Year: 1897

page_text: We, CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY, of the Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and Telegraph
Works Company Limited, Silvertown, in the County of Essex, Indiarubber Manu-
facturer, and THOMAS SLOPER, of 14 and 15, Brittox, Devizes, in the County of
Wilts, House Furnisher, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to closure caps and the like, and we will describe it as
applied to the closure cap of an air valve for a pneumatic tyre, it being understood
that the invention is suitable for many other applications.
At present the cap which screws on to the end of an air valve for a pneumatic
tyre is prevented from being lost by a short chain, one end being fastened round
one of the spokes of the wheel, up and down which it can play, and the other
around the cap itself. These chains are constantly breaking and besides are
inconvenient and noisy, and in place of them we prefer to adopt the following
arrangement.
To any suitable part of the valve body, etc., we secure one end of a short helical
spring, the other end being secured to the screw cap; both ends, although
adequately secured are loose so as to permit of any necessary turning or other
movement of the connected parts. By this means the cap when it is désired to
screw or unscrew it can be turned with the greatest freedom which is by no means
the case with the ordinary chain; when unscrewed the tendency of the spring
which is held in the form of a bow or arch when the cap is in position is, as soon as
the cap is released, to move it entirely out of the way so that the pump can be
promptly applied to the valve nozzle. If desired one end of the spring may be
fastened round a spoke as usual or to the rim of the wheel, but we prefer to secure
it to the valve itself.
A convenient way of constructing these spring is to take a piece of helically
wound wire of suitable dimensions and place through this a piece of wire
headed in any convenient manner and reduce a few of the end coils of the spring
so as to grip the body of the wire, which can then or beforehand be formed into a
hook or loop adapted to engage with the valve or cap. A similar arrangement may be
made at the other end and if the head be somewhat long it tends to strengthen the
few coils at the end of the spring which in some cases may be useful.
A helical spring such as described appears to be the most convenient, and we
find it gives excellent results in practice, but we do not bind ourselves to any
particular form of spring.
Dated this 1st day of September 1897.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: We, CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY, of the Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and Telegraph
Works Company Limited, Silvertown, in the County of Essex, Indiarubber Manu-
facturer, and THOMAS SLOPER, of 14 and 15, Brittox, Devizes, in the County of
Wilts, House Furnisher, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement: -
This invention relates to closure caps applicable for various purposes but we will
describe it as applied to the closure cap of an air valve for a pneumatic tyre, it
being understood that the invention is suitable for many other applications.
At present the cap which screws on to the end of an air valve for a pneumatic
tyre is prevented from being lost by a short chain, one end being fastened
round one of the spokes of the wheel, up and down which it can play, and the
other around the cap itself. These chains are constantly breaking and besides are
inconvenient and noisy, and in place of them we prefer to adopt the following
arrangement.
To any suitable part of the valve body, etc., we secure one end of a helical
spring, the other end being attached to the screw cap, both ends, although
adequately secured being generally loose so as to permit of any necessary turning
or other movement of the connected parts. By this means the cap when it is
desired to screw or unscrew it can be turned with the greatest freedom which is
by no means the case with the ordinary chain, when unscrewed the tendency of
the spring, which is held in the form of a bow or arch when the cap is in position,
is as soon as the cap is released, to remove it entirely out of the way so that the
pump can be promptly applied to the valve nozzle. If desired one end of the
spring may be fastened round a spoke as usual or to the rim of the wheel, but we
prefer to secure it to the valve itself.
A convenient way of constructing this spring is to take a piece of helically
wound wire of suitable dimensions and place through this a piece of wire headed
in any convenient manner and reduce a few of the end coils of the spring so as
to grip the body of the wire, which can then or beforehand be formed into a hook
or loop adapted to engage with the valve or cap. A similar arrangement may be
made at the other end and if the head be somewhat long it tends to strengthen
the few coils at the end of the spring which in some cases may be useful.
A helical spring such as described appears to be the most convenient, and we find
it gives excellent results in practice, but we do not bind ourselves to any particular
form of spring.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a valve for a pneumatic tyre fitted with
the improved closure cap connection:
Figure 2 is a perspective view partly broken away and on an enlarged scale of
the closure cap connection.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a Lucas valve provided with a modified form of
cap connection.
Figure 4 is a perspective view on a larger scale of a device for connecting a cap
to a wheel spoke.
A helical spring A is attached at one end to a clip B and at the other end to
a loop C, the latter encircles the closure cap D so that it may rotate freely while
the clip B is adapted to embrace the valve body E. The helical wire A is attached
to the loop C by forming an enlargement C¹ on the straight portion of the wire

page_text: forming this loop and reducing the last few end coils of the wire A so as to grip
the body of the wire forming the loop beyond the enlargement C in the manner
shown in Figure 2. The clip B is provided in the construction shown with a small
conical extension B which is forced into the ends of the coil A. The gripping
action of the coils is generally sufficient to hold the parts together but it is advisable
to reduce the last few coils of the helical opening in order to fix it permanently.
The projection B may be formed as a tongue with an enlarged end which is
placed in the end of the helical wire A and the last few coils of the latter reduced
round the tongue so that the clip B is attached to the connecting piece A in a
manner similar to that employed for connecting the latter to the loop C.
The clip B may be of various shapes as found convenient and may, if desired, be
replaced by a loop similar to that which is employed for attaching the helical
wire A to the cap D.
This latter arrangement is shown in Figure 3 where the spring or tether A is
employed to connect the closure cap to the body of a valve of the Lucas type. The
helical spring A. is attached to the cap by a loop C as in the previous case, a similar
loop being employed to connect it to the valve body so as to enable the device to be
rotated when it is desired to unscrew the valve nut E¹.
In the arrangement shown in Figure 4 the clip B is modified to enable the tether
to be attached to a wheel spoke F; in other respects the attachment device in this
case resembles that shown in Figure 2.
It is to be noted that by causing the tongue B₁ of the clip B and the enlarged
part C of the loop C to project a short way into the end of the coiled spring A the
latter is stiffened at its ends thereby adding strength to it.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. The combination with an air valve closure cap of a helical spring A sub-
stantially as and for the purpose described.
2. The combination with a valve body and a closure cap of a helical spring A
for the purpose of connecting the two together and throwing the cap clear of the
valve when unscrewed.
3. The combination with a closure cap of a helical spring and a clip such as B
substantially as described.
4. A tether for an air valve cap consisting of a helical wire spring A free to
revolve round both the closure cap and the valve stem substantially as described
and illustrated in Figure 3.
5. A tether for a valve cap consisting of a helical wire spring stiffened by and
connected to wires loops or sockets at the ends where attached substantially as
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
6. The complete device for connecting a closure cap to a valve body substantially
as described or illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 or Figure 3 or Figure 4 of the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of June 1898.
CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY
THOMAS SLOPER
Boult & Wade,
Agents for the Applicants.