Improvements in the Construction of Elastic and Pneumatic Tyres for Bicycles and other Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Apr., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 30th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 17th Apr., 1897
PROVISIONAL SP
TION
Improvements in the Construction of Elastic and Pneumatic Tyres
for Bicycles and other Vehicles.
JAMES CONRAD COLE of 33 Cecile Park, Crouch End in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to
be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the construction of elastic and pneumatic
tyres for bicycles and other vehicles, such tyres being made of segments or balls or
oblate or flattened spheroids or ovals preferably of india-rubber.
I have found that balls made for this purpose do not fully answer the requirements
of a pneumatic tyre and the reasons appear to be that the imperfect elasticity of
the india-rubber interfere with or detract from the perfect elasticity of the air in
the ball and the air being under but small pressure and the balls free to expand the
full value of the air under pressure is not obtained.
To remove this difficulty, I make the balls so that they are differentially extensible
or extensible only in or about the direction of the circumference of the wheel by
which they are carried.
For this purpose I line the balls with or work them into their thickness, a layer
of inextensible material or material which will stretch inappreciably under the
pressure to which the air contents of the balls is subjected when made and when
the vehicle is being ridden.
This material may be of canvas or of other flexible but inextensible textile fabric
or other material suitable for the described requirements.
This lining of the ball will be of such a width that the extensible part of the ball
shall be only about that which may be flattened or affected in form by contact with
the adjacent balls and the axis of the lining which may for instance be in width
about the diameter of the ball, will be transverse to the wheel or in the direction.
of its axis so that lateral extension is prevented.
The balls may be completely lined with a textile fabric or other suitable
inextensible lining.
Provision is made for the filling of the balls with air under any desired pressure.
The thickness of the balls may be equal throughout but preferably the thickness
will vary, the parts which are pressed by the adjacent balls being the thinnest.
Suitable flanges or ribs are made on the balls for their attachment to the wheel
and the tread surface may be corrugated, roughened or ribbed to prevent side
slipping.
Dated this 30th day of April 1896.

page_text: Improvements in the Construction of Elastic and Pneumatic Tyres.
for Bicycles and other Vehicles.
JAMES CONRAD COLE of 33 Cecile Park Crouch End in the County of
Middlesex, Mechanical Engineer 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 the construction of tyres for bicycles
and other vehicles such tyres being made of segments or balls or oblate or flattened
spheroids or ovals preferably of india-rubber.
I have found that balls made for this purpose do not fully answer the requirements
of a pneumatic tyre and the reasons appear to be that the imperfect elasticity of
the india-rubber interferes with or detracts from the perfect elasticity of the air in
the ball and the air being under but small pressure and the balls free to expand the
full value of the air under pressure is not obtained.
To remove this difficulty I make the balls so that they are differentially inex-
tensible or extensible only in or about the direction of the circumference of the
wheel by which they are carried.
For this purpose 1 line the balls with or work into their thickness a layer of
inextensible material or material which will stretch inappreciably under the pressure
to which the air contents of the ball is subjected when made and when the vehicle
is being ridden.
This material may be of canvas or of other flexible but inextensible textile fabric
or other material suitable for the described requirements.
This lining of the ball will be of such a width that the extensible part of the
ball shall be only about that which may be flattened or affected in form by contact
with the adjacent balls, and the lining which may for instance be in width round-
about the diameter of the ball will be transverse to the wheel or in the direction
of its axis so that the lateral extension is prevented.
The balls may be completely lined with a textile fabric or other suitable
inextensible lining. Provision is made for the filling of the ball with air under
any desired pressure.
The thickness of the balls may be equal throughout but preferably the thickness
will vary the parts which are pressed by the adjacent balls being the thinnest.
Suitable flanges or ribs are made on the balls for their attachment to the wheel
and the tread surface may be corrugated roughened or ribbed to prevent side
slipping.
My invention is illustrated by the drawings hereunto attached.
In these drawings
Fig. 1 is a section of a pneumatic ball as described and
Fig. 2 is a section of the same ball taken in the direction at right angles to the
section of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a transverse section through a similar ball and wheel rim, and
Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the balls looking centripetally or from the outside
to the centre of the wheel.
Fig. 5 is a side view of a portion of a wheel as used in bicycles with the pneu-
matic balls A B C D E in place, the three balls BCD being mutually flattened
on their adjacent surfaces and the exterior surfaces in the same direction as balls A E
not being so pressed by contiguous balls are shown as having a spherical exterior
due to the internal air pressure.
Fig. 6 is a circumferential section through a portion of a cycle wheel rim and
through five balls A B C D E, the section being taken on the line S-S. Fig. 1.

page_text: Fig. 7 is a transverse section of a modified form of the pneumatic ball and wheel
rim.
In Fig. 1 the inextensible lining F. of the ball is shown as incorporated with the
interior india-rubber surface.
Fig. 8 is a section of part of a ball showing a self closing rubber valve and means
of inflation, it is similarly shown in Figs. 2 and 6. In Fig. 3 it is shown as incor--
porated within the body of the india-rubber compound.
The flange G by which the ball is caught and held in its place in the hollow bead
of the wheel-rin R is shown in section in Figs. 1, 3 and 7 and in plan in Fig. 4
but various modifications may be made without departing from my invention.
As shown in the several sections the inextensible lining F of the balls may be of
greater or less width but should preferably be of a width such as that shown in Fig. 2..
In some cases I reduce the thickness of that part of the ball J which is within
the wheel rim and I may in some cases thicken the tread or part K as indicated by
dotted lines Fig. 3, and I may also corrugate or otherwise roughen the surface at
the tread by concentric or other suitable corrugations or projecting patterns; if
concentric corrugations or projections are used they may be as indicated by dotted
lines as in Figs. 1, 4 and 7. The balls may be inflated with air under pressure in
the course of manufacture by means known to rubber goods manufacturers or they
may be inflated by means of an air pump or nozzle P, Fig. 8, which inserted iuto-
the part L of a self closing valve L projecting more or less from the surface a of
the ball, the part L' after inflation being cut off.
The valve L may be placed in the position shown in Figs. 1, 2, and the ball E,
Fig. 6, or as indicated by dotted lines at L' Fig. 2 and ball E Fig. 6.
The said valve L may be formed with the ball by methods known to makers of
rubber goods or it may be inserted and fixed by known means as indicated in Figs. 1,
2 and 8, the self closing valve being a piece of small rubber tube the interiorly
projecting part of which has been flattened so that it takes the form shown and is
normally closed, but easily opened when the air is being forced in. The part L'
projecting outwardly beyond the surface, is only for convenience of attachment to
the pump nozzle and may, if other means of keeping the ball and nozzle together
are used be dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-.
tion and in what manner the same is to he performed, I declare that I do not
claim the use of balls generally for the construction of a segmental pneumatic tyre,
but, what I do claim is,
1. Constructing segmental pneumatic tyres for the wheels of vehicles with hollow
spherical and spheroidal balls composed of india-rubber compounds and having
differential thickness, said balls having suitable flange projections, by which they
are held in the rims of the wheels, substantially as described.
2. In segmental pneumatic tyres for vehicles the use of hollow flanged balls, the
adjacent parts of which are thinned so as to permit mutual deformation and close
packing substantially as described.
3. In segmental tyres for vehicles the use of hollow flanged balls the adjacent
parts of which are thinned to permit mutual deformation and close packing, said
balls being made differentially inextensible by partial suitable interior inextensible.
incorporated lining substantially as described.
4. In segmental pneumatic tyres for vehicles, the use of hollow flanged balls, the
adjacent parts of which are thinned to permit mutual deformation and close packing,
said balls being made differentially inextensible by partial suitable interior inex-
tensible incorporated lining and filled with air under pressure, substantially as.
described.
Dash: 20th J
T1007