Improvements in or appertaining to Rubber Tyres and other Hollow Rubber Ware required to Stand Pneumatic or Hydraulic Pressure.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Nov., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 30th July, 1898-Accepted, 4th Nov., 1898
Improvements in or appertaining to Rubber Tyres and other Hollow
Rubber Ware required to Stand Pneumatic or Hydraulic Pressure.
I, WILLIAM HENRY HUMPHREYS, of 53, Salisbury Road, Wavertree, in the
County of Lancaster, Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has for its object making tyres and other pneumatic cushions
capable of automatically closing punctures, and the invention consists in lining
the tyre with a semi fluid or plastic material. This material is known
as flake india rubber and comes from Accra and other places on the
West Coast of Africa. As it arrives it is very dirty, but it is purified
by dissolving it in a solvent and then evaporating the solvent. If benzoline be
used the material is more plastic than if bisulphide of carbon for instance is used,
and different solvents leave it in varying conditions. At present I prefer to use
benzoline and cover the inside of the tyre or other material with a layer of this
excessively tenacious sticky material. A layer of silk or other like material is
placed over the flaked india rubber so as to prevent it sticking to the rubber on the
opposite side when the tyre is not inflated. This rubber has the faculty of always
remaining soft. If therefore a perforation is made in the rubber tyre the flake
india rubber runs into the perforation or is forced into it by the air and at once
closes it. In some cases instead of a lining of silk I may simply powder over it
mungo, shoddy, or other fibrous or flaky material which shall stick to the flake
india rubber and thus prevent it from sticking to the other side of the tube or
cushion,
Improvements in or appertaining to Rubber Tyres and other Hollow
Rubber Ware required to Stand Pneumatic or Hydraulic Pressure.
I, WILLIAM HENRY HUMPHREYS, of 53, Salisbury Road, Wavertree, in the
County of Lancaster, Clerk, 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 has for its object the making of tyres and other pneumatic

page_text: cushions (such as balls, rings) capable of automatically closing any punctures that
may be made in them, and the invention consists essentially in lining the tyre or
cushion with a semi-fluid or plastic material of a sticky self-closing nature. The
material I find best for this purpose is flake or paste india-rubber, a semi-solid stuff,
very sticky, which comes from Accra and other places on the West Coast of Africa.
This india-rubber is at present of comparatively little value as it always remains
in a plastic sticky condition adhering to anything with which it is brought in
contact. It is usually of a dirty straw colour, but it is found in commerce of grey,
black or brown colour. As it arrives it is purified by dissolving it in a solvent and
then evaporating the solvent. By this means too the material becomes still more
in a condition for closing punctures. If benzoline be used for a solvent the material
is more plastic than if bisulphide of carbon be used. Other well known solvents of
india-rubber are intermediate in their action between these two. At present I
prefer to use benzoline and I cover the inside of the tyre or other material with a
layer of this excessively tenacious sticky material, namely, the flake india-rubber
dissolved out with benzoline and then the benzoline practically distilled off. A
layer of silk or other like material is placed over the layer of flake india-rubber so
as to prevent the two sides sticking together when the tyre is not inflated. This
flake india-rubber especially when treated in the way I have described has the
faculty of always remaining soft. If therefore a perforation be made in the
rubber tyre the flake india-rubber runs or is forced by the air into the perforation
and at once closes it. In some cases instead of a lining of silk I may simply
powder over the layer of flake india-rubber with mungo, shoddy or other fibrous or
flaky material which shall stick to the flake india-rubber and thus prevent it from
sticking to the other side of the tube or cushion when not inflated.
The drawing appended hereto shows a section of a single tube pneumatic tyre,
in which A is the rim, B the rubber and canvas tyre, C layer of flake india-rubber
and D layer of silk or even Para india-rubber thereon. Where the layer of non-
sticky material is impervious as in closely woven silk or Para india- or other
lightly tenacious rubber it materially assists the action of the flake india-rubber
by keeping the latter of uniform thickness, consequently when perforated the
uniform pressure aids the viscosity in filling the void, and in the case of india-
rubber there is a hole in each side of the layer of flake india-rubber to be filled in
an otherwise impervious sheet and thus there is a doable chance of at once stop-
ping the leak. In the case of pneumatic and hydraulic mattresses, cushions, seat
bottoms saddles horsecollars and other inflated articles the ordinary bag as at
present used is lined with flake india rubber and silk or other non-sticky material
and is supplied with a valve exactly as in a tyre.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The improvement in rubber tyres and other hollow rubber ware required to
stand pneumatic or hydraulic pressure which consists in lining them on the inside
or between two layers with flake or paste india-rubber such as described.
2. In combination with a sticky layer of rubber such as described in the inner
side of a pneumatic tyre or the like, a thin non-sticky layer protecting the same
on the interior whereby the two sides are prevented from adhering when not dis-
tended.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents, of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.