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Hartridge' s New Pneumatic Tire.

13th August 1908, Page 14
13th August 1908
Page 14
Page 14, 13th August 1908 — Hartridge' s New Pneumatic Tire.
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A Unique Design in which the Walls are Supported by Floating Flanges.

We have recently bad an opportunity of examining a new tire which has been produced by the Hartridge Tire Syndicate, Limited, of Dane's Inn House, 265, Strand, W.C. The object of the designer has been to produce a tire with a very thick tread, and thereby to permit a very large amount of rubber to be worn away before the tire becomes disabled. Other tire makers have produced tires with similarly-deep treads, but all these—chiefly because the extra depth of tread also means a. great total depth— have failed, and such tires have, in consequence, been .addicted to roiling, which motion sets up undue flexure in the side walls of the outer cover, with resultant shortening of the life of the tires. In the new Hartridge tire, however, an entirely novel form of construction has been adopted, and thiS will be made clear to our readers by the sectional drawing which we reproduce on this page.

It will be seen that the tire consists of an inner tube (I)) and an outer cover (A) : the tread of the cover, on an 88o mm. by 120 mm. tire, is inches wide and is provided with two grooves; each 5-16 inch deep ; below these grooves, and above the fabric which is embedded in the cover, there is a layer of pure rubber 9-16 inch in thickness. Instead of fitting this outer cover to .8 rim in the usual manner, floatingflanges (C) are provided, and between each pair of these flanges a side wall (B), consisting principally of strong fabric, is riveted; the beaded edges which retain the tire in position on the rim of the wheel are formed on the other ends of these fabric wars. The object of this construction is to obtain resiliency under varying conditions of load. Thus, (a) small obstacles, such as stones, ridges, or depressions in the road, cause local displacement of the rubber tread, whereas (b) heavy axial loads are distributed all round the fabric walls (13), by reason of the distortion of the outer cover (A), \\illicit tends to thrust apart the floathw, flanges (C).

The attachment of the tire to the road wheel may be by

4.749

means of any approved pattern of deta::hable rim; the one shown in our section is an early-pattern detachable rim, which was employed by Elastes, Limited, but this is not by any means the pattern which will ultimately be adopted by the Hartridge Company. With this form of tire, there is no

necessity for :.-,ecurity bolts of any kind, as, owing to the very large area of canvas and in)S9. rubber in frictional contact with the flanges, it has been 0)10 found in practice that there is

. absolutely no tendency for the tire to creep on the rim.

With a view to the testing of the strength of the side walls of this tire, and the wearing qualities of the tread, the Hartridge Company has been carrying out some highspeed trials on the track at Brooklands, and, after the car —which in running order weighed some 2,600 covered a distance of over 4,400 miles, the near-side driving wheel was removed and carefully examined by us, when it was found to be in an exceptionally-good condition ; during the whole of the 4,400 Miles of running, it had given no trouble whatever. The fabric in the wails (B) showed no signs of undue flexure, although it must have been subjected to very heavy strains while the car was being driven round the track at the high average speed of 40 miles an hour. The comparatively small amount Of rubber worn off the tread of the tire, due to frictional contact with the road surface during the 4,400 miles of running, certainly strengthens the manufacturers' claims for the hard-wearing qualities of the tire, and, if we assume that the wear on the tire will continue at the same rate until the canvas begins to show in the tread, the tire should be good enough for another ro,000 miles, although such expectation of life for a pneu matic tire is perhaps to much to reckon, especially if the tire has to do much running on rough country roads abounding in loose flints and other sharp substances. For town use, on the wheels of light delivery vans, motorcabs, or station buses, the tire should have a very successful future.

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