Improvements in Devices for Protecting Pneumatic Tyres.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Dec., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 5th Sept., 1894-Accepted, 6th Oct., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for Protecting Pneumatic Tyres.
I, FREDERICK HENRY LONG SHIPTON of 3 Idmistone Square, Worcester
Park, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in devices for protecting pneumatic tyres.
In carrying the invention into effect I provide a series of shields, the said shields
being plates of any suitable hard substance. These are bent to a suitable are and
cemented side by side across a band of canvas or similar material in length equal to
the periphery of the tyre.
I do not confine myself to any particular material for the shields, but propose to
use vulcanite.
The guard constructed as above described is inserted in any convenient way
between the tyre and the cover and held there by the expansion of the former.
Dated this 23rd day of December 1893.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Devices for Protecting Pneumatic Tyres.
I FREDERICK HENRY LONG SHIPTON, of Idmistone Square, Worcester
Park, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, 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 improvements in devices for protecting the pneumatic
tyres of the wheels of velocipedes and other vehicles, and the special objects of it
are as follows:-
(a.) To provide a guard which is absolutely puncture proof against the sharpest
point or edge which roads can present to wheel traffic in general and more
especially to velocipedes, because it a guard is not puncture proof against any and
every point or edge which ever do or can occur on the surfaces of roads, the tyre
is sure to be either punctured or cut sooner or later.
(b.) To provide a thin guard, because, it the thickness of a guard exceeds a
certain maximum dimension, it bulges out the cover of the tyre and destroys its
correct contour which latter should always be semi-circular in cross section or as
near that as practicable.
(c.) To provide a guard which is incorrodible by moisture or by the sulphur
present in the rubber tyre; because, if any part of a guard is not waterproof, as
well as sulphur-proof it is evident that its destruction must commence as soon as its
use commences, and that, as it rusts away, the ragged edges produced by the
corrosion, will damage the tyre and the cover by which the tyre is held to the
wheel.
(d.) To provide a guard which does not require any special device for holding it
to the tyre, but which can be held permanently in its proper position between the
tyre and the tyre-cover by the expansion of the former against the latter.
(e.) To provide a guard which can be made and sold complete in itself and

page_text: distinct from any special form or type of tyre or tyre-cover, in order that an
intending purchaser of it may not be deterred from enjoying the benefits of the
present invention because the tyre or the tyre-covers with which his velocipede is
provided can only take some particular kind or make of guard and if he does not
huy that one, he must go to the expense of fresh tyres or of fresh tyre-covers, or
perhaps of both.
In order that the present invention and the means by which it is to be carried
into practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will now describe it and them
in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying figures which are to be taken
as part of this Specification and read therewith.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in sections, of a velocipede wheel the
pneumatic tyre of which is fitted with a guard made according to the present
invention. The left hand side of the figure is sectional through the guard. The
section is taken along the centre of the tread and shews the inflated tyre in
elevation. The top portion of the figure is sectional as to the cover only and
shews the guard and tyre in elevation, while the remaining portion shews the cover
in side elevation.
Figure 2 is a front elevation. Above the axis of the wheel, it is in vertical
section. The cover has been omitted from the middle portion for the purpose of
shewing the face of the guard.
The foregoing figures shew the guard held in position between the tyre and the
cover by the distention of the former.
Figure 3 is a plan of the outer face of one of the plates of the guard.
rim c.
a is the pneumatic tyre and 6 is the cover by which the tyre is held to the wheel
Both tyre and cover may be of any type or pattern because, as already
explained, the present invention is applicable to all known combinations of tyres
and covers.
Neither the tyre as such nor the cover as such, nor the combination
of the two, form any part of the present invention which is confined strictly to
the guard.
This guard consists of the combination of the detachable flexible strip d and a
series of plates_e. The strip is made of any material that is thin, tough and
flexible. I prefer that the material should be woven, but do not limit myself in
respect of this latter characteristic. The material which is known in this country
as linen twill is the one which I propose to use because I find that it possesses all
the properties which the present invention requires. In length, the strip is equal
to the outside circumference of the tyre when the latter is inflated, and in width,
to about one third of the transverse circumference of the said tyre. e, e are the
plates. They are made of vulcanite or ebonite, which is well known to be a
particularly hard preparation of indiarubber. I use this material and this material
only for the plates because it is hard; because thin plates of it are strong; because
it cannot rust; because it is waterproof, because the sulphur present in the rubber
tyre will not affect it; because it does not crack under pressure, and because it is
light. No other substance possesses all the properties necessary for the purpose of
the present invention. These plates are uniform in size and shape. In respect
of size, the length of a plate is about a quarter of the transverse circumference of
the inflated tyre, the width of a plate being about three quarters of its length, and
its thickness about an eighth of an inch. In shape the plates are curved in the
direction of their length to the radius of the inflated tyre, their four edges being
rounded off from the concave side as shewn in Figure 2, and their four corners.
rounded off as shewn in Figure 3. The plates e are fastened side by side upon the
strip d with their ends truly aligned and their concave sides next to the strip. My
invention permits of the plates being made fast to the strip by any suitable means.
I prefer to use cement or glue. As the strip is wider than the plates e are long,
and as the row of plates is fastened to the strip centrally thereof, there is a margin
of strip on each side of the row of plates, as is clearly shewn in Figures 1 and 2.
The plates fit close up to each other but do not overlap. This absence of overlap
is important.

page_text: The detachable guard made as above described is fixed in its working position
as follows. It is laid centrally upon the tread of the tyre a before the latter has
been fully inflated and the cover is next laid over both and fixed to the rim c.
Or the guard and cover are together both laid respectively in the positions
illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, upon and over the tyre, the cover being made fast
to the rim c as the process of laying on proceeds. When the cover 6 has been
made fast to the rim c all round the wheel, the tyre is fully inflated. This final
inflation has the effect of holding the guard centrally upon and up to the tread of
the tyre a from which position it cannot be displaced by the weight of the rider of
vehicle or the motion of the wheel.
As the plates e do not overlap each other, each one bears its own share of the
weight and protects its own share of the surface of the tyre from being punctured.
As the edges are rounded off, they do not rub against each other enough to wear
each other away. For the same reason they do not cut the fibres of the strip d as
the plates e are pressed into it.
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. The improved detachable guard for pneumatic tyres as hereinbefore set
forth.
2. The combination of strip and vulcanite plates as and for the purposes
hereinbefore set forth.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.