Improvements in Compositions for Repairing Leaks in Pneumatic Tyres.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Dec., 1896-Accepted, 27th Mar., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Compositions for Repairing Leaks in Pneumatic
Tyres.
We, CHARLES SUMNER HOWE, of 103 Cornell Street, Cleveland, Ohio, Professor of
Mathematics, and JOHN WILLIAMS LANGLEY, of 845 Fairmount Street, Cleveland,
Ohio, Professor of Electrical Engineering, both in the United States of America,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described in and by the following statement :-
It is well known that the pneumatic tyres are often punctured or cut by coming
into contact with sharp cutting surfaces, such as tacks, nails or fragments of glass
or wire, lying in the road over which the vehicle may be passing, and that these
punctures or cuts, by allowing the air within the tyre to escape, render the tyre
temporarily useless. Up to the present time the customary method of repairing
such injuries as those referred to, is by the insertion of plugs, or the application
of cement, either of which procedures involves a loss of time and requires a certain
degree of skill on the part of the person who is applying them.
In a Patent heretofore granted to us, No. 16365, A.D. 1896, a composition has
been disclosed and claimed for the purpose of mending punctures or cuts in the
tyre by placing a quantity of the composition within the tyre, and this present
composition is an improvement or modification of said patented composition.
The object of our invention is to make a fluid which shall be capable of filling up
any small puncture or cut automatically, thus rendering the tyre substantially as
capable of holding air as it was before the injury had been received.
To carry our invention into effect, we prepare a fluid which only partly evapo-
rates at ordinary temperatures and which contains within itself, in a condition of
mechanical suspension, a very large number of fine particles of a gelatinous and
adhesive quality, so that whenever a puncture or cut occurs in the tyre, the air in
its effort to escape will promptly carry these adhesive particles into the puncture
or slit, thus closing it and preventing the further escape of air. In this way, a
pneumatic tyre provided with a small quantity of the above-mentioned fluid in its
interior or air chamber, becomes automatically self-repairing, and will require very
little attention on the part of the user after the tyre has once been charged with
the fluid.
We find that from four to six ounces, or more, of such fluid is sufficient for
each tyre, according to the size, and interior capacity of the tyre. The material
may be put in with a funnel or may be forced in with a pump.
A composition which fulfils the above requirements is made from a liquid con-
taining a gelatinous mineral substance in suspension, such as gelatinous silica or
gelatinous aluminic hydrate. We have found that one part by volume of commercial
liquid water glass, also called silicate of soda, mixed with three parts by volume of
either of the liquids hereinafter named, and then neutralized by the addition of an
acid during constant stirring, will make a thick jelly of silicic hydrate. This jelly is
then mixed in a mortar, a churn, a paint mill, or other similar mixing apparatus or
device, with an additional three parts by volume of either of the liquids hereinafter
named. Any of the soluble acids may be used, provided enough acid is employed to
render the mixture of water glass and acid neutral, or nearly neutral to test paper.
Hydrochloric acid answers satisfactorily. To make the aluminous fluid, we take a
salt of alumina, such as alum or aluminic sulphate, or of an aluminate of an alkali,
such as aluminate of potash or soda, dissolved in water, and mix this solution with
three times its volume of either of the liquids hereinafter named. This mixture is

page_text: then neutralized by the addition of an alkali for the first two salts named, or of an
acid, such as hydrochloric or other soluble acid, for the last, and the thick jelly thus
formed is ground up and diluted to about the consistency of syrup by further addition
of one of the liquids hereinafter named.
As a liquid medium for containing the gelatinous particles in suspension, mucilage
or a solution of any other gum may be satisfactorily employed. A solution of starch,
dextrine, or any other form or derivative of starch may be used. Such solution may
have added to it a deliquescent material, such as chloride of calcium, to prevent
evaporation. A mixture of mucilage or other gum, and starch, dextrine or other
form or derivative of starch in solution may also be employed as the liquid vehicle
for the gelatinous particles. Either of the above liquids may be mixed with glycerine
or glycerine and water to form a vehicle for carrying the mineral gelatinous particles
in suspension, and a vehicle is produced by said liquids which will not evaporate to
any considerable extent, and which will not attack or otherwise affect the rubber of
the tyre. A suitable proportion for mucilage or other gum will be about one ounce
to each gallon of the material, and a suitable proportion for starch, dextrine or other
form or derivative of starch will be about one pound to each gallon of material.
Threads of cotton, wool, asbestos, spun glass, or other filamentous bodies of organic
or inorganic substance, in lengths of about one thirty-second of an inch or upwards,
may be mixed with the liquid substance, and will be carried in suspension by
the same.
Other modes of applying the principle of our invention may be employed for
the mode herein explained. Change may be made as regards the ingredients and
proportions herein disclosed, provided the principles of the invention, such as set forth
respectively in the following claims are employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
1. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, consisting of the
ingredients recited in the foregoing specification, substantially as set forth.
2. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of such
viscous liquid and gelatinous substances as are set forth in the foregoing description,
combined in substantially the manner and in substantially the proportions set forth.
3. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of
mucilage or a solution of other gum, containing a mineral gelatinous substance in
suspension, substantially as set forth.
4. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of a
solution of starch, dextrine or other form or derivative of starch, containing a
mineral gelatinous substance in suspension, substantially as set forth.
5. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of a
vegetable viscous liquid containing mineral gelatinous particles in suspension,
substantially as set forth.
6. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of a
viscous non-oleous liquid containing short filamentous bodies in suspension,
substantially as set forth.
7. A liquid for repairing leaks in pneumatic vehicle tyres, which consists of a
viscous non-oleous liquid containing a mineral gelatinous substance and short
filamentous bodies in suspension, substantially as set forth.
Dated this Twenty-third day of November A.D. 1896.
CHARLES SUMNER. HOWE.
JOHN WILLIAMS LANGLEY.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.