Improvements in Elastic Wheel Tyres.
Year: 1896

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Elastic Wheel Tyres.
We, ERNEST GIROD of The Limes, St. Stephen's Road, Hounslow, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, and FERDINAND JOHN WICH of No. 15 Clyde
Road, Didsbury, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in elastic wheel tyres. Up to the
present time, the majority of elastic wheel tyres owe their resilience to a volume
of air confined within the tyre made tubular to contain it as well as of elastic
or flexible material such as rubber, rubber and canvas, or the like. As long as
such a tyre remains unpunctured, the resilience is maintained, but immediately a
puncture is made, the tyre becomes deflated and all resilience, as well as utility,
are lost.
The object of our invention is to provide an elastic and resilient wheel tyre, the
resilience of which is independent of any confined volume of air, being established
and maintained mechanically by the elasticity of solid material. It consists in its
widest sense, of the combination with the material of the tyre, of a spring ring or
rings which are held in contact with the said material so as to have it always under
the control of its or their natural resilience. These rings are, preferably, of steel.
The means by which the said ring or rings and tyre are held together, are varied
according to the cross section of either, or of both, according to the number of
rings combined with the tyre.
The tyre may be either solid, tubular or made with air chambers or pockets, the
latter being parallel with its outer face near either the tread or the inner surface
and extending round the tyre or interspaced with tyre-material.
The number of rings varies according to the cross section of them individually.
When round wire rings are used, there are several, all embedded in the material
of the tyre and parallel with the plane of the wheel, near the outer surface of
the tyre. They may be equidistant round the cross section of the tyre, or be
confined to the tread and sides of the tyre, the remaining arc of the cross
section being occupied by an annular air chamber or by a series of air pockets.
The series of wire rings last mentioned may be replaced by one or more bands
solid, flat, curved to the arc of the tyre in cross section, corrugated or beaded
in the direction of its length, twisted, plaited, or of other suitable shape.
The rings and bands above mentioned are held to the material of the tyre by
being embedded in it.
In the case of tubular tyres, there is a single ring much wider than it is
thick, and transversely curved to the internal arc of the tube. It may be
strengthened by being corrugated or beaded in the direction of its length or by
having its edges beaded or turned inwards or by both meaus. Such a ring is held
to the outer face of the bore of the tyre next to the tread of the latter. This
single ring may be replaced by a series of wire rings, preferably, seated in V shaped
grooves.
Our invention includes the combination with the face of the bore of the tyre and
opposite to the ring or rings last mentioned, of a ridge of elastic material. Where
the tyre is under compression, this ridge will bear against the said ring and tend to
cushion the compression.

page_text: It also includes the combination with the opposite face of the bore, of one or
more, preferably a pair of, ridges. The latter stand between the said ring and
the tread of the tyre, in which position a pair of them will present a groove to the
outer face of the ring. Where the tyre is under compression, the ridges will be
pressed apart, so tending to further cushion such compression as well as to assist in
maintaining the distention of the tyre.
Dated this 9th day of June 1896
PHILLIPS & LEIGH;
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Elastic Wheel Tyres.
We, ERNEST GIROD, formerly of The Limes, St. Stephen's Road, Hounslow,
in the County of Middlesex, but now of 36 Trent Road, Brixton Hill, in the
County of Surrey, Engineer, and FERDINAND JOHN WICH of No. 15 Clyde
Road. Didsbury, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer 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 :-
Our invention relates to improvements in elastic wheel tyres.
Up to the present time, the majority of clastic wheel tyres owe their resilience
to a volume of air confined within the tyre,, the latter being made of elastic or
flexible material and the actual air receptacle being either the combination of the
wheel rim and the tyre, or an india rubber tube held between them. As long as
such a tyre remains unpunctured, its resilience is maintained, but immediately a
puncture is made, the tyre becomes deflated; and all resilience, as well as utility,
are lost.
The invention consists in substituting an improved resilient device adapted to
endow a wheel tyre with the desired elasticity or resilience, for the confined volume
of air above mentioned as well as for the mechanical devices already proposed for
the same purpose.
An improved resilient device consists of the combination with the tyre, of a
circular spring ring or rings practically parallel with the plane of the tyre and
held in contact with the said tyre in such a way that it or they, as the case
may be, shall always have such tyre under the control of its or their natural
resilience. Such combination may be either by way of embedding the device just
described, in the substance of the tyre, or by way of setting it in touch there-
with all round the circle of each and across as much of the surface of both, as may
be desired.
The tyre itself may be, and preferably is, of the usual tyre material, that is, of
india rubber or of india rubber and canvas combined, but it may also be of any
material otherwise suitable even if it is not proof against internal air pressure.
Further, the present invention is applicable to either solid, cushion, or tubular
tyres.
The accompanying figures illustrate the application of various modifications of
our invention to tyres some of them tubular and others approximately tubular; and
as such and so far, they are to be taken as part of this specification and read
therewith.
Figure 1 is a transverse section illustrating one modification of the invention.
Figure 2 is a side elevation, half of it in section, illustrating the same
modification.

page_text: Figure 3 is a transverse section illustrating another modification.
Figure 4 is a transverse section illustrating a further modification.
Figure 5 is a side elevation, half of it in section, illustrating a further
modification.
Figure 6 is a transverse section illustrating a further modification.
Figure 7 is a transverse section illustrating a further modification.
Figure 8 is a side and sectional side elevation of a wheel tyred with either of the
modifications illustrated in the two preceding figures.
Figure 9 is a side elevation, partly in section illustrating a modification.
Figure 10 is a transverse section of the same modification laid out flat.
Figure 11 is a plan corresponding with Figure 10.
Figure 12 is a transverse section corresponding with Figure 9.
Throughout the figures, a is the tyre; and b, the wheel rim; wherever these
parts occur.
Referring to Figures 1 and 2, e is the bore of the tubular tyre.
The resilient device in the modification now being described, consists of a series
of rings d, d. They are made of an elastic material such as steel; and are
embedded in the substance of the tyre a, standing therein in positions parallel with
the plane of the wheel, and as near the surface of the tyre as may be without there
being any danger of their cutting their way out or of being cut out of their normal
positions. The series may extend round the tyre a speaking of it in terms of its
cross section, or it may be confined to its tread side, or to the tread side and the
sides right and left thereof. In the case of either of the two limitations just
mentioned, there is an air chamber e, of corresponding arcual length and extending
like each spring ring d, throughout the circular length of the tyre a. The single
air chamber e may be replaced by a series of pockets or small chambers. In any
case, the air in the chamber e (or in the equivalent series of pockets or small
chambers) is never at more than atmospheric pressure and is there by accident, on
its own account, and not as a factor in the invention. This is equally true of the
air in the bore e cf a tubular tyre or within the approximately tubular tyres of any
of the modifications of our invention. All the rings d in the series are shewn as
being solid and circular in cross section, and as standing at equal. distances
apart. But the series may be varied in respect of either of these features, as
may be desired. It may also be replaced by one of twisted wire strands ;
or by one or more bands, solid, flat, curved to the are of the tyre in cross
section, corrugated, serpentined, or beaded in the direction of its or their length,
twisted, plaited, or of any other suitable shape or construction; the material
thereof being always such as will endow the ring or rings with the necessary
elasticity.
In the case of a tubular tyre such as the one illustrated in Figure 3, for instance,
or of an approximately tubular one such as the one illustrated in Figure 7, for
instance, the resilient device is, when not embedded in the substance of the tyre a,
set in contact with the inner face a of the tread side of it. Such a resilient
device is illustrated in Figures 3, 4, and 5, as consisting of a single ring much
wider than it is thick and curved transversely to stand coucentric or nearly so with
the tyre a.
Its native resilience keeps it pressed against the inner surface a' of the
tread side of the tyre as closely as the conformation of such surface admits of. It
may be strengthened by having its side edges f¹ turned inwards as shewn in the last
mentioned figures, or by having them beaded, or by being corrugated, beaded, or
serpentined in the direction of its length.
A modification of the single ring resilient device just described and one equally
well adapted to do its work, is illustrated in Figures 6, 7 and 8 as consisting in
the substitution for it, of a series of spring rings g, g seated in grooves g', g', in
the face a of the tyre. The series of rings g, 9 may be varied in the same way
and to the same extent, as the series of rings d, d, described with reference to
Figure 1.
The first part of the invention includes the combination with the interual

page_text: face a² of the tyre a-being the one opposite to the face a'-of a cushioning device
of elastic material, adapted to cushion the compression of the tyre caused by the
weight of the rider. This cushioning device extends, preferably, all round the
tyre. It is illustrated in Figure 3 as consisting of a ridge h, triangular in cross
section, incorporated along one side of it-the base of the triangle-with
the surface a above mentioned and standing thereupon with the apex a
diametrically opposite the middle of the face a¹. It is illustrated in Figure 6 as
a ring i circular in cross section, solid, and-as, the tyre a is not tubular but only
approximately so, being held to the rim by bolts passed through its two side
edges as in contact with the rim b. The cushioning device illustrated in Figure 7
differs from that just described only in the substitution of a tubular ring i for
the one i solid in cross section. The material of the cushioning device, is
preferably india rubber, but any other that may be suitably elastic, may be
substituted for it.
The same part of the invention further includes the combination with the internal
face a¹ of a cushioning device of a special conformation. It consists of one or more,
preferably, of a pair of, ridges. It is illustrated in Figure 4 as consisting of a pair
of ridges j, j, projecting symmetrically from the surface a¹ between it and the
resilient device f. Both ridges are triangular in cross section, their apices pointing
across the tyre a in directions parallel with a diameter of it, and have a groove j
between them which they present to the outer or convex face of the resilient device f.
The result of the relative positions and conformations described, especially of those
illustrated, will be that when the tyre a is under the compression above mentioned,
the ridges will be pressed apart, thereby tending to cushion it, as well as to assist
in maintaining the distention of the tyre.
The modification illustrated in Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12, consists of a band k of
strong single canvas cut diagonally, or of other equivalent material, a series of
parallel ridges k, k, k¹ incorporated with and projecting inwardly from the internal
face a¹ of the tyre, and spring rings k² in each intermediate groove. These rings k²
may be varied in the same way and to the same extent as already described with
reference to the springs d, d of Figure 1.
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. The combination with a tubular tyre of the hereinbefore described improved
resilient device, as set forth.
2. The combination with an approximately tubular tyre, of the hereinbefore
described improved resilient device, as set forth.
3. The combination with a tubular tyre of the herein before described improved
resilient device and air chamber or chambers, as set forth.
4. The combination with an approximately tubular tyre of the hereinbefore
described improved resilient device and air chamber or chambers, as set forth.
Dated this 9th day of March 1897.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.