Improvements in Wheels for Vehicles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 15th Apr., 1897-Accepted, 31st July, 1897
Improvements in Wheels for Vehicles.
I JOHANNES SCHANZ, of 91, Leipzigerstrasse, Berlin, W., Germany, Patent Agent, 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:
In the description of wheels hitherto in general use with vehicles, only that portion
or half of the wheel which may at the time be below the hub participates in the
support of the vehicle and its load. For this reason the wooden wheels of the large
class of heavy waggons, gun carriages and the like have been given the required
great power of resistance by ingenious disposition of naturally grown curved wood.
According to this present invention the capacity for resistance of the wheel is to be
increased by distributing the pressure continuously upon the whole of the periphery
of the wheel, thus admitting of the construction of the said class of wheels without
careful selection of the wood being required.
Upon the sheet of drawing hereunto annexed, Figs. 1 to 3 illustrate three different
forms of a wheel constructed in accordance with the principle of my invention, Fig. 4
shewing a sectional view along line x-x of Fig. 1 on a somewhat enlarged scale.
A space c is left between the rim a of the wheel and tyre b, in which as shewn in
Fig. 1, a corrugated elastic ring d is placed in such manner that the successive
corrugations or undulations are alternately brought into contact with the rim and
the tyre. The said corrugated or undulatory ring is preferably made of strong steel
band somewhat narrower in width than both rim and tyre of the wheel. In order to
maintain the said steel ring in the position intended for it the edges of the tyre as
well as those of the wheel rim are turned over as shewn in Fig. 4.
For the same
purpose the ring may be connected with the tyre and the rim by means of rivets or
screws e which pass through the oblong slots h provided in the ring whereby a certain
freedom of movement is given to the ring in the direction of the periphery of the
wheel.
The space c is laterally closed by plates f which are provided for the purpose of
preventing the entrance of dust and mud.
When the vehicle is travelling the pressure of the burden is transmitted through
the hub by means of the spokes to the lower part of the rim and is by the latter
communicated to ring d, which, possessing a high degree of elasticity and working
loosely in its seat, transmits the said pressure to all its parts, and distributes it
through the contact points to the whole of the rim and the whole of the tyre, that is
to say to all the remaining spokes of the wheel.
By virtue of the described elastic ring the wheel is therefore enabled to support a
heavier burden than would be the case if said elastic ring was not provided. Slipping
or sliding of the elastic ring on the rim or tyre is obviated by making the said ring
of such strength as to prevent any such movement. Slipping or sliding further
prevented by rivets or screws e if such are provided for the purpose aforesaid, the
said rivets or screws admitting only of a certain motion in the direction of the
periphery of the wheel owing to the oblong slots, said motion being dependent upon
the pressure of the super-posed burden. If there is but little dust or mud on the

page_text: roads upon which the vehicle is travelling, the protecting plates f may be dispensed
with.
In the construction illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 the corrugated elastic ring d
consists of several corrugated parts g which, with their corrugations, are alternately
in contact with the rim and the tyre of the wheel. The whole as formed by said
parts may therefore be regarded as an uninterrupted corrugated ring. In Fig. 3 the
parts are alternately arranged in the reverse way, while they coincide in the
constructive form illustrated in Fig. 2. The aforesaid parts g are or may preferably
be connected with the rim and the tyre by aid of rivets or screws e in similar fashion
to that explained in the description of Fig. 1.
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 :-
A wheel for vehicles, in which a corrugated or undulating elastic ring, either
consisting of one piece or composed of several portions g, is interposed between
rim and tyre, being alternately in contact with said rim and said tyre, substantially
as set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Data L.
2 A
1 1007
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.
HUGHES, SON & Co.,
38, Chancery Lane, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.