Improvements in Resilient Tyres for the Wheels of Velocipedes and other Vehicles.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 6th June, 1899-Accepted, 29th July, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Resilient Tyres for the Wheels of Velocipedes and
other Vehicles.
We, OSCAR EUGENE SMITH, of 923, Washentaw Avenue, Manufacturer, and
FRANCIS MARION NICHOLS, of 202. Washington Boulevard, Publisher, both of
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, United States of America, 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:-
The object of the present invention is to construct a resilient tire for wheels for
use on bicycles and vehicles generally possessing all the advantages of the ordi-
nary cushion tire of a thick tube of rubber, and likewise all the advantages of a
pneumatic tire, without the objectionable features and disadvantages belonging
to either class of tires; and to this end the invention consists broadly of a resi-
lient tire formed of an outer tube or casing supported in an expanded condition
by means of resilient disks located and secured within the outer casing or tube;
in providing a resilient disk formed of a piece of soft rubber having a resilient
opening at one side of the center; in providing a wheel having a rim with a
concave outer face and a tire formed of an outer tube or casing, and a series of
interior resilient disks; and in the several parts and combination of parts herein-
after described and pointed out in the claims as new.
Tires for the wheels of bicycles and vehicles are of two general forms, known as
cushion tires and pneumatic tires, the first form consisting of a rubber tube of
considerable thickness with a central hole, and the second form consisting of an
outer rubber casing or tube and an inner tube which is inflated with air to pro-
duce the cushion. The cushion tire of the first form has the advantage of not
collapsing or being rendered useless in case of puncture, but it is too hard to
form a good cushion for easy riding; and the pneumatic tire is open to the objec-
tion that it collapses in case of puncture, rendering it useless until repairs are
made.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a
wheel with the tire applied thereto; Figure 2 is a detail in perspective of the
tire; Figure 3 a side elevation of one of the resilient disks; Figure 4 a side
elevation of a resilient disk, showing a series of perforations or holes in addition
to the resilient opening or hole, and Figure 5 vertical transverse section of one
of the resilient disks.
In the drawings, A represents the outer tube or casing formed as shown of an
outer ply or layer of soft rubber a and an intermediate ply or layer a¹ of a
medium grade of hardness of rubber, such intermediate ply or layer having a
tread or face to suit the diameter of the tire and its use, and an inner ply or
layer of a medium grade of hardness of rubber, but the number of plies or
layers can be varied, so long as the casing or tube form is one adapted and
capable of receiving and containing the resilient disks. The tube is to be made
continuous in any of the usual and well-known manners.
Bare the resilient disks, each formed of a piece of soft rubber and each disk

page_text: having at one side of the center a hole or opening b, constituting the hole or
opening by which the requisite resiliency or elasticity is furnished, which hole or
opening can be of a diameter to produce the requisite resiliency, such diameter
being in proportion to the diameter of the disk and the amount of elasticity
desired. The disk shown in Fig. 3 has a solid body, except its resilient hole or
opening, and the disk shown in Fig. 4 has a series of holes or perforations 62 for
the purpose of lightening the disks, and consequently reducing the weight of
the tire as a whole. The hole or opening & formed at one side of the center, as
shown, leaves a web b, which web increases in width from its center outward in
both directions, by which means the elasticity is insured, and in practice the
disks are set in the outer tube or casing so that the holes of the disks are on
the bottom or inside of the tube next to the rim of the wheel.
C is the rim of the wheel made of wood or other suitable material as usuaļ to
have a concave face to receive the tube or casing of the tire.
D are the spokes of the wheel, and E the hub. The spokes and hub can be of
any well-known form of construction and arrangement for the spokes and hubs
of bicycles and other wheels.
The disks B are formed by taking a solid roll of soft rubber and cutting the
disks therefrom in the thickness required-a quarter of an inch more or less to
suit the tire--the solid rubber roll having therein a longitudinal hole, which,
when the disks are cut therefrom, forms the hole or opening of the disk. The
roll from which the disks are cut is first vulcanized and then has cemented thereto
on its outer face or periphery a single ply of non-vulcanized rubber and the disk
cut therefrom to the required thickness, and such disks are inserted in the outer
casing or tube and spaced as may be required, from three-eighths of an inch
more or less apart, and when spaced and set, the outer casing with the disks
therein, constituting the tire as a whole, is vulcanized in the usual way, firmly
uniting the series of disks to the outer tube or casing. But it is to be understood
that the disks can be united to the outer tube or casing by cementing, or in some
other manner, so long as the union is one by which the disks will be retained in
place and firmly united to the outer tube or casing.
The resilient hole or opening by being located at one side of the center, so as
to lie when the disks are in place at the bottom or inside of the tire, prevents the
disk from widening is use, as when the tire is placed on the wheel rim, the con-
cave of such rim supports the disk on opposite sides of the resilient hole, thereby
permitting of the necessary spread for cushioning purposes, and at the same time
leaving the tire with its full elasticity so that in use the tire is elastic and
yielding.
A tire formed of the outer casing and the inner resilient disks is secured to the
rim in any usual and well-known manner, and when in place forms a perfect and
uniform cushion for the wheel; and it will be seen that between each disk a space
is left, which space is an air cell, each cell being in a sense independent of the
other, but all the cells uniting to form a complete whole. This forming of an air
cell between each disk adds to the elasticity of the tire without affecting its
durability, as in case of a puncture passing through the outer tube
or casing such puncture will do no harm, because the action will be
simply to exhaust and draw in air through the puncture without producing any
collapsing of the tire, for the reason that the tire as a whole is supported and
maintained in an expanded condition by the resiliency of the disks, and the disks
are in no manner affected by the puncture. This effect is had by reason that the
flattening or inward pressure on the outer surface of the tire simply acts to force
the air out through the puncture, thereby to that extent exhausting the air in the
particular cell which communicates with the puncture, but not affecting to any
appreciable degree the adjoining air cells, and with the return of the tire to its
normal expanded condition the action will be a sucking in of the air, so that in
effect the tire acts as a self-pump simply exhausting and restoring the air to the
cell having a puncture, without changing to the least possible extent the actual

page_text: working condition of the tire as a whole, which remains expanded and retains its
full resiliency and elasticity.
It will thus be seen that the tire embodies the feature of being non-susceptible
to the effects of a puncture and likewise has the full resiliency and elasticity found
in a pneumatic tire, without the defects of the pneumatic tire, and such result is
broadly had by the employment of the resilient disks with their resilient holes
at one side of the center, which feature constitutes the essential feature of the
present invention in connection with the employment of such disks in a tire for
use on wheels, it being understood that the resilient disks are to be made of
soft rubber or other suitable elastic material.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In a wheel tire, the combination of an outer tube or casing and a series of
resilient disks secured within the outer tube or casing out of contact with each
other and each provided with a relatively large hole at or near its bottom portion,
substantially as described.
2. In a wheel tire, the combination of an outer tube or casing and a series of
soft rubber disks within the outer tube or casing and vulcanized thereto out of
contact with each other and each provided with a relatively large hole at or near
its bottom portion, substantially as described.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.