A Duplex Spiral Spring Tire.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Apr., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 2nd May, 1896-Accepted, 13th June, 1996
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Duplex Spiral Spring Tire.
HERBERT LUZERNE TODD, Electrician 44 Upper Tollington Road, Holloway, N.'
London and WILLIAM WRIGHT, Confectioner, 146, Hornsey Road, Holloway, N.
London, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
A tire for the use of bicycles or other vehicles that will give all the good'
qualities of a pneumatic tire without the necessity of pumping air or patching the
rubber, thereby doing away with the pump and cement.
To accomplish this it is proposed to make this tire from two, or more, spiral.
springs that will reach quite around the wheel, one spring wound to the right and
one to the left and set one within the other so as to allow of the wire or bands from
which the springs are made to be fastened together where the twist of each spring
passes the other so as to form a series of double rings fastened at one side. That
side of the springs that are so fastened to become the inner side of the tire, and to
hold the individual rings of the springs in relative position a wire is to be inserted
lengthwise of and on the inside of the springs so as to allow of its being securely.
fastened to the joint of the rings, thus forming a spiral of a certain known length
that can be wrapped around a cycle wheel aud fastened together and over this
spiral may be stretched the rubber outside tire to keep out dirt and water.. This
spiral spring tire is to be made of any elastic metal either wire, band or strap,"
that will give and take, be quick in action and will not be deteriorated by
moisture.
Dated this Thirteenth day of April 1906
HERBERT LUZERNE TODD.
WILLIAM WRIGHT.
HERBERT LUZERNE TODD, Electrician 44 Upper Tollington Road, Holloway, N.
London and WILLIAM WRIGHT, Confectioner 146 Hornsey Road, Holloway N.
London, 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 :-
A duplex spiral spring tire for cycles or other vehicles that will give all of the
good qualities of a pneumatic tire without the necessity of pumping air or patching
the rubber, thereby doing away with the pump and cement. To accomplish this
it is proposed to make this tire from two or more spiral springs, one wound to the
right the other to the left, in such manner that the twist of one spring as it comes
in contact with a similar twist of the other spring shall be fastened together,
forming double rings fastened at one side. The side so fastened together to have-
a longitudinal wire run through the springs and fastened to the joints of the two
springs so as to give a certain known length of the spiral and is to be placed next
to the rim of the wheel the object being to so construct a spiral tire of more than
one wire that while it can be readily attached to a wheel will be resilient and still

page_text: return to its normal shape when that part of the tire just used has passed the place
of contact with the road. The periphery of the tire or that side of the spiral
which touches the ground and forms the tread of the wheel is to be so joined, one
twist of the wire of the outside coil to one twist of the wire of the inside coil, so as
to form the apex of a triangle in such manner that the whole spiral when upon the
wheel will form a series of triangles the apexes of which are the outer curve of
the right and left spiral springs as they come in contact one with the other and the
base of the triangles being the same right and left spiral springs which are
connected to the longitudinal wire which holds the spiral to the rim of the wheel.
Beneath the spiral springs that form the periphery of the spiral tire I propose to
place a longitudinal spiral spring of smaller dimensions as regards the size of the
coils thereof. This small spring to be wound in a continuous piece and placed with
a certain number of turns of the spring between the wires which form the apex of
the triangles of the spiral coils, and where the apexes of the triangles of the right
and left spiral coils come in contact with the wire of the smaller longitudinal spiral
spring, the wires forming the apexes of the triangle are to be placed between the
wires of the smaller longitudinal spring and firmly soldered or fastened together so
that when the spiral tire is attached to the wheel the smaller longitudinal wire
spring will stretch just enough to keep the triangles of the spiral tire in position,
and there being several coils or turns of smaller longitudinal wire spring between
the apexes of the triangles in the spiral tire will give readily and easily to the
action of the coils of the spiral tire when pressed upon in use and afterwards push
the apexes of the triangular portions of the spiral tire back into their normal
condition, thus giving to the tire the same resiliency as would be given by a flexible
tube containing air, for the apexes of the triangles in the coils as they come in
contact with the ground one after another, give way to the pressure, by the weight,
gradually, until they have reached their maximum compression when they gradually
return to their original form, and during this time the function of the longitudinal
spring is to give way in the same gradual manner to the pressure brought upon the
tire and keeps the triangular sections of the tire in their radial position and
prevents any tendency to roll over each other as would be the case without such
longitudinal spring, although a plain strip of metal or wire might do for such
purpose.
It is well known that when a spiral spring is wound and released, that the spring
is of a larger diameter, and it has been found that to wind a spring wire around a
cylinder to the right or left and then wind another wire over the first in an
opposite direction that it becomes a difficult matter to remove the coils after being
fastened together, and to avoid this trouble and to insure the coils forming the
spiral tire fitting each other accurately as well as to properly place the longitudinal
wire and longitudinal spring I have resorted to the following method.
.A roller or mandril of the diameter of the spiral tire is to be made with a spiral
groove of the pitch required as deep or even deeper than the diameter of the wire
to be used. These grooves are to be cut right and left or male and female, one to
be made as much deeper than the other as the diameter of wire to be used, so that
the first wire wound will come up to the lower surface of the groove for the other
or outer wire that the two wires when wound will fit one within the other. Then
the roller is to be cut in two parts lengthwise and parts of the inner surface of
each taken off until they form, placed together, an eliptically shaped roller that
must be thicker at one end than the other. Then place a longitudinal strip
between, thick enough to bring the outside of the roller to a round and wide
enough to allow the longitudinal wire and longitudinal spring to be placed in
position before the spirals are wound. The two outside pieces of the roller are
then to be cut lengthwise and fixed in position with the longitudinal strip by dowel
pins or rings. Each end of the longitudinal strip should project beyond the
spirally cut roller and have tenons thereon, one to be supplied by a crank and
placed in a frame for use. For convenience in winding I prefer to have small
boles at or near the ends of the roller to put the end of wire before winding, and

page_text: where more than one wire is to be wound in the same direction, to have a hole for
each wire.
To more fully describe this invention reference is made to the accompanying
drawings in which like letters represent similar parts-
Fig. I. represents a section of tire as applied to a wheel.
Fig. II. shows method of winding.
Figs. 3, 4 and 5. show different cross sections.
In the drawings A. is right hand coil. B. is left hand coil. C. is longitudinal
wire. D. is longitudinal spring. E. is rim of wheel. F. is roller upon which coils
are wound. G. wedge shaped piece in roller. H. tenon of roller. In Fig. 2. the
wires composing the coils are four in number, there being two that are wound to
the right as at A. A' and two to the left as at B. B' thereby increasing the angle
as per A. I. 1. or A'I'I' and to make the spiral tire more rigid the wires may be
soldered together, at K., and there need be no limit to the number of wires used so
long as they are connected together as at K. or are fastened to the longitudinal
wire and longitudinal spring as described.
To make this tire I should proceed as follows: The roller being in position with
a crank at one end for turning it, place in position the longitudinal wire and the
longitudinal spring, and hold them in place by tying a cord around the roller at
intervals, these cords to be removed as the winding proceeds. If the deepest cut
in the roller is a right hand cut then the longitudinal spring must be wound to the
right, but if a left hand cut to the left. The longitudinal spring should then be
fastened by the end to the roller beyond where the tire is to commence and the
end of the first wire to be wound put into one of the holes near the end of the
roller and bent over towards the cut it is to enter for winding-then hold the wire
firmly with one hand as the roller is turned in the proper direction by another
person, and when that part of the roller that has the longitudinal spring attached is
reached, guide the wire being wound between the coils in the longitudinal spring
and at the next revolution of the roller push with the other hand on the longitudinal
spring and guide the wire as before, care being taken that there be a certain
number of coils of the longitudinal spring between each turn of the wire wound to
insure uniformity in the lateral tension of the tire as well as to push laterally on
the outside of the coil, and so on to the end of the roller or the length of tire
required, then fasten down the end of the wire wound. Then proceed to wind any
other wire, in the same direction, in a similar way. Then wind the wire in the
opposite direction and continue it smoothly over the other and fasten, then solder
the wires together and to the longitudinal wire and spring respectively where they
cross, and cut off the wires that were put in the end of the roller. Pull out the
wedge shaped strip of the roller and one of the outside pieces of the roller can be
pushed towards the centre and pulled out, the others can then be easily removed.
When the tire is to be applied to a wheel the longitudinal wire side of the tire is
placed upon the rim of the wheel and cut off so as to allow of a lap and soldered,
then the coils of the tire are brought to their proper position and the first and last
ends of each wire soldered together. Then the tire is ready for any style of
flexible cover either a band or one that will completely envelope the spring tire
thus making the whole tire practically one that will not be rendered useless by
puncture.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is.
1. In a tire for the use of cycles or other vehicles the combination of two or
more spiral springs wound right and left with a longitudinal coil spring and
longitudinal wire substantially as described.
2. In a tire for cycles or other vehicles the combination of two or more spiral
springs, male and female, fastened to a longitudinal wire and a longitudinal spiral
spring as and for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 3. In a tire for the wheels of cycles or other vehicles the combination of spiral
springs coiled one over the other, fastened together at each turn, and the said coils
of spiral springs fastened to a longitudinal wire and a longitudinal spiral spring of
-smaller size substantially as described.
4. In a tire for cycles or other vehicles the combination of a longitudinal spiral
spring surrounded by and fastened to two or more spiral spring coils wound right
and left, the longitudinal spiral spring side of the tire to form the periphery of the
wheel and a longitudinal wire fastened to the two or more spiral spring coils
wound right and left the said longitudinal wire side of the tire to be attached to
the wheel and the whole to be covered with a flexable band as and for the purpose
set forth.
Dated this First day of May 1896.
HERBERT. LUZERNE TODD.
WILLIAM WRIGHT.