Improvements in Vehicle Wheels..
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 4th Dec., 1897
Improvements in Vehicle Wheels..
I, ALBERT AUGUSTUS POPE, of Cohasset, in the County of Norfolk and State of
Massachusetts, United States of America, Manufacturer, 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 art and process of covering articles, whether of wood,
metal or other solid substance, with a film or thin protective layer of celluloid, or
like material, and the object of my invention is to produce an article, as a wheel
rim, provided with the protective layer of celluloid united to the body of the
article in such manner as to secure an intimate and durable connection between
the materials.
To this end my invention consists in a wheel rim as an article of manufacture,
the body portion being preferably of wood, and the covering film of celluloid, or
like material, firmly united to the rim as hereinafter described, and more
particularly pointed out in the claims.
Referring to the drawings:-
Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a wheel rim.
Figure 2 is a view in transverse section of the rim and a pneumatic tire attached
thereto.
Figure 3 is a view in cross section of the rim with the film blank and a shield
placed on the rim, and with parts broken away to show construction.
Figure 4 is a sectional view on enlarged scale cut through the rim transversely
and through the blank film and the shield.
Figure is an edge view of a rim embodying the features shown in Fig. 3.
Figure 6 is a view showing the manner of forming the film blank.
Figure 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the blank film illustrating its
general outline.
Figure 8 is a view in section through the rim, showing the manner of attaching
the shield in one step in the process of producing the covered rim.
Figure 9 is a perspective view of an air tight bag in lengthwise section through
the bag and the rim illustrating the relative position of these parts when the air
is exhausted from the bag and the rim is under pressure from the outside.
In producing my improved article I make use of an apparatus and of means
which form the subject matter of another application, and such parts are described
and referred to herein for the purpose of making clearer the specific and peculiar
features of the article which forms the subject matter of the present case.
In the accompanying drawings the letter a denotes a wheel rim which may be
of any ordinary material although preferably of wood and of the form herein
shown. It is a rim particularly adapted for use on a bicycle, velocipede or like
vehicle, being of a cresent shape in cross section with rounded edges."
The letter b denotes the covering layer of celluloid or like material which is
applied and firmly united to the rim across the back and edges, but, as usually
produced, stops short of meeting on the face of the rim. The covering layer or

page_text: film of celluloid may extend completely about the rim so as to protect all portions of
it, but owing to the fact that the face of the. rim is supplied with a tire which
protects and covers it from view the rim for the purpose of my invention is prefer-
ably covered in part only as described.
A further object in leaving the central portion of the tire socket uncovered by
celluloid is to provide for the tire cement a surface of wood to which the cement
will adhere more firmly as a means of attaching the tire than it would to the
smooth and denser celluloid film.
In order to produce my improved rim the celluloid or like material is cut in a
strip d, Figure 6, of a length equal to the circumference of the rim and of a width
which will enable it to be extended across the back and over the edges and a short
distance toward the center. This strip is then placed upon an annular form c
which has a concave periphery and dipped into hot water and stretched upon the
form which causes the strip to take the proper transversely curved shape and also
the ring or annular shape to conform roughly to the shape this film will assume
when placed upon the rim. The strip d thus roughly drawn to shape and with
the parts stretched so as to avoid any chance of wrinkling in its final application
to the rim constitutes the blank as partly shown in Figure 7.
The surface of the rim a to which the blank is to be secured is coated with a
suitable cement and the blank is then applieu and held in place with strips e
Figure 8, of rubber wound continuously about the rim. A certain degree of
tension of the rubber holding-strip is made use of, so that under the compression
the material may be drawn tighter about and upon the surface of the rim as soon
as the covering material, as celluloid, is softened. The rim covered with the
blank held in place by the rubber strips is put into an air-tight rubber bag as f,
Figure 9, the openings closed, the air withdrawn and the whole placed in hot
water for a limited time.
After the rim has been subjected to this heating operation under pressure for
a few minutes it is removed from the bath, taken from the bag and the rubber
strips are removed.
; .
In the method employed in the prior art for covering a strip of moulding with
celluloid, such a strip with the celluloid layer placed upon it is put into a bag
and the air exhausted, but in doing this it is obvious that there must be a fullness
of the bag or surplus material over and above that required to completely enclose
the strip, and this surplus of the bag is called the "pull-up." If the seam or joint
is located along the surface of the covering layer of celluloid a ridge is formed
when the pressure is applied to cause an intimate contact between the surface of
the moulding and the covering layer of the celluloid. The presence of such a seam
and of ridges and marks in the covered articles has formed an insurmountable
obstacle to the production of celluloid covered articles by this old process in a
mercantile form, and at a price which would make them salable in all except a
few limited instances.
These limitations in the practise of prior methods which produced a ridge or
seam liable to be cut through in finishing the article and thus leaving exposed an
edge of the film to the danger of chipping or of taking fire on exposure to a
sufficient degree of heat, is entirely removed by my improvement, which consists
in the employment of a shield 9 which is a covering layer made preferably of india-
rubber of the precise shape of the article being covered and so made as to be
easily wrapped about it, and meeting at abutting edges which form a continuous
but extremely narrow opening g' along one side of the shield. After the rim has
been taken from the bath and the rubber strips removed, the shield is adjusted
upon the rim which is then put into the bag, locked up therein by closing the
opening, and the air exhausted.
This bag containing the rim is put into a pressure chamber of strong material,
preferably and usually iron, which is capable of being hermetically sealed and pro-
vided with coils of steam pipe for heating water with which such chamber is filled.
As soon as the bag and the contained rim have been closed up within this chamber

page_text: it is filled with water and the temperature raised to about 212 degrees Fahrenheit
this heating operation subjecting the bag and its contents to considerable pressure,
varying from 75 to 150 pounds or more per square inch, depending on the nature
of the material being covered; that is, whether of wood or metal. The pressure
varies also with different grades of material. After a short time, depending upon
the size and shape of the article being treated, the hot water is withdrawn and
cold water pumped into the chamber. When cooled 'the bag is withdrawn from
the chamber and the rim from the bag, the shield is removed, and the celluloid
covering polished as by means of sand-paper and a buffing wheel.
By the means described the covering layer of celluloid is smoothly and firmly
united to the surface of the rim and so intimate is the union that it is impossible
by ordinary usage or treatment, and even by more than ordinary abuse, to chip
off, crack or break through this covering layer.
The wheel rim produced by the method described and composed of the core
and the covering layer of celluloid is stronger, more resilient, more durable and
capable of withstanding use in all conditions of weather to a degree not possible
either with a wooden rim or with a metallic rim. The wooden rim is protected
against splitting to a large degree as well as against any transverse breaking strain
and also against any chance of danger of rotting owing to alternate wetting and
drying to which a vehicle wheel rim is exposed in use.
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. As an improved article of manufacture, a wheel-rim with a covering layer of
celluloid or like material cemented thereto, moulded thereon and intimately united
therewith, all substantially as described.
2. As an improved article of manufacture, a wooden wheel-rim with a covering
layer of celluloid or like material cemented thereto, moulded thereon and intimately
united therewith, all substantially as described.
3. As an improved article of manufacture, a laminated wooden wheel-rim, a
covering layer of celluloid cemented thereto, firmly moulded upon and intimately
united with the surface of the rim as by the application of heat and pressure, all
substantially as described.
4. As an improved article of manufacture, a wooden rim for a bicycle-wheel
having a concave face, a layer of celluloid cemented to, formed upon and intimately
united with the back and sides of the rim leaving the central portion of the con-
caved face of the rim uncovered, and a tire secured in the socket in the rim, all
substantially as described.
ALBERT AUGUSTUS POPE.
D. Young & Co.,
11 & 12 Southampton Buildings London W.C. Agents for the Applicant.