Improvements in Rubber Tyres and Wheel Rims or Felloes for Cycles and other Light Vehicles.
Year: 1896

page_text: Improvements in Rubber Tyres and Wheel Rims or Felloes for
Cycles and other Light Vehicles.
I EDWARD CHARLES FREDERICK OTTO of 7 York Grove Peckham in the County of
London, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to improvements in the construction of elastic tyres and the
modo of securing them to the wheel-rims of velocipedes and other light vehicles.
The objects of my invention are:-
Firstly, to utilize the elasticity obtained by stretch or tension of rubber (as applied
for instance in the catapult) as an elastic medium intervening between the road and
the wheel.
Secondly, to fix or secure a rubber or tyre to the felloe or rim in a manner which
is secure and easily manipulated and does not need air pressure to hold either tyre or
pneumatic tyre cover in its place.
Thirdly, to construct a tyre which is as highly elastic as the ordinary pneumatic
tyre but not liable like the latter to collapse through either becoming punctured or
defective in the air valve.
Fourthly, to introduce light elastic substances into the interior of the tyre which
will effectually prevent puncture or injury to the air bladder of a pneumatic tyre.
According to this invention I shape both edges of the felloe or rim either inside or
outside in such a manner as to form a sufficient overlap or hold for hooklike
appendages fixed to the edges of the tyre or tyre-cover, which being stretched and
sprung into these recesses hold the tyre securely in its place.
The rubber or tyre is made preferably of such shape and dimensions as to necessitate
either lateral or longitudinal stretching before dropping into its proper place.
The hooks or hooklike plates may be either vulcanized to the canvassed edges of
the rubber or otherwise attached thereto or the tyre or cover may be vulcanized direct
to the rim with or without the intervention of the hooklike appendages.
It will be seen that by the rubber being stretched from side to side over the edges
of the rim considerable space is left underneath the rubber into which the latter is
stretched and forced as soon as sufficient pressure is applied upon the tyre from
without. As soon as this pressure is removed the rubber or tyre rebounds and returns
to its original shape.
The space underneath the tyre and within the rim may also be utilized as a
receptacle for the introduction of an air bladder, containing either compressed or
non-compressed air.
By means of this arrangement the elasticity of the tyre can be increased without
subiecting the air tube to the danger of being punctured.

page_text: In order to ensure still further safety against puncture, strips of canvas are
vulcanized into the rubber laterally and around its entire length but not so as to
interfere with its necessary stretching downwards into the tube or rim.
Instead of canvas I may also use celluloid in the Shape of either strips or in
tubular form as a means of preventing injury to the tyre or bladder.
The upper part of the tyre, lying above the edges of the rim, may be either solid
or hollow or may contain a core of either cork or cane or a tube made of celluloid or
steel or hard rubber or other material suitable for the purpose.
Such cores can be either inserted in the course of manufacture or afterwards.
In the latter case the lower part of the tyre which lies immediately above the
edges of the rim and over the groove is manufactured in two overlapping halves which
allow the introduction of the core into the upper part of the tyre before being
permanently closed by means of indiarubber solution.
The mode of securing the tyre to the rim and protecting the air-bladder (when used)
from puncture by means of strips of celluloid may also be applied to ordinary
pneumatic tyres.
In order to obviate taking the tyre off when once placed upon the rim I furnish the
latter with lengthened instead of round holes for the reception of the nipples through
which the latter are inserted from the outside.
Suitable washers dropping partly into the recesses or holes are provided to cover
and strengthen the rim at the holes and to secure the nipples in their proper places.
Hollow rims are preferably used for such arrangement. The latter is especially
useful where the tyre is vulcanized directly to the edges of the rim.
But the nipples may also be introduced into round holes of the rim before the
process of vulcanizing and may be secured by small nuts from the outside of the rim
working on a thread on the nipple.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1806
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rubber Tyres and Wheel Rims or Felloes for
Cycles and other Light Vehicles.
I, EDWARD CHARLES FREDERICK OTTO of 7, York Grove Peckham, in the County of
London, 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 elastic tyres, and it
consists of a method of applying the stretch of rubber to give a tyre the resilient
action of a catapult, the object being:-Firstly, to utilize the elasticity obtained by
stretch or tension of rubber (as applied for instance in the catapult) as an elastic
medium intervening between the road and the wheel. Secondly, to fix or secure the
tyre to the wheel rim or felloe in a manner which is secure, and easily manipulated,
and thirdly to construct a tyre which is as highly elastic as a pneumatic tyre is but
not liable to collapse either through becoming punctured or from defective construction
and which does not depend on air pressure to hold it in its place on the
wheel rim.
In the accompanying drawing Figure 1 is a broken view in side elevation of my
improved tyre, Figure 2 is a view in transverse section thereof, and Figures 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8 and 9 are views in transverse section of modifications thereof.

page_text: Throughout the views similar parts are marked with like letters of reference.
According to this invention the wheel rim or felloe A is made of any suitable
concave shape in cross section and on its sides either at its edges or otherwise.―
are flanges a a forming hook-like projections with which hooks belc. or their
equivalents formed on, or in, or fixed to the edges b 61 of the base B of the
tyre engage, so that when the said rubber base is stretched across the rim and
the hooks on the edges of the tyre are engaged with the rim, the tyre is securely
fixed. The base B of the tyre is made as is shown in Figure 6-of such a
shape and size as will necessitate considerable lateral stretching before dropping
into its proper place on the wheel rim. The hooks b b or their equivalents may
be either vulcanized to the edges b b of the base B of the tyre or they may
be otherwise attached thereto, and when vulcanized thereto they are preferably
entirely embedded in the rubber. The upper or tread part C of the tyre may be
either solid as shown by Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 8 and 9 of the accompanying drawing, or
hollow as shown by Figure 7. If it is made solid it may be composed of a sheath of
rubber C enclosing a core C¹ of cork, hard rubber, cane or other suitable material as
shown by Figures 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawing.
It will be seen that as only the stretched base of the tyre is in contact with the
wheel rim at the edges thereof a considerable space is left underneath the rubber into
which the latter is stretched and forced by the weight carried by the wheel. As soon
as this pressure is removed the tyre rebounds and returns like a catapult to its
original shape.
In order to vary the resiliency of the base of the tyre strips of canvas or other
fabric D may be inserted in its edges in a manner similar to that shown by Figure 5
and it will be obvious that the more these strips approach the centre of the base the
stiffer and therefore the more powerful the resiliency of the base will become.
As a modification the base of the tyre may be made very light and its supporting
power be increased by the introduction into the wheel rim as shown by Figure 4 of a
bladder or tube F adapted to contain air either under compression or not. In such
tyres the base may contain an insertion of canvas or other fabric D arranged in a wavy
or corrugated form transversely as shown in the same figure. It will be obvious that
by this arrangement the benefit of an air cushion is obtained without the detrimental
addition of a canvas lining running parallel with the sides of the wheel and without
the risk of damage by puncture.
In order to distribute the pressure of the upper or tread part C on the base B when
the wheel is being driven on the road and prevent the tyre from yielding in the
circumferential direction a strip of canvas or other fabric E is run laterally round its
entire length as shown by Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying drawing. When the
upper or tread part C is hollow the strip of fabric E is placed above the annular space,
and one, two, or more additional strips may be placed in its sides as shown by Figure 7
of the accompanying drawing. This latter is done in order to give the tyre more
stiffness, especially side ways.
When cores such as C₁ are used they can be either inserted in the course of
manufacture or afterwards. In the latter case the tyre is split through either at the
base as shown by Figure 6 or at one or both sides to allow of the introduction of the
core, the said slit or opening being afterwards closed by means of rubber
solution.
For convenience in manufacture the upper or tread part C of the tyre may be made
independent of the base part B, the two being solutioned together after manufacture
as shown by Figure 8. This construction allows the resilient part, ie, the base, to
be made of a superior quality of rubber to the tread or wearing part.
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 improvements in tyres for the wheels of cycles and other light vehicles,

page_text: substantially as herein before described and illustrated by the accompanying
drawing.
(2) A tyre for the wheels of cycles and other light vehicles consisting essentially
of a base such as B adapted to be stretched across the hollow of, and attached to a
wheel rim of a crescent or otherwise concave shape in cross section, and of an upper or
tread part such as C formed on or attached to the base part in the manner and for
the purpose specified.
(3) In cycles and other light vehicles; the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable concave shape in' cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base B adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow of the wheel rim and to
be attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments or their equivalents, and
of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or solid-formed on or attached to
the base B, as and for the purpose set forth.
(4) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable concave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base such as B adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow of the
wheel rim and to be attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments, or
their equivalents and having insertions of canvas or other fabric such as D at its
edges, and of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or solid-formed on or
attached to the base B, as and for the purpose set forth.
(5) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable cancave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base such as B adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow of the wheel
rim and to be attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments or their
equivalents, and of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or solid-formed
on or attached to the base B and composed of a sheath of rubber such as C and a
core C' of cork, hard rubber, cane or other suitable material, as and for the purpose
set forth.
(6) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable concave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow of the wheel rim and
to be attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments or their
equivalents, and of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or solid-formed
on or attached to the base B, and having one or more circumferential insertions such
as E of canvas or other fabric, as and for the purpose set forth.
(7) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a crescent
or other suitable concave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an elastic
base B adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow of the wheel rim and to be
attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments or their equivalents and
having a strip of canvas or other fabric D inserted in a wavy or corrugated form across
it as shown by Figure 4, and of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or
solid formed on or attached to the base B, as and for the purpose set forth.
(8) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable concave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base B adapted to be stretched laterally across the hollow or groove of the
wheel rim and to be attached to the said rim by means of hook-like attachments or
their equivalents, of an upper part or tread such as C-either hollow or solid-formed
on or attached to the base B, and of a tube F adapted to lie in the hollow of the
wheel rim and containing air for the purpose of supporting the base B, as and for the
purpose set forth.
(9) In cycles and other light vehicles, the combination with a wheel rim of a
crescent or other suitable concave shape in cross section, of a tyre consisting of an
elastic base such as B having a strip D of canvas or other fabric running through it
and arranged in wavy or corrugated form transversely, the said base being stretched
laterally across the hollow of the wheel rim and attached thereto by means of hook-like
attachments or their equivalents, of an upper part or tread. such as C-either hollow
or solid-formed on or attached to the base B, and of a tube such as F adapted to

page_text: contain air and to be located in the wheel rim as an extra support for the base B, as
and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 9th day of November 1896.
ROBERT E. PHILLIPS, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E., M.I. Mech. E.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent,
70, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.