An Improved Method of Manufacturing Compressed Rubber Tyres for Cycles or other Vehicles.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Feb., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 8th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 14th Jan., 1893
An Improved Method of Manufacturing Compressed Rubber Tyres
for Cycles or other Vehicles.
We, CHARLES Middleton, 185 Hill Street, Glasgow, Grain Merchant, and
STEPHEN YOUNG, 2 Beauly Terrace, Kelvinside, Glasgow, Chemical Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to pneumatic or cushion tyres for cycles or other vehicles.
Hollow rubber tyres, as heretofore made, and especially those known as
pneumatic" tyres, are very often collapsed or seriously injured, by being cut or
pierced by any small article, such as a sharp stone or a nail.
66
Our invention has for its object to provide a simple and inexpensive form of tyre,
which will not readily collapse, when it is punctured or cut.
The invention consists in making the tyre of one or more tubes of rubber or other
like material, forced or placed concentrically within a tube of canvas or other
material, smaller in diameter than the rubber tube or tubes, the whole being,
preferably, protected by an outer covering of rubber or combination of rubber and
other material.
In carrying the invention into practical effect we proceed as follows:-
We first select two or more tubes, preferably two, of suitable length, diameter
and thickness of wall say, for instance, one rubber-tube of 14" diameter and one
canvas tube of smaller diameter. The rubber tube is forced or placed within the
canvas tube and retained there. This being done the whole is or may be enclosed
within a protective covering of rubber or combination of rubber and other material.
The ends of the tubes and the outer covering are then suitably joined so as to form
a circle. When this is done the tyre is ready for use.
It will be apparent that as the rubber tube is larger in diameter than the canvas
one it will be compressed in a degree proportional to the difference in diameter of
the two tubes.
As the rubber tube is under compression it will be apparent that when the tyre
is inflated and a puncture made through it, the rubber tube will expand and tightly
close up the puncture so preventing loss of air.
The method we adopt in fitting the rubber tube within the canvas one is to take
a rod which will fit closely within the canvas tube and draw the canvas tube over
it. The rubber tube is then drawn over the canvas tube in such a way that it is
turned outside-in while being drawn over. The canvas tube may be rubber
solutioned wholly or partially to cause it to stick to the rubber tube. The rod can
now be withdrawn and the rubber tube turned back to its original condition, the
canvas tube being turned over with it and thus forming the outside covering.
Dated this 6th day of February 1892.

page_text: An Improved Method of Manufacturing Compressed Rubber Tyres
for Cycles or other Vehicles.
We, CHARLES MIDDLETON, 185 Hill Street, Glasgow, Grain Merchant, and
STEPHEN YOUNG, 2 Beauly Terrace, Kelvinside, Glasgow, Chemical Manufacturer,
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 or cushion tyres for cycles or other vehicles.
The invention has reference to that class of pneumatic or cushion tyres, wherein
the rubber is compressed for the purpose of preventing the collapse of the tyre,
should it be punctured by any small article, such as a sharp stone or a nail.
Our invention has for its object to make such compressed-rubber tyres in an
improved manner.
The method we adopt for compressing the tyre is to fit the rubber tube within a
canvas one of smaller diameter. This is done, under our invention, by first taking
a rod or mandrel, which will fit closely within the canvas tube, and then drawing
the canvas tube over it. The rubber tube is then drawn over the canvas tube in
such a way that it is turned outside-in while being drawn over. The canvas tube
may be rubber solutioned wholly or partially, to cause it to stick to the rubber
tube. The rod can now be with-drawn and the rubber tube turned back to its
original condition, the canvas tube being turned over with it, thus forming the
outside covering.
And in order that our said invention may be properly understood, we have here-
unto appended an explanatory sheet of drawings, whereon the several sectional
views show a tube as it appears at different stages in the process of compression.
Referring to the drawings whereon the same reference letters, wherever repeated,
indicate the same parts :-
Fig. 1 shows a rubber tube a with a canvas tube solutioned or vulcanized
thereto and forming an interior lining. The canvas tube b is so attached as to be
easily torn off the tube a. A short piece of canvas tube c, (Fig. 2), is solutioned
on the outside of the end of the rubber tube a, and is then, together with the
projecting end of the tube b, tied up, as shown. Fig. 3 shows a mandrel d, which is
of nearly the same diameter as that to which the rubber tube is to be reduced or
compressed. If the rubber tube is 2" in diameter, we prefer to use a mandrel
of 1" diameter, so that the tube will be compressed ". The mandrel may be
rubbed over with French chalk on its outside.
Over the mandrel is drawn a closely fitting canvas tube e. The projecting end
of this tube e is tied up, as shown. The outside of the rubber tube a is thoroughly
solutioned, as is also the outside surface of the canvas tube e.
As shown in Fig. 4, the canvas-lined rubber tube a and the canvas-covered
mandrel are brought together, as shown, and the canvas covered mandrel is then
pushed into the rubber tube. As the mandrel is pushed into the tube the latter
is inverted, (or turned outside-in), on to the outside of the mandrel, and eventually
assumes the position shown in Fig. 5. If the opposite end of the tube a be stopped
up so as to retain the air in the interior, or, if air is pumped into the tube, it will
greatly facilitate the process of inversion.
As shown at Fig. 5, the two solutioned surfaces a, e, are now brought together
and, as a result, the tube a is firmly secured to the canvas tube e, as the canvas
tube b presses it tightly on to said tube e. The tube 6 is now on the outside, instead
of being, as before, on the inside. As the rubber tube a is solutioned or vulcanized
to the tube b, it cannot stretch lengthwise. When the solution between the rubber
tube a and canvas tube e has become thoroughly dry, the outer canvas tube his

page_text: stripped off. The rubber tube a and canvas tube e are now, (see Fig. 6), bent into
the end of the mandrel and rigidly fastened in place by means of a plug f. If
necessary, a short piece of canvas tube may be solutioned on to the tube a, as shown
at g, Fig. 6.
The mandrel d is now with-drawn, and, as the rubber tube a is held tightly in it
by the plug f, it is again turned outside-in or re-inverted. The rubber tube a is
now, (see Fig. 7), within the canvas tube e, and being originally of larger diameter
than the tube e, it is therefore compressed proportionately.
The compressed tube is now ready to be joined at the ends, by means of sewing
or otherwise, so as to form a complete tyre.
Should it be desired to further compress the tube a:-After stripping off the
canvas, as at Fig. 5, instead of turning in the ends and plugging, as shown at
Fig. 6, the ends of the tubes may be tied, as in Fig. 2, and the whole process
repeated, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, smaller mandrels being used for each
compression.
The compressed rubber tyre a may be enclosed within a protecting rubber
covering.
b
The canvas lining & may be dispensed with if necessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, we wish it to be understood that we are aware that compressed rubber tyres
have been made before, and we make no claim for compressed rubber tyres per se,
but what we desire to claim and secure by Letters Patent is
The improved method of manufacturing compressed rubber tyres, substantially
as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings annexed.
Dated this 7th day of November 1892.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
70, Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.