the fabric is to apply
an adhesive strip of fabric over the crease opposite the bead. This is most easily
done by making the excess of width of one of the pieces enough to reach inward
past the crease and lap and secure it as described. Such a construction is shown
in Figure 6. Usually the filling or other reinforcement D of the beads will be
of such material as to have some elasticity, so that in folding the band into a
form of the tire the beads and edges will be somewhat compressed while the center
will be stretched to permit the tire under inflation to assume the proper
cylindrical form. But in some forms of tire and rim, a non-elastic cord or filling
is employed to reinforce the beads and for other purposes, and in that case, the
accommodation to the cylindrical form is obtained wholly by the stretch of the
fabric at the center, and for such tires, the double bias fabric is especially
important.
As a means for making the tire in any of the forms above described, that is,
with the beads or ridges protruding from the surface of an endless band or short
cylinder, I employ the forming wheel or drum E hereinabove mentioned, mounted
on suitable bearings and having the grooves E' E' in its face. cc represent lavers
or bands of fabric of the character shown in Figure 9, and hereinabove described,
to wit, cut bias and placed with the corresponding threads of the two layers
transverse to each other, these two layers being applied about the face of the
wheel E covering the grooves E¹ E. One of the bands is wider than the other,
and has the excess extending on either side folded back over the edges of the first
layer, so that the edges of the tire cover when formed are folded and not raw, as
above described. If these layers are saturated with adhesive gum, when they are
forced or stretched into the grooves as described, they tend to adhere therein,
which tends to render the beads or ridges permanent; and this tendency is
furthered by the fact that the two layers of bias fabric, and the threads extending
in two directions of each fabric sliding upon each other as they are stretched into
the grooves and adhering to each other at the new positions into which they are
forced, prevent each other from returning, if there were natural tendency to
return to the original flat form of the fabric. When, in order to stiffen and
enlarge or reinforce the beads or to further the tendency to permanency, it is
desired to fill the creases or folds formed, the filling in the form of a cord or
strip D of suitable material, elastic or non-elastic according to preference or form
of rim to which the tyre is to be applied, is wound into the crease before the band
is taken from the wheel or drum. And when the mode of securing permanency,
which consists in applying an adhesive strip over the crease back of the bead,
is to be employed, such strip will be applied while the band is on the drum, and
after putting in the filling cord, when such filling cord is used. When, for such
strip, the marginal portion of the wider strip is to be employed, that marginal

page_text: portion will not be folded over the outer strip until after the creasing is done,
and then it will be folded over across the crease. E2 E2 represent shoulders or
margins of a channel in the face of the wheel of the full width of the tire cover
to be formed thereon and which serve as gauges for the tire at which the wider of
the two pieces of fabric will be folded over the other which is cut only. of the
width between the
gauge shoulders.
Fis a wheel or roller having a dull knife-
edged periphery, adapting it to force the fabric into the grooves when it is pressed
against the outer surface of the fabric as the latter lies over the grooves while the
wheel E revolves. The wheel F may be mounted in a handle to be held by the
operator while pressing the periphery of the wheel into the grooves, as shown in
Figure 2, or when the ribs are to protrude directly from the face of the tire cover
and not obliquely as in Figure 6, there may be two such wheels mounted on a
common hub F, or a roller provided with two bands amounting to the same thing
as the two wheels and carried in bearings GG, movable with respect to the
wheel E, so that both wheels may be simultaneously pressed up against the band
on the wheel E, as the latter revolves and the fabric stretched into both grooves
at once. When the bead is to be made to protrude obliquely, the two wheels
cannot be on the same shaft, but a single hand tool will be sufficient in that case.
There is some advantage in working upon both grooves at the same time, because
thereby the fabric is drawn both ways from the middle at once and is not liable
to be stretched out of a position as it might be if one line were operated on at a
time. The tire cover thus formed on the drum may be made without the tread
rubber, such tread rubber being afterwards cemented to it, but the drum affords
a convenient means of completing the tire cover with the tread secured to it,
which may be done by first wrapping the tread rubber H which has
been molded in a strip of proper cross section about the wheel E in a space
between the two grooves E El which correspond to the space to be occupied by
the tread in the completed tire cover. The fabric will be then applied outside the
tread rubber in a manner already described, and when the process of shaping on
the wheel by stretching the fabric into the grooves is completed and the cover is
ready for vulcanizing, such vulcanizing process will unite the tread rubber to the
cover in the most perfect manner. When the double-faced cover is desired, the
filling strip is made wide enough to protrude from the grooves when it is wound
therein, and another layer or layers of fabric will be afterwards wound upon the
wheel covering the protruding filling strip, and a wheel having a groove similar
to the grooves in the wheel E will be employed to stretch the fabric down over
the protruding filling strip, and so complete that side of the cover; a grooved
hand wheel K may be employed for this purpose. A tread rubber H' may be
applied outside of the outer fabric layer before vulcanizing, if desired.
A tire cover, serviceable for many purposes may be made in this manner with-
out vulcanizing, but when it is to be vulcanized, the wheel E is preferably made
of metal, so that the vulcanizing process may be completed before the band is
removed from the forming wheel; after vulcanizing it will have sufficient
elasticity to be taken off without any tendency to permanently distort or other-
wise injure it. If it is to be removed without vulcanizing, more care is necessary
to stretch the beads out of the grooves unless some provision is made for slightly
collapsing the wheel, and for this purpose, as well as for the purpose of making
the tire in a similar manner when it is desired to have the beads inelastic by
reason of their being reinforced with an inelastic filling, the wheel may be made
in two or more sections adapted to be collapsed a little. Any mechanic will
understand how this may be done; the dotted lines on the wheel in Figures 1
and 2 show how it may be divided into three sections adapted to be radially
collapsed enough to relieve the beads from the grooves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
A
_
tire cover for inflatable tire consisting of a hand or short aulindon

page_text: vided with parallel beads or ridges near its edges and made of layers of bias
fabric having the threads in one direction closely placed and those in the other
direction sparse, the adjacent layers of fabric being cut or placed opposite ways
of the bias of the fabric, as set forth.
2. A tire cover in the form of an endless band or short cylinder having near the
lateral edges ribs or beads, and formed between such ribs or beads of fabric which
is transversely extensible, being composed of layers of bias fabric with a layer of
rubber or like material interposed between them, the layers of the said fabric
having the threads in one direction closely placed and those in the other direction
sparse, the adjacent layers of fabric being cut or placed opposite ways of the bias
of the fabric, whereby it is adapted to be folded in the form of a tubular annulus
open at the inner circumference: substantially as set forth.
3. A tire cover having a plurality of layers of bias fabric, such fabric having
the threads in one direction closely placed and those in the other direction sparse,
adjacent layers of such fabric being cut or placed opposite ways of the bias of the
fabric: substantially as set forth.
4. A tire cover in the form of an endless belt or short cylinder made of a
plurality of layers of bias fabric with a layer of rubber or like material interposed
between them: such layers of fabric having the threads in one direction closely
placed and those in the other direction sparse, the adjacent layers of the fabric
being so arranged that the sparse threads in one layer lie at right angles or
approximately so to the sparse threads in the adjacent layer, substantially as
set forth.
5. Forming a tire cover by creasing near the lateral edges an endless band of
rubber-saturated bias fabric, and vulcanizing the same to render permanent the
beads produced by the creasing: substantially as set forth.
6. Forming a tire cover by creasing near the lateral edges an endless band of
fabric and applying adhesive strips across the crease to render permanent the
beads or ridges formed by such creasing: substantially as set forth.
7. Forming a tire cover by winding strips of rubber-saturated bias fabric upon
a drum or pulley provided with peripheral grooves, and creasing the fabric into
the grooves and vulcanizing the same before removal from the wheel or drum.
Dated this 12th day of November 1894
THOMAS BUCKLAND JEFFERY.
By R. Haddan,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, Agent to Applicant.