Side-slip and Skid Prevention.
Page 4
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First Notice of the Devices Entered for the A.C.G.B.I. Trials.
As announced in our last issue, the drawings of 12 of the 41 devices entered for the Automobile Club's trials have been passed by the Expert and Technical Committee; 2 had been withdrawn, and 27 were reje.cted. Those successful are as follows —The Dunlop Rubber Company, Limited; The Hart. ridgeTire Syndicate, Limited; Messrs. J. Liversidg-e and Son, Limited; Mr. H. B. Molesworth ; The Non-Skid Syndicate, Limited; The Parsons Non-Skid Company, Limited (2 entries); The Reilloc Tire Company, Limited; Messrs. W. Sully and H. P. ShaiIer; The Vivian Non-Skid Tire Company, Limited; The Westminster Industrial and Finance Developments, Limited., and Mr. George B. Winter. Part 2, the preliminary test, is to be held at the Clement-Talbot Works, Barlby Road, Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, at 9 a.m. onTuesday, 5th February, and those devices which succeed in passing this test will proceed to Part 3, which consists of road trials.
The" K.T." tire, entered by J. Liversidge and Son, Limited, was described in the first instalment of this article (see page 413, ante), and short .descriptions of some of the other, so-far, successful devices will be found below.
The Westminster Industrial and Finance Developments, Limited, of 3, Prince's Mansions, 68, Victoria Street, S.W., has entered a tire which consists of alternate leather and rubber rings, which are placed alongside each other round the circumference of the wheel. This construction is shown in our illustration (Fig. ig), and the action claimed for it is the same resistance to lateral movement as is shown when the fingers of a hand are pressed on to a flat surface, and, also, that each ring will clear the road of grease and mud for the ring next to it, thus leaving a portion of the road surface in a suitable condition for obtaining a firm hold for the wheel,
The device entered by the Reilloc Tire Company, Limited, of (22, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., is the groaved sectional tire invented by Mr, A. T. Collier. No special device is attached to the wheel, it being claimed by the company that this tire is in itself, a non-slipping one. The tire is built up of rubber blocks set diagonally across the wheel, and these are about S inches long and 4 inches wide. Each rubber block is built up on a metal carrier, and then vulcanised on it. A
groove about inch deep is formed across the centre of each block, and 26, altogether, are used on a standard wheel. Two steel rings are fitted to the wheel, one on either side, and secured to it by means of bolts passing transversely through the felly. These form flanges, in which a series of tapered holes is formed, to receive the conical projections, cast at the ends of each carrier. The bottom of the carrier is so shaped as to bed down solidly on the rim, and the whole forms a very secure method of retaining the blocks
in place, whilst, at the same time, any block can be easily removed by detaching one of the flange rings, Our illustration (Eig, 20) shows a portion of a single tire and one of the blocks ; pattern with twin treads is also, made.
The Hartridge Tire Syndicate, Limited, of Danes Inn House, 265, Strand, W.C., has entered its adjustable non-skid Lire for the Automobile Club's trials. In this type, pockets are arranged round the rim of the wheel, which contain sections of rubber placed side by side. Sixteen of these pockets are employed on each wheel, and within each are six sections of rubber. The action of the tire will be clearly understood from the sectional drawing reprodu.ced on this page (Fig. 21), and it will be noted that the edges of the rubber sections are designed to cut through the road mud in the direction of possible lateral slip, in order to secure a firm hold of a clean surface. The bottoms of the different pockets are. arranged to form a series of steps, so that, as the rubber sections in each pocket are worn away and require adjusting, they are put into pockets a step higher, and, in this manner, the original diameter of the wheel is prevented from varying to any appreciable extent. It is claimed by the syndicate that, as this system of adjustment enables a very soft and elastic quality of rubber to be used, greater resiliency results and is canstantly maintained, and that the gripping effect of the tires on the road is such as to give a considerable increase in the effective brake power of the vehicle.
The entry of the Dunlop Rubber Company, although accepted by the Committee, has been withdrawn. The above, with the Vivian non-skid tire, in which integral sections of hard and soft rubber alternate, complete the list of devices in which a form of rubber tread has been used ; they form Section E of the entries, and all have been passed for trial.
The devices entered by Mr. Henry B. Molesworth, of 3g, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., have, for a basis, subsidiary wheels, which are placed on the driving, or on an auxiliary, axle and bear a portion of the weight and load, either by means of springs or other device, but without being either driven by the engine or acted upon by the brakes or retarding device. These wheels, it is claimed, will thus he maintained in rolling contact with the road surface in virtue of their independence of the usual controlling factors—the motive power and the brakes. Mr. Molesworth's two entries were for different applications of the principle, and the one which will undergo further test is that in which there are three pairs of wheels, with back and front steering.
Four of the remaining successful devices consist of metal rings arranged between the twin treads of the rearwheel tires, and the last is the floating chain, with loops, of the Parsons NonSkid Company, similarly disposed.