Improvements in the Construction of Wheels and Wheel Tyres.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Mar., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 17th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Wheels and Wheel Tyres.
I ARTHUR WELLESLEY ROBINSON of The Poplars Sheldon Warwickshire
Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved construction of wheels and wheel tyres.
The wheel is constructed in any usual form but with a rim having one or more
grooves around it of a dovetail section, such for instance as that shown in Carmont's
Specification No. 3484 A.D. 1883 or Shaws Specification No. 11204 A.D. 1986.
Into this groove or grooves I fix pieces of leather, rubber or other suitable soft
material stamped or otherwise cut to such a shape as to fit the groove in cross
section & project beyond it so as to bear upon the ground. These pieces are placed
side by side in the grooves until the grooves are completely filled. Each piece of
leather or material is placed at right angles to the periphery of the wheel & the
outer surface of the tyre is thus formed by the combined edges of the said pieces.
The pieces of leather or material are held in place by the undercut, grooved or bent
in sides of the rim of the wheel or pulley and are easily fitted into position with the
exception of the few last which may be forced in by pressure.
For wide tyred wheels or pulleys I may secure two or more of the said rims side
by side on the felloe each rim being fitted with pieces of leather or material as
aforesaid, except that where the rims are contiguous the pieces of leather or material
on the touching sides are made square or so shaped as to form a tyre of even
surface.
The said tyres are suitable for wheels used for vehicles cycles pulleys for
machine driving & frictional wheels & for polishing smoothing surfacing and other
purposes.
For special application to velocipedes I may stamp the sectional pieces each with
a circular hole so that when the pieces are put together in the rim they may enclose
a pneumatic tube which can be expanded by air in the usual manner.
The pieces
may be threaded over the tube one by one. They will thus form a protective.
coating for the tube within.
Doted this 22nd day of March 1802
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Construction of Wheels and Wheel Tyres.
I, ARTHUR WELLESLEY ROBINSON of The Poplars Sheldon Warwickshire
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 :-
My invention relates to the wheels of vehicles velocipedes railway and other
trollies and barrows which are subjected to considerable wear the objection of my
invention being to provide a practically noiseless tyre which possesses a certain
amount of elasticity, is extremely durable and cheap, can be readily renewed and
does not cause "drag" or "suction or "side slip."
"
According to my invention the tyres of such wheels are composed of a number of
pieces or discs of leather either plain or vulcanized or waterproofed or otherwise
specially prepared which are placed side by side and preferably nailed together so
that the grain of such pieces of leather is radial with the axis of the wheels.

page_text: In practice I fix such pieces of leather in grooved or channeled bars or rims
having undercut sides or flanges, the said pieces of leather being shaped at one part
to fit the grooves or channels.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawings in which :
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the rim or felloe of a wheel tyred in
accordance with my invention and
Figure 2 is a plan, some of the pieces of leather being removed.
Figure 3 is a section on the linea a Fig. 1.
Figure 4 is a sectional view similar to Figure 3 shewing how my invention is
preferably applied to a broad wheel or where a heavy weight has to be carried, the
rim having a semicircular protuberance in the centre to provide better support for
the leather.
Figures 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views illustrating modifications herein-
after described.
a indicates the rim of a wheel of any desirable construction and indicates the
grooved or channeled bar or rim which is placed around and secured to the said
rim, the said bar being advantageously of the section shewn although it is to be
understood that it may be of any other desirable section provided the space between
the flanges is greater at the bottom than at the top. cc indicate the pieces of
leather constituting the tyre of the wheel, the said pieces being shaped as shewn so
as to fit tightly into the groove and over the edges of the channeled or grooved bar
or rim as shown and being placed side by side in close contact so that their com-
bined ends or edges will form a continuous surface. The said pieces are preferably
introduced into the groove or channel by placing them at an angle as shewn at C*
in Figure 2 and then turning them into position. When a few of the pieces have
been so placed side by side I preferably tighten them by driving rivets or nails
through them at or about the points marked d on Figures 3, 45 and 6 so as to
connect the pieces firmly together and give greater support to the tyre. After a
few more pieces have been similarly laid side by side with those already nailed I
drive other nails or rivets through them and into two or more of the pieces
previously nailed together and so on until all the pieces are nailed together and the
whole tyre is bound together by nails which overlap one another as shown by the
dotted lines d' d' in Figures 1 and 2. As however when the surface is nearly com-
pleted there would not be sufficient space to introduce the last pieces of leather
such last pieces may be driven home by pressure or by hammering the shaped part
of the pieces into the groove with a pin punch and by driving nails into such last
pieces from the sides at an angle. The pieces of leather may also be cemented
together as they are placed in the channel or groove. When applied to wheels
having one of the flanges of such channeled rims removeable (as in Challiner's
Patent No. 18941 of 1889) the said tyre as so constructed can be removed as a solid
band and interchanged with the tyres of other wheels of similar size or a new tyre
(constructed on a similar wheel) can be substituted by an unskillful person without
trouble, for one that is worn out.
When however, my invention is to be applied to a broad wheel or a heavy weight
has to be carried I advantageously employ a rim having a semi-circular protuberance
in the centre to give better support to the leather as shewn in Figure 4.
In some cases where greater resiliency is required as in velocipedes I find.it
advantageous to render the leather more resilient than it is when solid pieces are
used by forming in each of the pieces of leather c a circular hole of any desirable
size and as the said pieces are placed in position in the channel or groove I thread
them over an indiarubber tube having closed ends which tube when all the pieces cc
are in place can be inflated. This arrangement is shewn in Figure 5 where
e indicates the flexible tube over which the pieces c. c. are threaded, and indicates a
valve having a nozzle g upon one side to which an air pump can be attached for
inflating the tube; indicates the valve proper by means of which the com-
munication between the atmosphere and the flexible tube can be cut off before the

page_text: air pump is removed from the nozzle g. Figure 6 shows another modification of the
said arrangement where i indicates a solid india-rubber circular band over which
the pieces of leather care fitted, a slit being cut at the base of such pieces at j to
enable the pieces of leather to be introduced at an angle over the band.
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:
1. The improvements in wheels for vehicles trollies and barrows consisting in
forming the tyres thereof of a series of pieces of leather fixed in a dovetail grooved
or channeled bar having undercut edges the side pieces of leather being fitted to
the side groove or channel and made fast therein substantially as hereinbefore
described and shewn in the accompanying drawings the planes in which the pieces
of leather severally lie being substantially radial to the axis of the wheel.
2. In a wheel tyre composed of pieces of leather arranged as described in the
first claim, the mode of connecting the parts thereto and compacting the whole by
means of overlapping nails driven into the substance of the tyre substantially as
hereinbefore described and shewn in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawing.
3. The combination with a wheel the tyre of which is composed of a number of
perforated pieces of leather arranged as described in the first claim of a pneumatic
tube or elastic core engaging the perforations of all the said pieces substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 17th day of November 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.