A NEW FLEXIBLE WHEEL.
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Dunlop Invention, which Incorporates Rubber Spokes in its Design.
MANY BRAINS have been at work for a long time, trying to solve the problem of the design of a flexible wheel capable of withstanding the rough usage to which it would be subjected in its application to the needs of the heavy commercial vehicle,
The latest wheel of the kind, emanating from the Dunlop-Rubber Co., Ltd., has many points in its favour besides the fact that its sponsors have an experience second to none of the requirements which would-have to be met by such a wheel. Simplicity and cheapness of manufacture may be numbered amongst those advantages, while its practicability appears to be beyond question.
The construction may be said, broadly, to embody a central solid hub, a rim which is contractile (its actual dimensions being dependent upon the.manipulation of a number of right and lefthanded screws, which draw together, or separate, the segments of the rim), and a number of connecting blocks of rubber.
The design is patented, being registered at. the Patent Office under specification No. 201,030, by. the Dunlop Rubber Co., Ltd., and Colin AlacBeth.. The rubber connecting blocks are shown, in one example of the construction of this wheel which accompanies the patent specification, to be of If-section. They are vulcanized at both ends to steel plates, and the complete part, rubber pillar and end plates, is then bolted to the hub and rim of ths .wheel. Any number of pillars may be used per wheel, and the design is subject to modification to suit different conditions.
The rim is designed to accommodate any ordinary rubber-band tyre, which may he mounted .without the use of a press after the rim has been sufficiently contracted by means of the screws to which reference has already been made. While the rim is being contracted in this Manner the connecting blocks are in compression; they extend when the tyre is in place and the rim expanded.