Improvements in Wagon Wheels.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 8th Mar., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Wagon Wheels.
I, BERNARD MCGOVERN, of 7 Union Park, Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut,
U.S.A., Machinist, 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 :-
My invention relates to the manufacture of wagon wheels, and has for its object to
so improve the construction of the wheel that stretching of the tire and the tendency
of the spokes to become loose in the felly and hub is prevented, the life of the wheel
being greatly prolonged, and the wagon being caused to ride much easier, and to be
practically noiseless, the metallic sound made by ordinary wheels, as in crossing a
railway track, being avoided.
With these ends in view, I have devised the simple and novel construction of which
the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a speci-
fication, numbers being used to denote the several parts.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my novel wheel complete ;
Fig. 2, an enlarged view of a portion of the felly partly in section, showing the
manner in which my novel wheel is constructed;
Fig. 3, a cross section of the felly, metal tires, and rubber tire on a still larger
scale; and
Fig. 4 is another form of my invention in which the details of construction are
slightly changed.
I am quite well aware that rubber tires have heretofore been used in the construction
of wagon wheels; but, so far as I am aware, no practical wheel of this class has here-
tofore been produced, the principal defect being that the wheels were not able to stand
the wear and tear of continued use. My novel wheel is adapted to all classes of wagons,
and will be found of the greatest value upon wagons designed for heavy work as well
as upon light road wagons. In the latter use, however, my wheel is particularly
valuable on account of its noiseless qualities and the ease with which the wagon rides.
Rubber tires have been found wholly impracticable for road wagons as they quickly
wear out, and are, moreover, apt to become loose. By my invention, I secure all the
advantages of a rubber tire, and at the same time produce a wheel that will outwear
any other class of wheels of the same weight. As a matter of fact, my invention is
supplemental to a wheel as ordinarily constructed. It is found in practice that the
wearing out of wagon wheels is the result of the continued succession of blows to
which the tires are subjected. The effect of these blows is to cause the tire to stretch;
this allows the felly to become loose within the tires, and the spokes to become loose
both in the fellies and the hubs, the result being that the tire must be reset or the
wheel becomes quickly ruined.
denotes
Turning now to the drawing, 1 denotes the hub of a wheel; 2, the spokes; 3, the
felly; 4, the tire; and 5, the ordinary tire bolts which pass through the felly and
hold the tire firmly in place. These parts may all be of the ordinary or any preferred
construction, the tire being shrunk upon the felly in the ordinary manner.
a rubber tire which is placed outside of the ordinary tire, and 7, a supplemental
metallic tire which is placed outside of the rubber tire, the rubber tire and the supple-
mental tire being held in position by a series of bolts S which pass through both metal
tires, the rubber tire, and the felly, this series of bolts being entirely independent of
the usual bolts by which the tire is held in place. In practice, I preferably provide
shoulders 9 on these bolts which engage the ordinary tire in the usual manner, thereby
taking the place of an equal number of the ordinary tire bolts. The bolts 9 may be
straight beyond the shoulders as shown in Fig. 2, or may be provided with an addi-
tional shoulder 10 as shown in Fig. 4. This shoulder engages the supplemental tire

page_text: in the same manner that the shoulders of the ordinary tire bolts 5 engage the ordinary
tires. In practice, however, I have found that this shoulder is not necessary. In my
improved wheel it is only necessary to hold the supplemental tires against lateral
movement, which is done perfectly by the form of bolt illustrated in Fig. 2. If pre-
ferred, tire 4 may be provided with a groove 11. Supplemental tire
may be made
thickest at its central portion as at 12, and the rubber tire which goes between them
may be shaped to correspond with said groove and said thickened portion as is clearly
shown in Fig. 4. It is believed that one reason why wheels of this class have not
been heretofore produced is owing to the impossibility of getting the supplemental
tires in place over the rubber tires, heating and shrinking on in the ordinary manner
being of course impossible. In order to make my novel wheel, and to place the
supplemental tire firmly in place without injury to the rubber tire, I have devised a
novel machine by which the outer tire is compressed on cold. This machine, how-
ever. forms no portion of my present invention. It will be seen that my improvements
weaken the wheel nowhere, but strengthen it everywhere. The rubber tire, in fact,
cushions the wheel proper and prevents stretching of the tire, and the supplemental
tire protects the rubber tire against injury in use, the rubber tire at the same time
acting as a cushion for the supplemental tire and preventing it from becoming stretched
by the continued series of blows it is compelled to withstand, as is invariably the case
with a tire placed upon a rigid felly. It is found, in practice, that the durability of
a wheel constructed in this manner is beyond all precedent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. A vehicle wheel consisting of hubs, spokes, felly, and metal tire, a rubber band
or tire outside of said metal tire, a second metal tire outside of said rubber tire and
two series or sets of bolts, the bolts of one set passing through the felly and inner
metal tire and the bolts of the other set passing through the felly and all three
tires.
2. A vehicle wheel consisting of hub, spokes, felly, and metal tire, a rubber hand or
tire outside of said metal tire, a second metal tire outside of said rubber tire, and two
series or sets of bolts, the bolts of one set passing through the felly and inner metal
tire and the bolts of the other set passing through the felly, and all three tires, the
last-named bolts baving enlarged outer portions forming shoulders to engage and hold
the inner metal tire.
Dated this 4th day of February 1890.
HERBERT J. ALLISON,
Agent for the Applicant.