Improvements in Tyres for Wheels.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 7th Nov., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Tyres for Wheels.
We, FÉLIX THÉODORE MILLET, of Persan par Beaumont (Seino et Oise)
France, Civil Engineer, and ARTHUR EDWIN GREVILLE, of Towcester, in the
County of Northampton, England, Gentleman, 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 :-
Our invention has reference to improvements in connection with the use and
construction of india rubber and pneumatic tyres for vehicles, cycles and the like,
the object being to produce a tyre which will be more uniform or regular in
its elasticity than is possible with tyres coustructed in the usual or ordinary manner.
Another part of our invention has referenco to the manner and method of attaching
said tyres to the wheel rima.
In carrying our invention into effect we construct our tyre in the form of an
india rubber rim or ring having a number of independent and separate cells or
chambers provided therein, these cells or chambers forming what we have called an
"alveolar tyre. By this peculiar arrangement of chambers we are enabled
to resist the ordinary tendency of the india rubber to lose its elasticity when
compressed and to be of unequal elasticity when subjected to too great a tensile
strain.
By combining the two opposite tendencies due to the compressive and tensile
strains upon india rubber we are enabled to counteract the compressive weakening
in one part by the tensile increasing strain in a connected part.
In the two accompanying sheets of explanatory drawings-
Figures 1, 2, and 3, show detail views of one form of our alveolar tyre in which
the cells or each alveolus A is of circular form arranged radially within the tyre.
A cover or band cap B may be attached to the outer part of the tyre to cover the
cells, or the cells may be formed with the cover on the outside in one piece
as shown in Figures 6 to 13.
We make our walls C straight or curved as at C' Figure 3.
We sometimes increase the flexibility of our tyre by forming the colls with
oblique angled walls D as shown at Figures 4, 5, and 8.
The cells may be formed with their mouths opening outwards as at Figures 1 to 5
or they may be made with the openings nearer the wheel rim as shown at Figures 6
to-13. The form and shape of the alveoli or cells may be rectangular, circular or
other desired form.
The exterior form of our tyre and the shape of the tread can be varied to suit
any particular requirement or to suit any particular form of rim to which it is to
e attached. The sectional configuration of the alveolus or cell may be made as
hown in Figure 12 or any other form which may be desired to suit the type
f vehicle or cycle to which our improved tyre is to be applied.
We attach our tyre to the rim by means of screws Estuds, pins, bolts nuts auu
ashers F as shown in Figures 1, 7, 9, 10, and 13, or we may employ wires on
etal or like bands G which we pass through holes H and the ends of the wires or
ands we bring together or fasten to the wheel rim K in any well known manner
ow employed for similar purposes.
We sometimes attach our tyre to a hollow rim by placing a supplementary metal
ed or crown plate L Figures 9 and 10 to which we attach our tyre, and we cause

page_text: this plate to be secured to the rim in any convenient manner, two methods of
attachment being shown in Figures 9 and 10. Wo may spring our tyre on to the
rim when it is of the form shown in Figure 7.
The action of our improved alveolar tyre is as follows, When the load is carried
upon the tyre and the bottom portion is resting upon the ground, the increasing
compression of the fibre of the india rubber decreases its elasticity or flexibility,
the lateral walls bowever cannot come near to each other without compressing the
ribs or discs forming the diaphragm plates of the cells; but as the weight upon the
tyre produces a compression of the side walls these side walls in turn pull upon
the webs and thus convert the compressive action on the outer walls into a tensile
upon the connecting inner walls, and as this increase of length or tensile strain
produces an increase of flexibility the opposing tendencies of compression and
tension balance each other with the result that a fairly uniform or constant
elasticity is maintained upon the wheel tyre when in use.
The thicknesses and proportions of our walls and celle we vary to suit the load to
be carried or the class of duty required from the wheel.
We find it advantageous to employ india rubber of varying degrees of flexibility
for resisting the wear of the attachments, and we sometimes for the same object
place a cloth ribbon or other like strip or band M as shown in Figures 14 to 21.
The strip may be outside only for bearing upon the rim as in Figures 18, 19,
and 20, or it may be both inside and outside as shown at Figures 15, 16, and 21.
The part thus surrounded with cloth is less flexible than the other uncovered
portion of the tyre. To prevent the tyre working off the rim we sometimes glue or
otherwise secure cloth ou the outerside of the tyre edges as at n n Figure 15.
To allow the compressed air in one of the chambers to escape into the adjacent
ones we make each cell to communicate one with the other by means of holes or
passages P formed in each web diaphragm.
Instead of employing bolte, we sometimes use eyelets R Figure 17, for securing
the tyre to the rim. The hole P we prefer to place near the lower part of
the web as at Figures 22 and 23 so as to resist the tendency to closing when
under strain.
"
We vary the methods of attaching our tyres to suit the form of wheel rim
employed, but when constructing a new rim we form an annular groove on each
side of the rim as at Figure 23 into which we place a tightening ring T for
clamping the ends of the tyre cover into position.
We do not limit the application of our invention to any particular form of cell
or chamber to any special form of wheel rim or to any particular method of
attaching the tyre to the rim, but wo modify the form of the cell and the method
of attachment to suit the type of wheel cycle or vehicle to which our improved
alveolar tyre is to be applied. We allow our tyres to be inflated with compressed
air when so desired, employing any ordinary form of pump and valve for this
purpose at present employed in connection with ordinary pneumatic tyres.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is-
1. The improvements in india rubber tyres for wheel for cycles or vehicles,
substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described and as illustrated in
the accompanying drawings.
2. In a tyre for attachment to a wheel the arrangement of a number of cells or
pockets around the circumference or entire length of the tyre substantially as and
for the purposes herein before described and as illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
3. In a tyre for attachment to a wheel, the arrangement of a series or number of
cells for the entire circumference, all of which cells communicato one with the
other substantially as and for the purposes bereinbefore described.

page_text: 4. The improvements in the method of attaching india rubber tyres of the kind
described in the preceding claims substantially as herein before described and as
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 14th dor of Aust 1806
MARKS & CLERK,
18, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., and
13, Temple Street, Birmingham, Agents.