Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Apr., 1896
Complete Specification Left. 18th Jan., 1897-Accepted. 15th Apr., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.

page_text: external screw thread cut on it, onto which the filtering cap is screwed. Three
equidistant holes or air passages are made at an angle of about forty-five degrees
close to the top edge of this second cap, so that if produced they would meet in
the axis of this cap, and a larger hole made in the center of this cap from the
lower end meets the three radiating holes or air passages so that a clear passage
is made for the filtered air to pass into the top of this central hole. The
central hole is tapped so as to screw this cap onto a threaded nozzle, that forms
part of the cylindrical chamber, within which a piston works, and the edge of
this cap coming down onto a leather washer placed upon the shoulder at the base
of the nozzle makes an air-tight joint. The top of the nozzle does not screw hard
up against the underside of the central hole made in the second cap, but is fitted
so as to leave a space through which the air passes into a hole, made through the
axis of the nozzle, which leads directly into the cylindrical chamber. The lower
part of this hole is chamfered to form a seating for the conical face of a valve
to rest on; the stem of this valve passes up the hole and a flat spring, placed
inside the cylindrical chamber, holds the valve in its proper position. The valve
opens inwardly by slipping down and this allows the air to enter the cylindrical
chamber.
The cylindrical chamber within which a piston works is used for compressing
the air before it is forced into the tyre. This cylindrical chamber has the
appearance of a short tube closed at the top end and with a screw thread cut on
the outside of the bottom end. This threaded end is screwed into the cylindrical
chamber containing the main valve.
The valve chamber from about half its length from the bottom is made smaller
in diameter than the top. The top portion of this chamber is hollow and for a
short way down its internal sides a screw thread is cut so that the bottom portion
of the air compressing chamber, as explained above, may be screwed into it. The
lower and smaller portion of this valve chamber is also hollow and has a screw
thread cut all the way down its internal sides; and at the bottom of this hollow
a small ridge is made for a leather washer to rest on. The top and bottom
internal parts of this valve chamber communicate by a hole sufficiently large to
allow the piston spindle to pass. The lower and smaller portion of the valve
chamber screws onto a threaded stem, the top of this stem pressing hard against
the leather washer resting on the ridge makes an air-tight joint.
The threaded stem is formed with a mushroom head and passes through a hole
in the rim of the wheel and a hole in the air tube of the tyre. The tubing is
gripped between the mushroom head, and a washer with its upper edges turned up
and a lock nut, so as to form an air-tight joint. The rim of the wheel is gripped
between a milled or faced check nut resting against the rim and the turned up
edges of the upper side of the washer resting against the inner side of the rim ;
the whole upper part of the apparatus being thus fastened to the rim of the wheel
and held in position.
.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INTERIOR PARTS.
The piston which works in the air compressing chamber is fitted with a dish

page_text: disc and bottom disc do coincide. The three discs are kept in their respective
positions by means of three small steady-pins; and a sufficiently large hole is made
in each of them, i.e. the discs, to allow the piston spindle to pass through. The
bottom disc has a concentric groove made on its upper face, the centre of this
groove nearly coincides with the pitch circle of the air passages made in the disc.
This groove allows for the depression of the leather or india-rubber placed over
it; this depression is due to the air passing down the air passages in the upper
disc. The lower edge of the air compressing chamber will when screwed into the
valve chamber squeeze down the leather washer resting on a shoulder made on the
edge of the top disc of the main valve and make this joint and all the other joints
of the main valve, air-tight.
Inside the tyre and on the inner periphery of the outer cover of a detachable
tyre the pedal-plate is placed. This pedal-plate must be of greater area than the
area of the piston to which it is connected by means of the piston spindle. The
pedal-plate is curved in the transverse direction of the tyre and has the appearance
of a rectangle with the corners rounded off; its greatest length lays in the
longitudinal direction of the tyre. A screw threaded projection is placed in the
centre of the pedal plate. Through a hole made in the air tube of the tyre
the threaded projection of the pedal-plate is passed, and the tubing is gripped
between the pedal-plate and a washer and lock nut, so as to form an air-tight joint.
The upper part of the threaded projection of the pedal-plate is attached to the
flexible part of the piston spindle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WORKING.
:
When that part of the tyre to which the pedal plate is attached is depressed,
the piston, which is attached to the pedal-plate by means of the spindle, is caused
to travel towards the centre of the wheel a distance corresponding to the amount
of the depression of the tyre. A portion of the air in the upper part of the air
compressing chamber will by the reason of the piston rising pass round the dish
shaped leather to the underside of the piston. When the tyre distends to its
normal shape the air pressure inside the tyre then acting on the rigid area of the
pedal-plate will draw down the piston, because the air pressure in the tyre acting
en the greater area of the pedal-plate is able to overbalance an equal air pressure
acting on the smaller area of the piston; the air enclosed below the piston will,
therefore, be compressed till it reaches a greater pressure than the pressure of air
in the tyre, thus opening the main valve and passing down, through the air grooves
made on the inner side of the stem, into the tyre.
The amount of vacant space between the underside of the piston and the main
valve when the piston is at its lowest position, regulates the pressure at which it is
desired to normally retain the tyre.
The automatic inflation is stopped by screwing the filter cap hard down upon
the top of the second cap previously referred to. This also effectually prevents
any leakage that may occur through the gland when the apparatus is not in use.
To prevent the filtering cap from being unscrewed too far when opened for
allowing the air to enter the apperatus, a flat spring is attached onto the second cap,
and a small portion of the upper part of this spring is bent over the top of the
filtering cap. A dent is also made in this spring to drop into a hole made on
the side of the filtering cap, this prevents the filtering cap from moving out of
the required position.
A
11906
B. R. ADKINS.
C. WINDSOR.

page_text: Improvements in Inflaters or Apparatus for Automatically Inflating
Pneumatic Tyres and Retaining a Constant Pressure in them.
We, BENJAMIN RATCLIFFE ADKINS, of 14 Albion Road, College Park,
Lewisham, in the County of Kent, Engineer, and CHARLES WINDSOR, of
71 Tressillian Road, Brockley, in the County of Kent, 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 has for its object to dispense with the necessity of carrying an
ordinary air pump for inflating pneumatic tyres, to automatically distend or inflate
a pneumatic tyre to a normal standard pressure proportional to the weight of the
load to be carried and maintain such pressure practically constant as long as the
wheel to which the tyre is attached revolves under the weight of a load; and, in
the event of loss of air through leakage, small punctures or other defects, to make
good such loss and so keep the tyre, inflated to the normal standard pressure. For
this purpose we employ an inflating apparatus in which air is drawn past a suction
valve into a pump cylinder attached to the wheel rim and is delivered into the
pneumatic tyŕe past a delivery valve by a piston the rod of which extends partly
through the tyre and is attached to the outer peripheral or tread portion thereof,
the arrangement being such that when the tyre is only partly inflated, the piston
will be moved inward in its cylinder and air therein will pass to the outer side of
the piston when the portion of the tread of the tyre to which the outer end of the
piston rod is attached, is moved inward by pressure against the ground upon which
the wheel runs, and the air that has thus passed to the outer side of the piston will,
upon further rotation of the wheel, be forced into the pneumatic tyre past the
delivery valve by the outward movement of the piston caused by the pressure of
the air in the tyre acting against a larger area than that of the piston, the supply
of air automatically ceasing when the tyre has been sufficiently inflated. The
terms "inner" and "outer" as herein used in connection with the pump cylinder,
piston and piston rod, have relation to the centre of the wheel to which the
apparatus is applied.
As will be obvious apparatus to operate in the manner described can be
constructed in various forms.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a longitudinal section on the line rv of
Fig. 2, and Fig. 2 is an end elevation partly in section on the line to w of Fig. 1,
showing, to an enlarged scale, one construction of inflating apparatus according to
this invention applied to a cycle wheel rim fitted with a pneumatic tyre.
Fig. 3 is a detail view in plan showing the main or delivery valve and adjacent
parts.
Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line yy of Fig. 1.
The inflating apparatus comprises a cylindrical chamber 1 (hereinafter called the
pump cylinder) fitted with a piston 2 and having at its inner end an air inlet
passage 3; an air filtering cap 4 connected to the inlet end of the pump cylinder;
a cylindrical chamber 5 connected to the outer end of the pump cylinder and fitted
with a main or delivery valve 6, a hollow stem 7 for connecting the pump and
attached parts to the rim 8 of a wheel and to the inner periphery of the pneumatic
tyre and adapted to serve also as a guide for the piston rod 9; and a pedal plate 10
designed to be secured to the outer peripheral or tread portion of the tyre and to
which the outer end of the piston rod 9 is connected.
The air filtering cap 4 is cylindrical in shape with and has extending through it

page_text: a hole 4 that is wider at the ends than at the middle where a thin ridge 4' is
formed upon which bears a thin perforated disc 11. Another perforated disc 12,
slightly domed outward and having a shoulder or flange 12 at its periphery, is
forced into one end of the hole 4" the shoulder or flange resting on the edge of the
hole so as to hold the disc in place. Between the two perforated discs, is placed
cotton wool, sponge or similar material 13 for the purpose of filtering the air before
it passes into the pump cylinder 1.
The other end of the hole 4" in the cap 4, is screw threaded internally and
provided with a leather packing ring 15 that bears against the outer side of the
ridge 4. 16 is an internally screw threaded cap onto which the filtering cap 4 is
screwed.
To prevent the filtering cap 4 from being unscrewed too far when being opened
to allow air to enter the apparatus there is attached to the second cap 16, a flat
spring 14 the free end 14 of which in bent over the top of the filtering cap as
shown, and a bent portion 14 of which is arranged to drop into a hole in the side
of the filtering cap and so prevent this cap from moving out of the required position.
Through the top of the cap 16 are formed equidistant holes or air passages 16"
which are arranged at an angle of about forty five degrees to the axis of the cap
and freely communicate with a comparatively large central hole 16 in the cap.
which is screw threaded internally and screwed onto a screw threaded nozzle 17
extending from the pump cylinder 1 the edge of the cap 16 abutting against a
leather washer 18 placed between it and the shoulder 17" at the base of the nozzle
to make an air-tight joint. The top of the nozzle 17 does not screw hard up
against the end of the central hole 16 so as to leave a space through which the air
passing through the holes 16" can pass freely to the hole 3 extending through the
nozzle and adjacent end of the pump cylinder. The end of the hole 3 communicating
with the interior of the pump-cylinder is chamfered to form a seating for the
conical face of a suction valve 19 which opens into the cylinder 1 and the stem of
which extends into the said hole. A flat spring 20 serves to hold the valve in its
proper position.
The pump cylinder into which air is first drawn and then forced to the outer side
of the piston therein is screwed at its outer end into the cylindrical valve chamber 5.
This valve chamber is provided with a lower or outer and smaller tubular portion 5*
which is internally screw threaded and separated from the interior of the valve
chamber proper by an annular ridge 5 against which bears a leather washer 21.
The two parts 5, 5 of the valve chamber communicate by a hole 5 sufficiently
large to allow the piston rod 9 to pass through it. The portion 5 of the valve
chamber is screwed onto the hollow stem 7 the top of which is forced hard against
the leather washer 21 so as to make an air-tight joint at this part.
The stem is formed with a mushroom head 7 and passes through a hole 8 in
the rim 8 of the wheel and a hole in the inner peripheral portion of the air tube 22
of the tyre. The tube is gripped between the mushroom head 7" and a washior 7"
which is tightened up by means of a lock nut 23, so as to form an air tight joint
therewith. The rim 8 of the wheel is gripped between a milled or faced check
nut 23 screwed on the stem and resting against the rim, and the turned up edges 7*
of the washer 7 so that the cylinder and attached parts are fastened to the wheel rim
and held in position.
The piston 2 is fitted with a dish shaped leather washer 2 such as used in
ordinary inflaters for pneumatic tyres and which is secured between the two parts
of which the piston is made. The piston rod 9 to which it is fastened has its upper
or inner part round and rigid whilst its lower or outer part 9 is made flexible, as
for example of whalebone or like flexible material.
The main or delivery valve 6 comprises a disc of leather or india rubber held
between inner and outer discs 24 and 25 of metal. It is funnel shaped at the centre
and forms an air-tight gland round the piston rod 9 which passes through it,
springs 26, attached to the underside of the lower disc 25, serving to press the
gland. against the rod. The discs 6 24 and 25 are formed with air passages 6, 24, 25"

page_text: respectively of which there may conveniently be three in each disc, the pitch circle
of the air passages in the several discs being of the same diameter. The relative
positions of the air passages in the discs 24 and 6 are such that the passages do not
coincide, whilst those in the disc 6 and 25 do. The three discs are kept in their
respective positions by means of small steady-pins 27, of which there may be three,
a sufficiently large hole being made in each disc 24 and 25 to allow the piston rod
to pass through it. On the upper or inner face of the disc 25 is a concentric
groove 25 which allows for the depression of the delivery valve 6 when air is
forced outward through the air passages 24 in the disc 24 by the piston 2. The
lower or outer edge 1 of the pump cylinder 1 is arranged, when screwed into the
valve chamber 5, to compress a leather washer 28 resting on a shoulder on the edge
of the disc 24 and make this joint and all the other joints of the main or delivery
valve air-tight.
The pedal plate 10 is arranged on the inner periphery of the outer cover 29 of a
detachable tyre. It must be of greater area than that of the piston 2 so that the
total pressure upon it of the air in the tyre shall be greater than that upon the
piston which is connected to it by the piston rod 9 9º. The pedal plate is curved
in the transverse direction of the tyre and has the appearance of a rectangle having
its corners rounded off and arranged with its greatest length in the longitudinal
direction of the tyre. It is provided with a central internally screw threaded
socket 10 that is passed through a hole made in the outer peripheral portion of
the air tube 22 which is gripped between the pedal plate and a washer 106 by means
of a lock nut 10° so as to form an air-tight joint at this part. The socket 10
receives the enlarged outer end 9b of the piston rod which is secured therein by the
nut 10°.
With the arrangement described, it will be seen that when the wheel is in motion
and the tyre is partly deflated, the piston will be alternately moved inward by
pressure of the tyre against the ground and immediately afterwards will be forced
outward by the pressure of the air within the tyre acting against the pedal plate 10,
so that assuming the cap 4 to have been partly unscrewed, air drawn into the pump
cylinder during one outstroke of the piston will be forced to the outer side of the
piston on the next instroke thereof and will then be forced into the tyre on the
next outstroke by the pressure of the air in the tyre acting on the pedal plate 10
which is of greater effective area than the piston. This action will continue until
the tyre is fully inflated and only a slight inward movement of the tyre is produced
at the point of contact with the ground, whereupon further entrance of air into the
tyre will automatically cease when the cap 4 can be screwed up tight against
the cap 16 to prevent any leakage of air at this point. To deflate the tyre, all
that is necessary is to partly unscrew the valve chamber 5 from the stem 7.
The degree of pressure to which the air will be compressed in the tyre by the
apparatus hereinbefore described before such apparatus will automatically cease to
act can be regulated by suitably varying the volume of the air space between the
piston 2 and the delivery valve 6 when the piston is at the end of its outstroke, the
greater this volume the less will be the final air pressure in the tyre.
By catching hold of the tyre at the part where the piston rod is connected to it
by the pedal plate and reciprocating the piston by hand, the apparatus can be used
for partly inflating the tyre at starting without the use, for this purpose of a
separate pump.
Figs. 5 and 6 are similar views to Figs. 1 and 2, and Figs. 7 and 8 are cross
sections on the lines xx, and y y respectively of Fig. 5, showing a modified
construction of the apparatus designed to simplify its construction and improve its
efficiency and working but the special features of construction which distinguish it
from the apparatus shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, are not herein claimed as
forming part of the present invention as we intend to obtain separate Letters
Patent in respect thereof and they are only herein described in order to explain the
best way known to us of carrying out our invention.
In this modified construction, the air inlet passage 3 to the pump cylinder 1 is

page_text: controlled by a suction valve 19 consisting of a triangular shaped piece of india
rubber formed with three perforations 19" having their axes in a circle concentric
to but at some distance from the air inlet passage 3, the valve being held in place
by a triangular shaped metal frame 19 that is fixed in place by forcing its three
ends into an undercut recess 1 in the corresponding end of the pump cylinder.
The cap 4 is provided with a transverse division 4° that is perforated at the centre
and takes the place of the ridge 4b and perforated plate 11 shown in Fig. 1, and the
cap 4 is prevented from leaving the cap 16 by metal clip pieces 14 that are formed
in one piece with the perforated disc 12 and have their free ends extending into an
annular groove 16ª in the cap 16.
The perforated disc 24 is screwed in the valve box so as to clamp the outer
periphery of the delivery valve 6 between it and an annular shoulder inside the
valve chamber 5, and in lieu of a separate perforated grooved disc 25, (Fig. 1) the
outer end of the valve chamber is thickened and formed with an annular recess 25°
which communicates with the interior of the tubular portion of the valve chamber
by inclined air passages 25°.
The cupped leather ring 2ª is held in place by a nut 2b that is screwed onto a
boss on the piston and the size of which determines the volume of the space
between the piston and the delivery valve when the former is at the end of its
outstroke and therefore the pressure of the air in the tyre before the apparatus
ceases to work. By changing the nut for one of a different size, the said pressure
can be easily varied to suit requirement. The outer end of the piston rod 9, which
is made rigid throughout its length is connected to a stem 10 that extends
inwardly through the outer periphery of the air tube 22 and is formed on a pedal
plate 10 that is curved both in a longitudinal direction and in transverse direction,
and between which and the washer 10° the portion of the air tube is tightly
clamped, preferably by rivetting or flanging the edge 10° of the boss 10d carrying
the stem 10, tightly over the washer 10 which may also be curved in a longi-
tudinal and a transverse direction. 30 and 31 are pieces of canvas secured to
the air tube to strengthen it where it is secured to the stem 7 and plate 10
respectively.
For the purpose of enabling the piston rod 9 to move and accommodate itself to
longitudinal and transverse movements of the part of the tyre to which it is
attached, the piston rod 9 is pivotally connected to the plate 10 so that it can move
relatively to such plate in the longitudinal direction, and the tubular stem 7 carrying
the valve box 11 and attached parts is so mounted and arranged that it can rock or
oscillate in all directions on the wheel rim 8 to which it is attached. The outer
end of the piston rod 9 is for the purpose mentioned connected to the stem 10% of
the plate 10 by a tongue and groove joint as shown at 10 (Fig. 5) through which
passes a pivot pin 10 one end of which is screwed into the stem and then rivetted
over or expanded to prevent it becoming loose.
To enable the stem 7 to rock or oscillate on the wheel rim, it is provided at the
inner periphery of the wheel rim with a screw nut 23 having a spherical outer
surface that bears against a washer 23 of suitable elastic material for example
india rubber interposed between it and the wheel rim and on the correspondingly
formed surface of which it can rock or oscillate in any direction. The side of the
nut 23 that serves to clamp the said tubular stem to the air tube, is also made of
rounded or convex form, on the side next the wheel rim so as to permit it to rock
thereon, and the hole 8 in the wheel rim 8 through which the stem passes, is made
sufficiently large to enable the stem to oscillate in any direction. In this case the
metal washer 7 between which and the head 7 of the stem 7 the inner periphery
of the air tube 23 of the tyre (or simply the tyre in the case of a single tube tyre)
is tightly clamped is made flat and so as not to come in contact with the wheel
rim. The stem 7 may be formed with flat surfaces at two opposite sides thereof to
facilitate the screwing together of various parts. In each case it is formed with
longitudinal air ways in its interior to enable the air supplied by the pump to enter
the tyre.

page_text: As will be obvious some of our improvements may be used without the others,
and some of the parts may be modified to adapt them to different constructions of
pneumatic tyres. Thus in the case of a single tube tyre the plate 10 connected to
the other peripheral portion of the tyre may be arranged to be embedded in the
fabric of the tyre during the formation thereof.
In all cases where it is desired to clamp a packing ring, valve, air tube or the
like of yielding material in an air tight manner between two metal parts, it is
advantageous to provide one of the metal parts with a ridge or ridges 32 that will
embed itself in the said material. The other metal part may be provided with a
corresponding groove or not as desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. Apparatus for inflating pneumatic tyres wherein an air pump adapted to be
secured to a wheel rim and to the inner peripheral portion of a pneumatic tyre has
its piston rod arranged to extend across and within the tyre and is connected to the
outer peripheral or tread portion thereof so that when the tyre is in use and partly
deflated, the piston will be directly reciprocated by the alternate inward and
outward radial movements of the part of the tyre to which it is connected
consequent upon such part being alternately pressed inward by contact with the.
ground and outward by the air pressure in the tyre, whereby air will be pumped
into the tyre in an automatic manner until the same is sufficiently inflated where-
upon the action will automatically cease.
2. Apparatus of the kind referred to in the preceding claim wherein the device
for connecting the outer end of the pump piston rod to the outer peripheral portion
of the tyre is of greater area than that of the pump piston so that the pressure of,
the air in the tyre, acting on such device, will after the connecting device and
connected parts have been pressed inward by contact with the ground, be pressed
outward and the pump piston caused to deliver a charge of air into the tyre past
a delivery valve against the pressure of the air in the tyre.
3. Apparatus for automatically inflating a pneumatic tyre comprising a pump
cylinder having an inlet valve at its inner end and a delivery valve at its outer end,
a tubular stem connected to the delivery valve end of the cylinder and adapted to
be connected to a wheel rim and to the inner periphery of a pneumatic tyre
mounted thereon, and a piston having its rod extending outwardly through the
outer end of the pump cylinder, delivery valve chamber and tubular stem and.
provided at its outer end with an attachment whereby it can be firmly secured to
the outer peripheral portion of the tyre so as to be moved both inward and outward
thereby substantially as described.
4. Apparatus for automatically inflating pneumatic tyres constructed arranged
and operating substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and shown
in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 18th day of January 1807
Dated this 18th day of January 1807
For the Applicants,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.