An Improvement in Pneumatic Tyres for Velocipedes or other Vehicles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 13th Sept., 1894-Accepted 20th Oct., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Pneumatic Tyres for Velocipedes or other
Vehicles.
I, JAMES VALENTINE Clarke, of 4 Cleveland Buildings, Market Street,
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Merchant do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
1
This invention relates to pneumatic tyres, and its objects are to increase the
speed and comfort of such tyres by rendering them more flexible and consequently
decreasing the risk of puncture.
In carrying out this invention I take the cloth ordinarily in use for confining
and restraining the tyre and slit it transversely at suitable intervals. The slits
preferably do not extend the full width of the cloth so that a continuous unslit
portion is left at each edge by which the tyre may be secured to the wheel in the
usual manner.
If desired the slits may be longitudinal to the tyre and of any convenient length
or two pieces of cloth differently slit may be combined. In all cases however it is
preferred that the slits be parallel with either the warp or the weft.
.
As an alternative form of cloth I may employ a series of parallel tapes
connected together at their ends so as to form a strip of fabric similar to the slit
cloth.
'
A tyre constructed with cloth or fabric treated or constructed as desired is
extremely flexible as owing to the divided nature of the fabric any part subjected
to pressure can give way without being restrained by the rest.
The cloth or fabric constructed as described may be utilised in any of the
ordinary well known and existing methods.
In place of using cloth or tapes I may employ a sheet of leather similarly slit
or narrow slips of leather.
.LL N ונת
1000
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Pneumatic Tyres for Velocipedes or other
Vehicles.
7
I JAMES VALENTINE CLARKE of 4 Cleveland Buildings, Market Street
Manchester in the County of Lancaster Merchant 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 :-
The object of my invention is to provide pneumatic tyres for velocipedes or
other vehicles in which greater flexibility, even under considerable air pressure,
and less liability to puncture, are secured.
'
According to my invention 1 make the strengthening and restraining fabric or
material which in the case of a double tube tyre is situated between the outer
portion or tread of the tyre and the inflatable tube, or which is imbedded in the
substance of the tube in the case for instance of a single tube tyre, of strips which
are capable of movement independently of each other and which extend across the
back or inside part of the tread portion of the tyre at right angles or obliquely to
1 Price 8d l

page_text: the plane of the wheel, the said strips being either made separately and connected
together at their ends or being formed by making or forming slits or cuts in the
piece or pieces of fabric or material which is or are to form the strengthening and
restraining fabric or material inside the tread of the tyre.
The strips, if made of fabric, will be constituted each by threads so woven or
interlaced that in each strip the threads which extend from side to side are held
together by threads which extend across the width of each strip in the other
direction.
In applying the invention to a double tube tyre the tread portion may be
made in any suitable way and be secured to the rim of the wheel also in any
suitable way.
In the accompanying drawing I have shewn in Figure 1 a transverse section of a
double tube tyre and in Figure 2 I have shewn a plan of the strengthening fabric
or material divided by slits a so as to constitute the aforesaid strips as at 6 which
are of such a width as not to objectionably lessen the transverse strength of the
fabric or material whilst, when pressure is brought upon any part of the tyre, the
slits between the strips will allow the part of the tyre at which the pressure occurs
to yield without any considerable deflection of the adjacent portions as the strip or
strips situated at the part of the tyre where the pressure occurs can yield without being
restrained by the said adjacent portions. I have shewn the said strips as being
made by slits at right angles to the plane of the wheel but they may be at other
angle and may extend from side to side of the fabric or material or only from and
to such distance from the sides as to leave portions of the fabric or material
continuous around the tyre at those portions of the tyre which do not come into
contact with the road when the wheel is in use. In the drawing I have shewn the
edges of the tread portion of the tyre as carrying wires cc to form a spring edging
to enter the hollow at the periphery of the wheel and I have shewn the slitted
fabric B as well as the tread portion A of the tyre as being wrapped around these
wires which when the tyre is in place are received in the recess in the rim D of the
wheel as shewn in Figure 1 but the tread portion may as aforesaid be formed and
secured to the rim in any other desired or convenient way. E is the air tube
between which and the tread portion A of the tyre the fabric B is situated.
The strips. b may be made of any suitable material such as leather or woven
fabric and the slits may be cut in the fabric or in the case of woven or equivalently
interlaced material the threads which are in a plane parallel with the plane of the
wheel may be either severed by the slits or the said threads may be arranged so as
to leave the slits between the strips in the process of weaving or interlacing which
can be done for instance when the strips are made in the form of tapes connected
together at their ends as although I have shewn the strips as being formed by
slitting or leaving slits as described they may be made in the form of tapes or
separate strips which are secured together at their ends either to one another or to
the tyre fastening device. The fabric or material thus formed may be secured
if desired to the inside of the tread portion A by india rubber solution or other
cement or it may be unsecured at that portion where the strips are situated the
outer margins or parts only being secured. An additional thin sheet of rubber or
other suitable material may be placed between the slitted fabric or material and
the air tube to prevent possibility of abrasion of the latter and be cemented in
place or not and I may use two or more pieces of slitted fabric one placed over the
other if desired, the slits of one piece being parallel with those of the other or at
any desired angle. The strips or slitted fabric may be embedded in the thickness
of the material of the tyre which is especially suitable in applying the invention to
single tube tyres.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what I
claim is―
A pneumatic tyre having between the tread portion and the air tube or

page_text: embedded in the material of the tyre a series of strips extending across at the back
or inside of the tread portion of the wheel substantially as herein before described
and for the purposes mentioned.
Dated this Eighth day of September 1894.
JAMES V. CLARKE.
Johnsons & Willcox,
Agents.