A PAGE FROM TYRE HISTORY.
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• An Account of an Interview With a Director of the Company. Manufacturing the Modern Collier. Tyre.
A N.ARTICLE by "The Inspector"
which appeared in, our iSsue for December 14th last contained a-refereece to a 'very early pneumatic tyre, for commercial and other vehicles, known as the Collier. As a result, of this mention, we received a letter from the International Rubber Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Lower Belgrave Street, Victoria, London, S.W.1, drawing attention to the fact that the old Collier tyre was bandied by the Collier Tyre Co., formerly of Long Acre, Lundell W.C., and now merged into the above company. As this early and successful experiment with pne•ornatic tyres presents many features of interest in view of the prosent-day trend of events, we arranged to•visit the company for the purpose of obtaining an interview with one or the dieeceors.
We were fortunate enough to meet Mr. J. A. Howard, who received us. with every courtesy, and was prepared to answer the questions we put to him.
" Will you tell us something of the history of the original Collier tyre? " we asked.
" Certainly? The t•yise was ievented by Mr. A. T Collier. and the first few were manufactured 10:y the Collier Tyre Co. at a. little factory at. St. Albans some 22 years ago. It achieved popularity air-Zest immediately, mid was. fitted as standard by the makers of many highclam cars, as well as on various types of commercial vehicles. This was in. the days' when the tyires were sow apart from the chassis an • additional . charge being made according to the type of tyre' fitted. The Collier tyre was somewhat more eepensive than other snakes, and when it. became customary for the,makers to quote for chassis complete with tyres, this additional cost practically killed it, as the makere did not particularly mind how long the tyres-wore se long as they could sell the vehicles at a low inclusive cost. Before this happened, however, the tyre was being manufactured
considerable quantities by the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber Co., and incie &litany, it was need for some considerable time by the late King."
"Did the Collier tyre 'become very popular for commercial vehicles?"
• " Yes, owing to its thick tread, strong walls, and long life, it certainly became very popular; in fact, the average life proved to be from three to five years;. some even listed as long as ten years in constant service; and the Gas, light and Coke Co., in 1912, wrote to us with reference to a lorry employed for delivering gas stoves, the front wheels of which were shod with the original Collier tyres.''
Handing us a section of the tyre, Mr. Howard added:— " Yoa will be able to gather from this section what an advance this tyre re presented, considering' that. tide portion was out from .a: tyre made over 20 years ago, and which has run for three yeldrs on a vehicle."
" Were any alterations made from the original 'design?" " Very few. You will notice that the section 'of the original tyre shows cored canvas ribs between' the canvas pp and the body of the tread in order to support the latter. These. we found unnecessary, and they were omitted in subsequent designs,"
We remarked on the fact that, even though the rubber was 20 yeare, old, it still retained much of its resiliency, and that, in fact, the tyre was hardly perished at all, except where the rubber thinned at the walls.
"Yes. The company,,knew how to treat rubber even in those early days, and we have been improving ever since, as you will see when I show you a section of the latest Collier tyre."
We commented on the fact that the old Collier tyre was straight-sided.
"Yes," said Mr. Howard ; "we believe this to be the first straight-sided tyre made. You see, at that time ordinary tyres were made under licence, so we utilized a different method of fitting. In manufacturing the tyres, spirally wound wire eubes were introduced between the two flaps, which, in the ordinary tyre, form each bead, and these were then solutioned firmly together. .Through each of the tubes Was passed a thin wire rope, but previous to this, eyebolts were positioned in square holes partially eist through the base of each 'bead,' so that they were threaded on to the wire; the screwed shank of each eyebolt was then passed through the rim of the wheel and nutted.
"Yost will note that the old tyre is egg-shaped, and it tread iS smooth and narrow."
We had noticed gals, and asked why this shape of tyre was not used nowadays, as it seemed to allow for a much thicker tread than in the modern type. "Well, the egg-shaped tyre was quite satisfactory in the days of low speeds and comparatively low weights, but for present-day speeds the shape is wrong, as a rolling motion occurs in the tyres when rounding corners, and the eggshaped tyre caused this motion to be tLCCeIltuated in addition, the old tyre had no ohms-skidding properties," ":Inewheteiees were the tyres made?" "They Were. made in practically all the usual inch sizes, and it is interest • ing to note thet three_ dimensions were
always given. —Take, for instance the most popular type. This was Classified as 34 ins. by 4k ins, by 4,i ins, which is equivalent to the present 880 nun. by 120 inns. tyre."
After this we examined a new Collier• tyre, and were interested to learn that this is the first tyre so-called since the original. We inquired why this-was so, and in reply, Mr: Howard said:—
" The original Collier was such an excellent tyre that we did not wish to give its name to another tyre until we could r.trOdUCB one which we considered • pre-eminently worthy to hear it, and we are satisfied that we have now achieved this. The new Collier represents the very latest in pneumatic tyre manufacturing. For any particular wheel it is practically as large as the over-size tyres made by many manufacturers, and vet its cost is onlya matter of a few shillings more than a standard tyre in the same category,"
"Have you considered the question of manufacturing heavy pneumatics for commercial vehieles?"L
"Ye, we' have thought of doing this; but have adopted a waiting policy.; sia a matter of fact, the present Collier iii the 935 nun. by 150 mm. size -would be strong enough 'for the lighter types, of commercial vehicles if used with twit rear wheels."