The Resilient Wheel Problem Solved
Page 26
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WHEN, during the war, we found ()urn selves cut off, almost overnight, from those areas from which we obtained our supplies of natural rubber, it became urgently necessary to devise some practical alternative to the pneumatic-tyred vehicle wheel.
Numerous patents have been taken out tor sprung wheels and, naturally, the good and bad points of all of them were studied with a view to the possible development of the most promising. The investigators, however, drew a.. blank, and there was nothing for it but to start from scratch.
In due course, what came to be known as the Vauxhall wheel, was submitted to the Government in model form, and was approved. Strangely enough, this wheel depends for its resiliency upon rubber, but as the quantity required is much. smaller than that needed for a lyre. and as the rubber used is not subjected to rolling friction as is a tyre, its construction is most economical in the use of that commodity.
Reference to the accompanying illustration will show clearly the principle of this wheel which, it is to be noted, can be 'fitted to a vehicle in the same manner as a normal type of wheel shod with a pneumatic tyre.
The centre of thy wheel consists of two dished discs, lying between which is the rib of a T-sectioned metal band. This rib is secured to the wheel discs through the medium of a numoer of blocks of rubber, .so that the rim of the wheel has no metallic or direct-connection with the discs or hub portion.
S6 far so good, but there was still the. question of providing the rim with some form of tread. Without going into the details relative to the search for a material that would stand up to the gruelling of constant braking and acceleration, apart from the direct loading, it was discovered quite early on, that cotton duck. of all materials, offered excellent possibilities. There were, however, difficulties in the way of production so that, in the meantime, an experimental set of wheels was fitted with solid rubber threads, as it was very necessary to test out the wheels under actual operating conditions.
They gave every satisfaction, and when a set of cotton-duck treadseventually came to hand they were tried out and were found to And up to their
job. The search for a resilient wheel had ended, and although we were not forced to use it, it was a reassuring thought that, had everything gone the wrong way so far as rubber, supplies were concerned, we could still have kept the wheels turning.
For this achievement great credit is due alike to Ministry officials, and the engineers of Vauxhall Motors, Ltd., and other concerns, which refused to be• beaten in their endeavours to solve a problem that has engaged inventors for the past 40 years or more.