Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres for the Wheels of Cycles and other Vehicles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Apr., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 15th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 14th Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres for the Wheels
of Cycles and other Vehicles.
I, JAMES WILLIAM SMALLMAN, of 61, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
:-
This invention refers to pneumatic tyres for the wheels of cycles and other
vehicles.
Some pneumatic tyres are wired on the rim; the wires either being endless or
having ends hooked together.
With endless wires, the wires and rims have to be exactly to gauge, and there is.
no special provision against creeping. A deep and consequently heavy rim is also
required.
With wires having ends hooked together, there is difficulty in connecting the ends
when attaching the tyre; a special tool having to be employed. In addition, there
is risk of the hooked coupling giving way.
In some cases, bands are used instead of wires; these bands being either
tightened by a special device or clamped to the rim by a screw and nut.
The objects of the present invention are to dispense with wires or bands for
fastening on the tyre; to avoid any necessity for making the rims precisely to
gauge to afford special provision against creeping to enable a shallow and
consequently a light rim to be employed; to facilitate attachment by allowing the
tyre to fit easily in the rim before inflation, and by doing away with couplings or
clamping devices; and to so shape the rim and tyre as to prevent sudden detachment
in the event of puncture and consequent deflation.
In carrying out my invention, I employ open rings of metal or other suitable
material. Each ring is preferably formed from a metal tube rectangular in cross
section; a space being left between the ends of the tube. The rings may, however,
be made of metal trough-shaped in cross section. One ring is attached to each side
of the cover when a separate air-tube is used, or to each side of the tyre when
a separate air-tube is dispensed with. The canvas lining or insertion may be
wrapped round the rings and stitched. Or, when rings of metal trough-shaped in
cross section are employed, the edges of the cover or Land may be thickened; the
thickened edges being bent round and placed in the troughs. The rim is shallow
and has the edge on each side turned over in order to form a groove or recess inside
the rim; these grooves or recesses being adapted for the reception of and
corresponding in shape with the covered or partially-covered rings. A flat piece of
metal is brazed or otherwise secured across each groove or recess. These pieces of
metal lie between the ends of the rings; creeping being thus effectually prevented.
The open rings can be easily expanded and fixed on the rim. When the rings are
in the grooves or recesses of the rim, the edges of the rim, lying over the rings,
prevent any expansion of the rings from taking place.
Dated the 15th day of April 1893.

page_text: Improvements in and relating to Pneumatic Tyres for the Wheels
of Cycles and other Vehicles.
I, JAMES WILLIAM SMALLMAN, of 61, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, 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 :-
This invention refers to pneumatic tyres for the wheels of cycles and other
vehicles.
Some pneumatic tyres are wired on the rim; the wires either being in the form
of endless rings or having ends hooked or otherwise coupled together.
With endless wire rings, which are made by curving single lengths of wire and
joining the ends, the wire rings and also the rims have to be exactly to gauge, and
there is no special provision against creeping. Such wire rings, moreover,
frèquently break at the joint. With these wire rings, a deep and consequently
heavy rim ill adapted to bear the pressure due to the inflation of the tyre is
also used.
.
With wires having ends hooked together, there is difficulty in connecting the
ends when attaching the tyre; a special tool having to be employed. In addition,
there is risk of the hooked coupling giving way, and a considerable gap is left in
the edge of the cover where the ends of the wire protrude.
In other tyres, the wires are secured by means of holes or slots in the rim,
involving the use of unsightly nuts or projections, and permitting water to obtain
access to the interior of the tyre.
In all wired-on tyres, owing to the small diameter of the wires, the cover is
liable to be cut or worn out by the wires, and the wires sometimes stretch and
become too long or lose their shape and become too short.
In some cases, metallic bands are employed instead of wires; these bands
being either tightened by special straining devices or clamped to the rim by screws
and nuts.
Attempts have also been made to secure the cover of the tyre to the rim by
hooked rings engaging with the hooked edges of the rim ; but such fastenings do
not prevent the creeping of the tyre and they permit water to get to the canvas
and destroy it.
Other pneumatic tyres have covers with enlarged continuous edges formed of
rubber and textile material; these edges being pressed against the sloping sides or
engaging with the inturned edges of the rim. Such enlarged edges of the cover
add considerably to the weight of the tyre. When they are made with hard
rubber that can not be stretched, a comparatively heavy rim with central attaching
and detaching groove is required. When they are made with supple rubber and
abut, the cover can not easily be detached without a tool; if they lap, one side is
locked by the other, which should be taken off first, discrimination being thus
called for; and, when they do not abut or lap, an air-tube with a wedge-shaped
prominence is used to keep them in engagement with the rim. Whether made
with hard or with supple rubber, they are liable to creep. When the edges of the
cover are packed with short pieces of metal, the strain is not so evenly distributed;
the deflated tyre can become loose and fly off the rim ; the weight is increased;
and the difficulty of providing means for the prevention of creeping is augmented.
The objects of the present invention are to dispense with wires or bands strained
round or clamped to the bottom of the rim for fastening on the tyre; to avoid any
necessity for making the rims precisely to gauge; to afford special provision
- against creeping; to obviate the cutting of the cover by the fastenings; to enable
a shallow and consequently a light rim to be employed; to facilitate attachment

page_text: by allowing the tyre to fit easily in the rim before inflation, and by doing away
with couplings or clamping devices; to avoid interfering with the syminetrical
appearance of the rim; and to so shape the rim and tyre as to prevent sudden or
accidental detachment in the event of puncture and consequent deflation.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a pneumatic tyre and rim constructed according
to the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a separate view of the rubber or outer part of the cover, which is
solutioned to the canvas or inner part.
Fig. 3 represents the open fastening rings attached to the canvas or inner part
of the cover.
Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the rim showing the flat pieces of metal which
lie across the grooves or recesses of the rim between the ends of the fastening
rings to prevent "creeping" (that is, circumferential displacement of the tyre in
the rim).
Fig. 5 is a similar view illustrating the way in which I prefer to secure these flat
pieces of metal in the rim.
Fig. 6 is a separate side elevation of one of the flat pieces of metal used in
Fig. 5.
Fig. 7 is a corresponding end elevation.
Fig. 8 is a diagram on a smaller scale representing the cover in side elevation.
Fig. 9 is a corresponding diagram of one of the two open rings by which the
cover is fastened to the rim.
Fig. 10 shows a tyre secured by open rings of solid material.
In Fig. 11, the fastening rings are trough-shaped in transverse section and hold
the thickened edges of the cover.
In carrying out my invention, I employ a cover A A' of rubber and canvas or
other fabric, a rubber air-tube B provided with an ordinary inflating and deflating
valve, a rim C C₁ having marginal grooves or recesses, and open fastening rings of
metal or other suitable material. Each ring is preferably formed from a single
length of aluminium or other metal tube D (Figs. 1, 3 and 9) rectangular in
transverse section; a space being left between the ends d (Fig. 9.) of the tube.
The ends of the tube may be stopped with metal or other substance. Rings D
(Fig. 10) of solid material, or rings D₁ (Fig. 11) of metal trough-shaped in
transverse section, may, however, be used, if desired. One ring is attached to each
side of the cover A A'. The canvas or fabric A¹ may be wrapped round the
rings D or Dx and stitched. It may also be cemented to the rings; sufficient
canvas or fabric being left free near the ends of each ring to allow the cover to
be stretched sufficiently to go over the edge of the rim. Or, when rings D¹ of
metal trough-shaped in transverse section are employed, the edges of the cover
may be thickened; the thickened edges a being bent round and placed in the
troughs, as shown in Fig. 11. These thickened edges may be cemented in the
troughs; parts being left free near the ends of the troughs to enable the cover. to
be stretched for getting it on the rim. The rim C C₁ is shallow and has the
edge C¹ on each side turned over in order to form a groove or recess inside the
rim; the grooves or recesses being adapted for the reception of and corresponding
in shape with the covered rings D or D or partially-covered rings D'. The rings
fit easily in the grooves or recesses, and consequently the friction existing between
the tyre and the rim is slight and does not prevent creeping. As the air-tube
would soon be torn if the tyre were allowed to creep, it is essential for the tyre and
the rim to be locked together. The simplest locking device consists of a flat
piece of metal Cx (Fig. 4) made as thin as possible and brazed, soldered or
otherwise secured across each groove or recess. The piece of metal C* may be
brazed or soldered in a saw-cut or slot in the rim. In Fig. 5, the piece of
metal C* pertaining to the left-hand groove or recess is shown so held in place ;
the other piece of metal being omitted in order to expose the right-hand saw-cut
or slot c. Each of the flat pieces of metal C* lies in the space between the ends

page_text: of one of the open fastening rings; creeping being thus effectually prevented.
The open rings can be easily expanded and fixed on the rim. When the rings are
in the grooves or recesses of the rim, the edges of the rim, lying over the rings,
prevent expansion of the rings from taking place. The extreme edge on each
side of the rim may be doubled to avoid all possibility of the canvas or fabric
being cut by the rim. The bottom of the rim may contain a channel or channels
for the heads of or nipples pertaining to the spokes, and may be furnished with a
strip of fabric for the air-tube to rest upon.
Inasmuch as the air-tube B (which is made solely of pure vulcanized rubber in
order that it can be permanently repaired) tends, owing to the absence of a
tubular insertion of canvas or other restraining material, to force the cover A A¹
away from the rim C C₁, thus causing the fabric A¹ to exert an outward radial
strain that is, an expansive strain—on the open fastening rings, thereby drawing
those rings away from the bottom of the rim, it is necessary for the edges C¹ of
the rim CC to be turned over far enough to enable them to counteract that
strain with certainty.
It will be observed that a tyre constructed as above described is fastened to the
rim quite independently of the air pressure, that consequently the tyre is secured
equally well whether the air in the air-tube be at the maximum working pressure
or at any lower pressure which may be desired, and that the deflated tyre would
be held on the rim by the fastening rings even if they were to leave the grooves
or recesses, it being impossible to remove the tyre without first opening the
fastening rings to the requisite extent.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I claim :-
1. A pneumatic tyre secured to a rim substantially as described with reference
to the accompanying drawings.
2. An improved pneumatic tyre and rim constructed substantially as herein
described, the same comprising a cover, a metallic fastening ring attached to one
of the edges of the cover, an air-tube lying within the cover, a groove or recess
beneath a turned-over edge of the rim, such groove or recess being adapted for
the reception of and corresponding in shape with the fastening ring, which is
prevented from expanding by the turned-over edge, and means for locking said
fastening ring to the rim in order to avoid creeping of the tyre.
3. An improved pneumatic tyre and rim constructed substantially as herein
described, the same comprising a cover, a fastening ring attached to one of the
edges of the cover and made from a length of metal or other material the ends
whereof are brought close together but left unjoined, an air-tube lying within the
cover, a groove or recess beneath a turned-over edge of the rim, and a flat piece
of metal secured in the rim across the groove or recess so as to occupy the
space between the unjoined ends of the fastening ring, the fastening ring being
prevented from expanding or creeping by moving it under the turned-over edge.
Dated the 15th day of January 1894.
JAMES W. SMALLMAN.