Improvements in and connected with Pneumatic Tyres for the Wheels of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes and Road Vehicles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Sept., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 10th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 12th Dec., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Pneumatic Tyres for the
Wheels of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes and Road
Vehicles.
I, WALTER BOOTH GOODWIN, of 83, Alston Street, in the City of Birmingham,
Artist in Decoration, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention has reference to pneumatic tyres for the wheels of bicycles,
tricycles and other velocipedes and other light running road vehicles such for
instance as trotting buggies.
It is well known that an ordinary pneumatic tyre when punctured collapses
and is very troublesome to repair thereby often causing great waste of time and
delay. This defect I overcome by making, as hereinafter described, the pneumatic
tyre in separate sections each section being distinct from the others and so arranged
that if a section is punctured it can very quickly be removed from the wheel
rim and replaced by a new one, the said sections being so light and occupying
so little space when not inflated that several of them can easily be carried in
the usual small cyclist's valise ready for use when required.
My invention further consists in an improved construction of cut off valve
hereinafter described for closing the air inlets to the said sections, after the
same have been inflated, this part of my invention being also applicable to those
pneumatic tyres which are continuous.
Each of the sections of my said improved tyre is composed of an inner tube or
air chamber of india-rubber closed at its ends and furnished with a cut off valve for
connecting to the pump, this cut off valve projecting through a hole in the wheel
rim as usual. Each of the said inner tubes is surrounded by an outer tube or
covering preferably of canvas and india-rubber vulcanised together and made much
thicker at the outer part which comes into contact with the road than it is at the
inner part which fits in the metallic rim of the wheel. The said inner tube and its
covering are held in place on the wheel rim by the covering being extended at each
side in the form of a flap or flaps at suitable distances apart which pass through
corresponding slots out in the wheel rim a short distance from the edge thereof
these flaps having eyeletted lacing holes so that they can be laced together to
embrace the rim and easily taken off when required.
To remove an inner punctured section it is merely necessary to unlace and
remove the outer covering of the same which can then be used again with a new
inner tube and be fixed in place in a few minutes by lacing as above described.
The punctured inner tubes of the sections can be repaired at any leisure time.
As above stated each of the tubular sections is furnished with a cut-off valve
by means of which the exit of the air, after the chamber has been pumped full, is
cut off just below the inlet where the nozzle of the air-pump is screwed in or
otherwise attached, so that there is no loss of air when detaching the pump
therefrom.
Or instead of making slits in the wheel rim for the flaps to pass through as above

page_text: described these slits may be dispensed with and the flaps arranged to entirely
embrace the rim as is now sometimes done.
Dated this 7th day of September 1891.
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and connected with Pneumatic Tyres for the
Wheels of Bicycles, Tricycles, and other Velocipedes and Road
Vehicles.
I, WALTER BOOTH GOODWIN, of 83 Alston Street, in the City of Birmingham, I
Artist in Decoration, 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 has reference to pneumatic tyres for the wheels of bicycles,
tricycles and other velocipedes and other light running road vehicles such for 1
instance as trotting buggies. By "pneumatic" tyres I mean only those tyres
which can be inflated or deflated at will the inflation being usually accomplished
by means of an air pump through a valve connected to the air chamber of the
tyre.
It is well known that an ordinary pneumatic tyre when punctured collapses and 2
is very troublesome to repair thereby often causing great waste of time and delay.
This defect I overcome by making, as hereinafter described, the pneumatic tyre in
separate sections each section being distinct from the others and so arranged that if
a section is punctured it can very quickly be removed from the wheel rim and
replaced by a new one, the said sections being so light and occupying so little space
when not inflated that several of them can easily be carried in the usual small
cyclist's valise ready for use when required.
On the accompanying drawing
Fig. 1 represents on a reduced scale a velocipede or other like wheel with
its pneumatic tyre constructed according to this invention;
Fig. 2 shews a part of the same full size;
Figs. 3 and 4 are cross sections of the same full size;
Fig. 5 shews in elevation and in cross section a part of the metal rim and spokes
of the same full size;
8
Fig. 6 shews separately one of the pneumatic sections of which the said tyre is 3
composed;
Fig. 7 shews the inner india rubber tubular air chamber of the said section
separately and Fig. 8 shews the outer covering part of the said section separately;
Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are drawn to the same scale as Fig. 1;
Fig. 9 shews the kind of cut off valve which I prefer to use with each of the said 4
sections, but this valve forms no part of this invention;
Fig. 10 illustrates a different method of securing the sections of my improved
pneumatic tyre to the wheel rim as hereinafter described;
Fig. 11 shews a modified form of wheel rim for use with my invention and
Fig. 12 shows an alternative method of securing the flaps of the sections round 4
the wheel rim.
The same letters of reference indicate the same or corresponding parts in all
the figures of the drawing.
A is the metal rim of the wheel, and the sections composing the pneumatic
tyre of the same are respectively marked B', B', B', B', B, Bº. In the
example shewn by Fig. 1 the tyre is composed of six sections which is a very
convenient number for a wheel of twenty eight inches diameter but it is to be
understood that I do not confine myself to composing the tyre of any particular
number of sections as I may either use more or fewer than six sections.

page_text: Each of the said sections of my improved tyre is composed of an inner air tight
india rubber tube or air chamber marked e (one of which is shewn separately by
Fig. 6) closed at its ends and made to the same sweep as the rim of the wheel and
furnished with a cut off valve such as d (which may be of the usual kind) adapted
at e for connecting to the air pump, this cut off valve projecting through a hole a¹
in the wheel rim as is usual in a pneumatic tyre which is formed in one piece.
Each of the said inner tubes c is surrounded by an outer tube or covering which
on the drawing are respectively marked B' B³ B* B* B B but as they are all
exactly the same I will restrict my description to only one of them say that
marked B. The section B' then is preferably made of canvas and india rubber
vulcanized together (this outer covering is shewn separately by Fig. 8) and made
thicker at the outer part 6' (see Figs. 2, 3 and 4) which comes into contact with
the road than it is at the inner part 6 which fits in the metallic rim of the wheel.
The ends of the inner tubes c are protected by the ends of the outer covering B'
being closed (see the partial section Fig. 2). To facilitate inserting the inner
tubes in their respective outer coverings B¹ B* B* B* B* B* or removing the
inner tubes therefrom, each of the said outer coverings has a slit or opening bat
that side which comes against the wheel rim this opening being closed by the
edges of the covering piece overlapping.
Each of the said sections of the pneumatic tyre is held in place on the wheel rim
by its covering such as B' being extended at each side in the form of a flap or
flaps at suitable distances apart. On each of the sections shewn there are three
pairs of these flaps marked g but a greater or smaller number than three may be used
according to the length of the section. These flaps pass through corresponding slots a
cut in the wheel rim (see Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10) a short distance from the edge
thereof each flap having eyeletted lacing holes so that the flaps on one side of
the wheel rim can (as shewn in Fig. 10) be laced to the corresponding flap on the
other side of the wheel rim and thus be secured thereto by embracing the wheel rim
between the flaps. Or, instead of the said flaps being secured to the wheel rim by
lacing as shewn in Fig. 10 there may be headed studs i fixed to the wheel rim
corresponding with the eyeletted holes and on to which the flaps are buttoned as
shewn in Figs. 2 and 3; or, as shewn in Fig. 12, buttons as used for instance on
buttoned boots, or studs may be fixed to the flaps 9 on one side of the section to
engage with eyeletted or other button holes in the flaps at the other side.
The lacing or buttoning of the flaps together or buttoning the flaps on to the
studs to fix the section to the rim has to be done when the internal tube o is
only partly inflated and the outer covering is loose so that when the latter is
tightened by the inner tube being fully inflated the section will be properly secured
to the wheel rim.
To remove an inner punctured section it is merely necessary to unlace or
unbutton and remove the outer covering such as B³, of the same which can then be
used again with a new inner tube and be fixed in place in a few minutes by lacing
or buttoning as above described. The punctured inner tube of the section can be
repaired at any leisure time.
As above stated each of the inner tubular sections c is furnished with a cut-off
valve (such for instance as shewn by Fig. 9) by means of which the exit of the air
after the chamber has been pumped full, is cut-off just below the inlet e where
the nozzle of the air pump is screwed in or otherwise attached, so that there
is no loss of air when detaching the pump therefrom. This valve forms no part of
my invention.
Instead of making the slits a in the wheel rim for the flaps 9 to pass through as
above described, these slits a may be dispensed with and the flaps g arranged to
entirely embrace the rim A as is now sometimes done. In this case the periphery
of the rim A may either be plain as is usual or it may be cut out into
notches j for the flaps to fit in as shewn in Fig. 11. The advantage of arranging
the flaps to fit in slots such as a or notches such as ; is that the flaps are then

page_text: by the wheel rim protected from injury when the side of the wheel rim rubs against
anything.
I am aware of John Samuel Smith's Patent No. 14203 of 1890 and make no
claim to anything claimed therein.
. 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 :-
1. The improvements in those pneumatic tyres which can be inflated or deflated
at will, consisting in making the said tyres in. separate and independent sections
each section consisting of an inner removable air tight india rubber tube furnished
with a cut off valve and an outer covering piece surrounding the said inner tube
and furnished with side flaps adapted to be buttoned or laced to the wheel rim
substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. In combination with a pneumatic tyre made in sections as denoted under
Claim one, the employment of a wheel rim having slots such as a for the flaps of
the sections to pass through substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated
by the accompanying drawing.
3. The manufacture and use of pneumatic tyres of the kind herein referred to
substantially in the manner hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing.
Dated this 9th day of November 1891.
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
Agent for the Applicant.