Improvements in and connected with Inflatable Wheel Tyres.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Nov., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 6th Sept., 1894-Accepted, 3rd Nov., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Inflatable Wheel Tyres.
I, ANTHONY PULBROOK, of Eastcheap Buildings, Eastcheap in the City of
London, Solicitor, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to the inflatable wheel tyres of bicycles, tricycles, and
other carriages, and its object is to provide improved means for preventing
puncturing of the inflatable tube.
An inflatable tyre usually consists of an inner airtight tube of indiarubber, some-
times surrounded by a tube of canvas or other material, and over these is
generally placed an outer cover of indiarubber or other suitable material to take
the wear and tear. Various means have been proposed from time to time for
protecting the inner tube from being punctured by sharp objects on the road,
and so far as I am aware these means have for the most part consisted in the
application, to the outer or tread part of the tyre, of one or more flat or curved
bands of more or less unpuncturable material placed at the tread part of the
inflatable tube.
Now the chief feature of my present invention consists in applying the protecting
material in such manner that the strips of which it is composed overlap each other
at the tread so that there are two thicknesses of material at that part. This may
be effected in various ways. According to one method I employ two strips of the
protecting material, each strip being secured along one edge at opposite sides of the
tyre either to the inner tube, to the canvas covering of the inner tube, or, in some
cases, to the rim of the wheel, the other edges being left free to pass-the one from
right to left, and the other from left to right-across the tread so as to overlap
each other at that part and present two thicknesses of protecting material which are
independent of each other and free to move over each other's surfaces as the inner
tube changes its form in rolling, or as it may be more or less inflated. Instead of
employing two strips of protecting material, 1 sometimes employ a single strip of
sufficient width to pass entirely round the inner tube or round the inner tube and
its canvas or other casing, when the latter is employed, and to overlap at its edges
where the tread of the tyre occurs.
The protecting strip or strips may consist of any suitable material which is
either entirely unpuncturable by such sharp substances are is ordinarily found
on roads, or of material which is more or less difficult to puncture; for example
I have found that vellnm is a good material for the purpose, firstly because it
can be easily moulded to the required shape, secondly because it is difficult to
puncture, thirdly because it assists in maintaining the necessary resilience of the
tyre, and fourthly because its smoothness facilitates the sliding movement on each
other of the overlapping parts.
The above described method of applying the protecting material also imparts
great strength to the inner tube to resist a bursting pressure.
The protecting material may be secured either inside or outside the canvas or
other middle tube but it may in some cases be secured to the outside of the
inner tube; it may sometimes be secured to the inside of the outer covering,
or, as above mentioned, it may in some cases he secured to the rim of the wheel
especially when the outer covering is secured, by lacing or otherwise, outside of
the rim.

page_text: The free movement of one part on the other of the flaps or overlapping parts
of the protecting material tends to neutralise the force of a puncturing blow,
and to distribute its force over a larger area of the inflated tube whereby the
latter is pushed inwards without being perforated.
I sometimes turn the edge of the protecting material, where it is secured to the
tube, outwards or downwards so as to prevent a nail or other sharp substance
injuring the tube beyond the point where the protecting material is secured.
To facilitate the movement of the overlapping parts of the protecting material,
I sometimes apply to the parts thereof in contact with each other, a lubricant that
will not affect injuriously either indiarubber or the protecting material such as
graphite, or French chalk, for example, or the surfaces may be covered with a
pliable smooth material such as very thin vellum, parchment, bladder, sateen and
so forth.
The loose or unfastened flaps of the protecting material may be connected to
lateral bands of indiarubber or other elastic material which allow them to yield to
strain but draw them back into place when the strain is removed.
In cases where reserve tubes are used they may be protected by a similar
arrangement of flaps of protecting material secured to them or to the inside of the
tube containing them, or otherwise as may be convenient. Or instead of the over-
lapping arrangement of the protecting material for protecting the reserve tubes, the
latter may be protected by a strip of more or less unpuncturable material shaped
into a Vor U form secured in any suitable position inside the inflatable tube or
suspended to it by flexible bands or otherwise or secured to the said reserve tube,
the said Vor U shaped strip serving to protect the reserve tube at all points where
it is liable to be punctured.
To prevent what is known as creeping in tyres I interpose between the outer and
inner cases or tubes bands or small pieces of rough fish skin, sheet gutta percha,
worsted or other rough woolen material, or a viscous material not injurious to
indiarubber or the other materials used, such as birdlime for example.
To give greater strength to an inflatable tyre and to prevent it from bursting, I
wind round it bands or strips of fish skin (such as eel skin for example) bladder,
vellum, parchment, vegetable parchment, horse hide or other suitable thin and
tough substance, preferably in such a manner that the edge of each successive
convolution slightly overlaps the edge of the previous convolution, so that the
whole length of the tube is supported by such bands or strips when the tube is
inflated.
For the purpose of preventing the puncturing of the inflatable tube I. sometimes
make it laminated, that is to say with several tubes inside one another, one or more
of the tubes being preferably made of more or less unpuncturable material. For
example the inner tube may be of indiarubber or indiarubber insertion, the next
tube of more or less unpuncturable material such as vellum, parchment, vegetable
parchment, bladder, raw or tanned hide or skin, fish skin and so forth; the next
tube of elastic textile material such as stocking net treated or not with indiarubber,
or of gutta percha, oiled silk or other suitable material; the next tube of more or
less unpuncturable material, and so on to any required number of laminations.
Dated this 6th day of November 1893.
RITY DDO
A. FULBROOK.
W. H. Beck;
Per S. E. Gunyon,
15, Cannon Street, London, Agent.

page_text: I, ANTHONY PULBROOK of 14 Victoria House, South Lambeth Road, in the
County of Surrey formerly of Eastcheap Buildings in the City of London,
Solicitor, 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, reference being had to the accompanying sheet of
drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This invention relates to the inflatable wheel tyres of bicycles, tricycles and
other carriages, and its object is to provide improved means for preventing
puncturing of the inflatable tube..
An inflatable tyre usually consists of an inner airtight tube of india-rubber,
sometimes surrounded by a tube of canvas or other material, and over these is
generally placed an outer cover of india-rubber or other suitable material to take
the wear and tear. Various means have been proposed from time to time for
protecting the inner tube from being punctured by sharp objects on the road, and,
80 far as I am aware, these means have, for the most part, consisted in the
application to the outer or tread part of the tyre of one or more flat or curved
bands of more or less unpuncturable material placed at the tread part of the
inflatable tube.
Now the chief feature of my present invention consists in applying the protecting
material in such manner that the strips of which it is composed overlap and are
free to move against each other at the tread part of the tyre so that there are
two thicknesses of material at that part. This may be effected in various ways.
According to one method, I employ two strips of the protecting material, each
strip being secured along one edge at opposite sides of the tyre, either to an inner
tube, to the inside of an outer tube surrounding an inner tube, to a canvas or other
covering of an inner tube, or, in some cases, to the rim of the wheel, the other
edges being left free to pass, the one from right to left, and the other from left to
right, across the tread so as to overlap each other at that part, and to present two
thicknesses of protecting material which are independent of each other and free to
move over each other's surfaces as the inner tube changes its form in rolling or as
it may be more or less inflated. Instead of employing two strips of protecting
material, I sometimes employ a single strip of sufficient width to pass entirely
round the inner tube and its canvas or other covering or casing when the latter is
employed, and to overlap at the edges where the tread of the tyre occurs.
Figure 1. of the drawings represents the cross section of an inflatable tyre
A is the
provided with protecting material in accordance with my invention.
inflatable tube, B the rim of the wheel, C the usual or any other suitable outer
covering, D a strip of protecting material cemented along one edge D' to the
rim B, the rest of the strip passing as a flap from left to right under the tread of
the tyre. D* is another strip of protecting material cemented along one edge D'
to the rim B, the rest of the strip passing as a flap from right to left under the
tread cf the tyre and over the flap of the strip D.
Figure 2 shows another method of applying protecting material in this way.
E is a strip of light, flexible material, such as a textile fabric, thin leather such as
wamba skin, washleather, kidskin or thin parchment, cemented to the rim B of
the wheel or otherwise kept in position next the rim. D and D* are strips or
bands of protecting material cemented along their edges D' D' to the edges of the
strip or band E, and arranged to overlap each other as described in reference to
Figure 1.

page_text: Figure 3 shows a single strip Dxx of protecting material of sufficient_width
to pass entirely round the inflatable tube A and to overlap at the tread part
thereof.
The protecting strip or strips may consist of any suitable material which is
either entirely unpuncturable by such sharp substances as are ordinarily found on
roads, or of material which is more or less difficult to puncture, for example I have
found that vellum and dried fish-skin, particularly eel skin, are good materials for
the purpose, firstly because they can be easily moulded to the required shape,
secondly because they are difficult to puncture, thirdly because they assist in
maintaining the necessary resilence of the tyre, and fourthly because their
smoothness facilitates the sliding movement on each other of the overlapping
parts.
The above described method of applying the protecting material also assists in
imparting strength to the inner tube to resist a bursting pressure.
The protecting material may be secured by cement or otherwise either inside or
outside the canvas or other middle tube or covering; or it may, in some cases, be
secured to the outside of the inner tube; it may sometimes be secured to the inside
of the outer covering, or, as above mentioned, it may in some cases be secured to
the rim of the wheel especially when the outer covering is secured, by lacing or
otherwise, outside of the rim. When I employ a single or compound strip of
sufficient width to pass entirely round the inner tube and to overlap at the tread;
as shown in Figure 3 for example, I do not always fasten it but keep it in place by
the pressure of the tube against the rim.
The free movement of one part on the other of the flaps or overlapping parts of
the protecting material tends to neutralize the force of a puncturing blow; and to
distribute its force over a larger area of the inflated tube, whereby the latter is
pushed inwards without being perforated, see Figure 4.which illustrates the effect
of a puncturing nail on the inner flap D*, assuming it to have passed through the
outer flap D, which is however a rare occurrence with this arrangement of the
protecting material.
I sometimes turn the edge of the protecting material, near the rim, where it is
secured to the tube or to the flexible material outwards, or downwards, as shown
at D in Figure 5, so as to prevent a nail or other sharp substance injuring the
tube A beyond the point where the protecting material is secured.
To facilitate the movement of the overlapping parts of the protecting material,
I sometimes apply to the parts thereof in contact with each other a lubricant that
will not affect injuriously either indiarubber or the protecting material, such as
graphite or French chalk for example or the surfaces may be covered with a
pliable smooth material such as very thin velium, parchment, bladder, sateen, and
so forth.
The loose or unfastened flaps of the protecting material may be connected to
lateral bands of india-rubber or other elastic material which allow them to yield to
strain, but draw them back into place when the strain is removed.
To prevent what is known as "creeping" in tyres, I interpose between the outer
and inner cases or tubes or between the tube and the rim, bands or small pieces of
rough fish-skin so arranged that the spines or sharp projections of some of the
pieces point in one direction and the spines or sharp projections of others of the
pieces in the opposite direction. Sheet gutta-percha, balata, worsted or other
rough woollen material, or a viscous material not injurious to indiarubber or the
other materials used, such as bird-lime for example may be used for this purpose.
To give greater strength to an inflatable tyre and to prevent it from bursting, I
wind round it bands or strips of fish skin (such as eel-skin for example) bladder,
vellum, parchment, vegetable parchment, horse-hide or other suitable thin and tough
substance preferably in such a manner (as shown in Figure 6 of the drawing) that
the edge of each successive convolution slightly overlaps the edge of the previous
convolution, and is so shaped as to lay flat, so that the whole length of the tube is
supported by such bands or strips when the tube is inflated, and is still capable of

page_text: yielding to any blow from the outside. I sometimes wind these bands or strips in
the manner above described round both the rim of the wheel and the tube as shown
in Figure 7. In Figures 6 and 7, A represents a part of the inflatable tube
and F is the band or strip wound round it, and in Figure 7 B represents the rim of
the wheel.
I do not generally make the bands or strips F air or water tight or cement them
to one another, but preferably leave each convolution loose so as to yield to any
blow, and to press the tube inwards without puncturing it, but when the bands or
strips are wound round both rim and tube I sometimes cement them to the rim.
I sometimes solution or cement to the tread part of a tube, so covered, an outside
band of rough fish-skin to give a grip and to prevent the edges of the convolutions,
where they would otherwise touch the ground, from getting frayed and worn.
Sometimes I interpose between the convolutions F and the tube A a soft material
such as wamba skin, or wash-leather, or soft textile material, to prevent the edges
of the convolutions from chafing or wearing the thin indiarubber tube.
Sometimes wind a second band or strip over the first, but preferably in a
contrary direction.
For the purpose of preventing the puncturing of the inflatable tube I-sometimes
make it laminated, that is to say with several tubes placed inside one another, one
or more of such tubes being preferably made of more or less non-puncturable
protecting material, and I prefer to make each tube smaller in diameter than the
one surrounding it so as to leave an air space between any two adjacent tubes, and
to assist in preserving these air spaces. I sometimes place distance pieces between
the tubes as described and shown in the Specification of an application for a
Patent made by me dated the 23rd of September 1893 No. 17,931. The tubes,
made of protecting material, may be airtight or not as preferred, and the material
may be stretchable or not as preferred but I prefer to make the outermost tube of
non-stretchable material to prevent undue expansion. In the case of a laminated
tube having one or more inner airtight tubes made of material more or less difficult
to puncture and more or less unstretchable, the compressed air forced into the inner
tube in the usual manner, would have no effect in compressing the air between the
said inner tube and the outer tube or tubes of unstretchable material, and the latter
tube, or tubes would be loose and the tyre would have little or no resilience. I
therefore provide in such case a separate valve, of the usual description, passing
through the rim of the wheel in the usual manner to open into each tube of non-
stretchable material so that compressed air can be forced between any two adjacent
laminations. This arrangement is shown diagrammatically in Figure 8 in
which A is a tube which may be made of elastic material such as indiarubber or
indiarubber insertion or of airtight material such as vellum, parchment, vegetable
parchment, bladder, raw or tanned hide or skin, fish-skin and such like, B protecting
material not necessarily airtight, (or this may be dispensed with if preferred),
Ca tube made of non-stretchable, non-puncturable airtight material, D an airtight
tube of elastic material such as indiarubber for example; outside of this may be
wound a convolution of protecting material E, and F is an outer covering of
non-stretchable material, G is a charging valve opening into the inner tube A,
Ga charging valve opening into the space between the tubes A and C and G'a
charging valve opening into the space between C and D. It will be understood
that the separate valves G G and G' are respectively placed at different points
round the rim and that airtight joints are made, where the valves pass through the
several tubes, by the pressure of the flange at the lower end of the valve tube in
the tube in the usual way.
I do not allow any of the inner tubes to remain in a state of collapse only to be
brought into use on the deflation of the tyre as is at present customary in some
arrangements but, on the contrary, I fully charge them all with air under pressure,
with the twofold object of making the tyre as resilient as possible, and of rendering
the pressures both inside and outside of the inner tubes nearly alike so that no inner
tube will be in a state of tension.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of protecting material arranged and
applied so that two free edges or flaps of such material overlap each other at and
adjacent to the tread part of the tyre, substantially as described.
Second. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of strips of protecting material
cemented or otherwise secured to the rim of the wheel, their free edges or flaps
overlapping each other at and adjacent to the tread part of the fyre substantially
as described with reference to Figure 1 of the drawings.
Third. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of strips of protecting material
cemented or otherwise secured to a strip of flexible material cemented or other-
wise secured or kept in position next to the rim of the wheel, the free edges or
flaps of the said protecting material overlapping each other at and adjacent to the
tread of the tyre, substantially as described with reference to Figure 2 of the
drawings.
Fourth. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of a strip of protecting material
enveloping the inflatable tube and having its free edges or flaps overlapping each
other at and adjacent to the tread of the tyre, substantially as described with reference
to Figure 3 of the drawings.
Fifth. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of strips of protecting material having
their edges next the rim turned outwards or downwards, substantially as described
with reference to Figure 5 of the drawings.
Sixth. In an inflatable wheel-tyre the use of fish-skin, bladder, vellum, parchment,
vegetable parchment, horse hide, or other suitable thin and tough substance
wound round the inflatable tube or round both the inflatable tube and the rim
of the wheel for the purpose of imparting greater strength to such tube and to
prevent it from bursting, substantially as described with reference to Figures 6 and 7
of the drawings.
Seventh. An inflatable wheel-tyre composed of separate tubes or laminations
placed one inside the other, some or all of such tubes being composed of more or
less non-stretchable materials, substantially as described with reference to Figure 8
of the drawings.
Eighth. An inflatable wheel-tyre composed of separate tubes or laminations
placed one inside the other, some or all of such tubes being composed of more or
less non-puncturable materials, substantially as described with reference to Figure 8
of the drawings.
Ninth. In inflatable wheel-tyres the use of rough fish-skin to prevent the creeping
of such tyres, substantially as described.
Dated this 6th day of September 1904.
A.
PULBROOK,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, Agent.