Improvements in or relating to Tyres for Wheels or the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 16th Oct., 1894-Accepted, 12th Jan., 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Tyres for Wheels or the like.
I, CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY, of The Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and
Telegraph Works Co. Ltd. of Silvertown, in the County of Essex, Indiarubber
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
==
This invention relates to tyres particularly those inflated by air or other suitable
fluid, the tyres being applicable to cycles and other vehicles, wheels, drums or
the like.
In carrying out this invention as a tyre for road vehicles particularly cycles [
form it with two or more compartments each of which in some cases may be
complete single tube tyres and in other cases may have air tubes inside them. In
the former case no means of access to the interior would be required but in the
latter case such means of access would be necessary. In all cases however I
employ a wall, diaphragm, web or equivalent directly connecting the outer
periphery with the inner periphery so as to obtain as direct a pull as possible from
the rim of the wheel or iner periphery of the tyre on to the outer periphery of
the tyre. The precise shape of the tyres may vary without departing from the
spirit of the invention; for example where the outer walls join the diaphragm or
by joining form the diaphragm they may be drawn in so as to form a curve
approaching the diaphragm thus presenting a central groove all round the tread of
the tyre. This groove may however be covered over or bridged or filled up with
rubber, leather or other suitable material in any desired manner. The diaphragm
being for the purpose specified may where desired be not a complete wall between
the two tyres but might be made of a number of strips or threads of material so
arranged as to give the desired direct pull. Also where a complete diaphragm is
employed it may be provided with any number of openings to allow of the fluid
passing from side to side.
In the case of a tyre having interior air tubes the outer cover would be arranged
to provide the two tubes or spaces and its edges may be connected with the rim in
any desired manner, as by wires, solution or other devices. In some cases I may
employ a cover divided into two parts as previously described and connect the
edges with the rim by suitable adhesive say for example raw rubber which may be
readily rendered adhesive again after the cover has been drawn off it by the
application of naphtha.
The central wall or diaphragm may be secured to the rim by a wire or equivalent
in any desired manner, the rim being if necessary specially shaped to provide for
this.
In one case of a tyre I form the rim with two gutters of ordinary description
and a central raised platform preferably raised very considerably above the gutters
and if necessary provided with a central peripheral groove in which the wire
holding the wall may lie; this form of rim cuts out as it were a large portion of
the centre of the tyre and considerably reduces the total air space.
The inflation may be effected in any desired manner preferably by means of a
breeches pipe or equivalent and double valves.
Dated this 16th dor of January 1804

page_text: Improvements in or relating to Tyres for Wheels or the like.
I, CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY, of The Indiarubber, Guttapercha, and
Telegraph Works Company Limited, of Silvertown, in the County of Essex,
Indiarubber Manufacturer, 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 relates to tyres particularly those inflated by air or other suitable
fluid, applicable to cycles and other vehicles, wheels, drums or the like.
In carrying out this invention as a tyre for road vehicles, particularly cycles, I
form it with two or more compartments each of which in some cases may be
complete single tube tyres and in other cases may have air tubes inside them. In
the former case no means of access to the interior would be required, but in the
latter case such means of access would be necessary. In all cases however I
employ a wall, diaphragm, web or equivalent directly connecting the outer
periphery with the inner periphery so as to obtain as direct a pull as possible from
the rim of the wheel or inner periphery of the tyre to the outer periphery of the
tyre. The precise shape of the tyres may vary without departing from the spirit
of the invention; for example where the outer walls join the diaphragm or by
joining form the diaphragm they may be drawn in so as to form a curve approaching
the diaphragm thus presenting a central groove all round the tread of the tyre.
This groove may however be covered over or bridged or filled up with rubber,
leather or other suitable material in any desired manner. The diaphragm being
for the purpose specified may where desired be not a complete wall between the
two tyres but might be made of a number of strips or threads of material so
arranged as to give the desired direct pull. Also where a complete diaphragm is
employed it may be provided with any number of openings to allow of the fluid
passing from side to side.
In the case of a tyre having interior air tubes the outer cover would be arranged
to provide the two tubes or spaces and its edges may be connected with the rim
in any desired manner, as by wires, solution or other devices. In some cases I
may employ a cover divided into two parts as previously described and connect the
edges with the rim by suitable adhesive say for example raw rubber which may
be readily rendered adhesive again after the cover has been drawn off it by the
application of naphtha.
The central wall or diaphragm may be secured to the rim by a wire or equivalent
in any desired manner, the rin: being if necessary specially shaped to provide for
this.
In one case of a tyre I form the rim with two gutters of ordinary description
and a central raised platform preferably raised very considerably above the gutters
and if necessary provided with a central peripheral groove in which the wire or
other attachment holding the wall may lie; this form of rim cuts out as it were a
large portion of the centre of the tyre and considerably reduces the total air
Ерасе.
The inflation may be effected in any desired manner preferably by means of a
breeches pipe or equivalent and double valves.
The accompanying drawings illustrate some forms in which this invention may
be carried out; in most of the figures no internal air tube is shown the tyres for
the most part being of the solid wall type; any of them however may be provided
with internal air tubes if desired.
Like letters represent the same parts throughout.
In Figure 1 the tyre consists of two independent tubes A and B joined together

page_text: at the centre so as to form the diaphragm C thus directly connecting the outer
periphery D of the tyre with the inner periphery E and with the rim F. In this
case the tubes branch out from the central wall or diaphragm C leaving a space
at D and E, which at D is not filled up and at E is occupied by the central ridge
provided upon the rim.
In Figure 2 the construction is very similar but the space E is got rid of by
prolonging the wall C close down to the rim F as shown, while the space D is
partially filled by a strip G of rubber, canvas and rubber or other suitable
material, which besides partly filling the space tends to inake the tyre less liable
to puncture.
In Figure 3 the form is similar to that of Figure 1 but both the spaces D
and E are closed up by strips H preferably of rubber suitably shaped for the
purpose.
Figure 4 again is similar to Figure 1, but the space E is left unoccupied while
the space D is closed over by the strip G somewhat similar to that of Figure 2,
but the strip instead of being curved so as to fit into the space D is stretched
straight across it as shown.
In Figure 5 a tyre is shown which is intended to be secured to the rim F by
means of wires I pressing upon the edges J' of the cover J so as to press them
into the gutters F' formed upon the edges of the rim F. This tyre may have an
air tube in the compartments A and B or if the joints with the rim at the edges.
and centre are made air-tight special air tubes would not be necessary. The central
wire I is intended to be permanent and would only be released in case it was found
necessary to remove the tyre altogether from the rim but either of the others may
be made detachable and have their ends connected by suitable coupling in any
convenient manner. Upon the right hand side of this figure the gutter F is
shown deeper and provided with a packing strip K preferably of rubber upon
which the edge Jis bedded by the wire 1; a similar arrangement is adopted for
the central gutter F. The left hand gutter F¹ however is shown approximately
semi-circular the edge J₁ of the cover bedding snugly therein without the employ-
ment of the rubber packing K; cement or similar means may be employed for
making an air-tight joint between the cover and this gutter. In this figuro a
conformation very similar to that of Figure 4 is adopted although as will be seen
instead of the tyre being made of two separate chambers joined together by the
central wall C it consists of a single strip of material folded as clearly indicated
in the drawing and having the strip G as in Figure 4, the two central folds lying
contiguous to each other and forming the diaphragm or central wall C as before.
Any suitable materials may be employed in the manufacture of these tyres but
usually rubber and canvas, or rubber with threads embedded therein would be
employed in their construction.
In Figures 6 to 9 the same idea is carried out with slight modifications.
Figure 6 is in many respects similar to Figure 5 but the shape of the rim is different
and the cover instead of being folded as in Figure 5 is carried round from one
edge J¹ to the other edge J' while the central wall or diaphragm C is formed as
it were with a T-head C¹ which may be vulcanized or solutioned to the inside of
the cover J. The three wires or other non-stretchable binding hoops I would be
employed in this figure as in Figure 5 and in a substantially similar manner; the
rim is of a curved section to suit the tyre and on one side the packing strip K is
shown but not on the other. It will be understood however that in all cases the
packing strips may be used upon one, both, or neither sides according to
requirement.
Figure 7 is substantially the same as Figure 6 excepting that the shape of the
rim is altered, a hollow rim being employed and the periphery thereof is brought
up into the interior of the tyre so that only a short wall C is required; other
features will be similar to Figure 6.
In Figure 8 a tyre in many respects similar to Figure 6 is shown, but the wall C
is provided with two heads C₁ and C³ the latter being secured in the crescent

page_text: shaped rim F by binding wires or equivalent L which may be regarded as a
permanent fastening. The edges of the cover in this case do not take a direct
hold upon the rim but terminate with the wire or other non-stretchable hoops I
in their edges which being non-stretchable will prevent the cover from escaping
from the rim besides which the wall C fastened as above described would secure
the tyre in case of puncture. Separate air tubes M are shown inside the cover in
this figure.
In Figure 9 the double headed wall C C C is adopted substantially as in
Figure 8 but as this tyre is supposed to be one of the cushion variety which need
not necessarily be inflated the whole tyre is made of solid rubber with the canvas
wall C C C inserted as clearly indicated in dotted lines in the figure. If desired
the chambers A and B may be inflated as before, but owing to the thickness of
the walls this is scarcely necessary. A rim of ordinary crescent shape is used in
this case also.
I am aware that more than one air tube inside a cover has before now been
employed or proposed to be employed, Thomson No. 10990 of 1845 showing an
arrangement of a number of air tubes inside a cover. Also two air tubes with
their edges abutting at the centre so as to make as it were a diaphragm were
suggested by Owen in his British Specification No. 19522 of 1893, but the mere
meeting of these two thin rubber air tubes would not form the central wall or
diaphragmn C described in my Specification, one of the necessary elements of which
is that it would be non-stretchable while the unsupported rubber of Owen's air
tubes would be eminently stretchable and would not convey the power from the rim
of the wheel to the periphery or tread of the tyre as is the case with my central
wall C.
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 1
claim is :-
1. A wheel tyre having a central web or wall such as C substantially as and for
the purpose described.
2. A wheel tyre formed of two tubes meeting at their contiguous faces and
forming a central wall or diaphragm such as C substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. A wheel tyre formed of a strip or sheet such as J and folded back upon itself
so as to form a central wall or diaphragm such as C and having its edges secured
to the rim of the wheel thus forming two compartments A and B provided or not
with air tubes substantially as described and illustrated in Figure 5 of the
accompanying drawings.
Ꭻ
4. A wheel tyre composed of a cover such as having a central wall or diaphragm
such as C secured to the rim of the wheel and edges also secured to the rim of the
wheel and provided or not with air tubes substantially as described and illustrated
in Figures 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.
5. A wheel tyre composed of a wall or tube divided by a central wall or
diaphragm and having compartments such as A and B substantially as described
and illustrated in Figure 9 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 12th day of October 1894.
CHRISTIAN HAMILTON GRAY.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.