The Modern Bicycle and Its Accessories

by Alex Schwalbach; Julius Wilcox

CHAPTER VIII.
EVOLUTION OF THE TIRE.

At all times through the history of the art of cycle construction distinct efforts were made to decrease the vibration and to increase the velocity, and none of these efforts were successful with the exception of the pneumatic tire.

Indeed the pneumatic tire has been well described as being “the great marvel of bicycle making, both literally and figuratively, and the foundation upon which the modern bicycle rests.”

Spring forks, spring frames and springy saddles were at one bound replaced by it. Invented late in 1888 by John Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, Ireland, it was tested quietly for nearly a year in and around Belfast before being launched on the British and foreign cycle markets, and its success in 1889 and ’90 was so remarkable that it was regarded as the distinctive feature of the decade. The first pneumatic tires were received in this country in the fall of 1889 on some English bicycles. They were placed on a flat steel rim, were about 2 inches in diameter, and the outer shoe or cover had a heavy, thickened tread, and was fastened to the rim by two canvas flaps, which were slit to pass the spokes, thus completely enveloping the rim. The inner tube was a very heavy one, not nearly so resilient as those in use at the present time. The great features of this tire were, however, its strength and its non-liability to puncture. Its chief objections were its great cost, its enormous weight, and the difficulty to repair when once punctured. It was almost a day’s work to soften with naphtha the cemented flaps, remove them carefully from the rim, withdraw the inner tube from its enveloping tube of seamless constricted canvas which enveloped it to repair the puncture and to replace the tube and to recement the flaps to the rim. This type of tire is, however, now extinct, save that Dunlop’s fundamental idea of the pneumatic tire still prevails with modifications only in methods of attachment, material and details of construction. The advantages which the pneumatic tire possesses are so many and so well known that it is not here necessary, however, to enumerate them. Comfort to the rider is, of course, its greatest point. Vibration is intercepted at the best possible point, namely at the point of contact between the tire and the ground, and thus the vibration is not distributed through the entire structure of the bicycle, the air cushion of the tire being really a spring which is always ready for use, and which works without rubbing surfaces. When an obstruction is encountered it sinks into the tire and the bicycle rides over it without vibration or jolt being communicated to the rider. Its next great point of advantage is of course its speed. The invention of the Dunlop, or inner, tube tire in England, was followed in England by the invention of a type of tire known familiarly here as the hosepipe tire. The hosepipe or single tube tire was first suggested and fully described by I. W. Boothroyd of London, England, in a letter to the Cyclist in 1890. He did not, however, patent the tire, and he has, unfortunately, no pecuniary interest whatever in the single tube tire. The old [Draisene], the wooden and iron “[Boneshakers]” or velocipedes all had iron tires on wooden rims. The Phantom, an English production, was the first bicycle put upon the market that had wooden rims and rubber tires. Its rubber tires, however, were nailed on. When the [ordinary] came into vogue, U and V shaped steel rims were used. These were usually made solid, although some of the makers made them hollow. Into these rims solid rubber tires were cemented, and a few of the English makers had an arrangement for fixing them in mechanically, with corrugated wires. They averaged ⅞ and 1 inch in size and were very comfortable riding, although they were somewhat heavy. Between 1876 and 1882 there was a tendency to decrease the thickness of the rubber tire and a perfect fad ensued for thin tires. This, however, like other fads in bicycle construction did not last very long, and a few years later there was a distinct tendency to return to tires of a larger diameter. Shortly after the safety bicycle was introduced in this country the cushion tire was invented. This was usually a large round rubber tire, which was moulded with a core in the centre and which, when withdrawn, left a hole varying in size from ¼ to ⅜ of an inch, according to the size of the core. The ends were then lapped and then vulcanized together, forming a complete circle and having an unpuncturable air cushion of small diameter. The objections to this style of tire were its weight and cost. It was, of course, superior to the solid tire, but greatly inferior to the pneumatic tire in every way, and, coming, as it did, into existence at about the same time that the pneumatic tire did, of course, it did not survive. One of the most popular American cushion tires at that time was the Victor. They used a hollow rim and the tire was a simple arch of rubber extending from edge to edge of the rim. Its side walls were held against spreading by side flanges having rounded edges, and which the tire covered and protected. The base of the tire rested upon a horizontal rim bed, and which added greatly in giving lateral stiffness to the tire and strength to the hollow rim. Like the pneumatic tire, this tire displaced inwardly under pressure, and the movement of the rubber was, therefore, wholly radial, which accounted for the great elasticity of the Victor cushion tire. These tires were not, however, cemented to the rim or stretched over the rim, but were compressed to the rim by a peculiar process of their own, and it was almost impossible to pull a Victor tire from the rim. In 1890 T. B. Jeffery of the Gormully & Jeffery Manufacturing Company of Chicago, who had invented a detachable tire in the days of the use of the solid tire, conceived the idea of applying his previous ideas in regard to detachable tires to the pneumatic tire, and the result was the invention of the G. & J. tire with a corrugated tread. From year to year it has been improved in detail, always retaining the corrugations, the number of which is changed annually to indicate the year of manufacture, but the principle of the tire remains unchanged. The G. & J. tire, as adapted to wooden rims, has proven a great success. The wood rim is made with a square central groove, with a supplementary groove at each side with double beads at each edge of the outer case of the tire, which fit into the grooves of the rim. The tire is so constructed that the entire strain of the air pressure comes upon the square central groove, where the rim is strongest. The outer cover is made with a supplementary flap. In applying the tire the edge of the case having the flap is placed on the rim first. The flap extends a little past the edge of the rim and the other edge is easily slipped under the supplementary flap into its place in the rim.

MORGAN & WRIGHT TIRE.

A tire somewhat similar to this was invented in England about the same time, known as Bartlett’s Clincher, and manufactured by the North British Rubber Co., under Bartlett’s patents, and a tire largely used in this country in 1891 to 1893 was that known as the Bidwell-Thomas tire, and which was similar in construction to the Dunlop tire already described; and among the early American tires in addition to those already mentioned were the hosepipe tires known as the Columbia, Ideal, the New York Belting and Packing Co.’s Protective Strip and the Palmer. But even of these, some that have survived have undergone some radical changes in their construction. The Dunlop tire, for instance, now has an endless wire in each side of its outer shoe. The inner tube lies in the base of the rim, and when the inner tube is inflated the air pressure holds the outer shoe to the rim. The Dunlop, although it is largely used in this country, is still more largely used in England, although plans have been laid by the American makers of hosepipe tires to increase the sale of their product in England this year.

To the makers of the Columbia, however, must be given the credit of introducing the hosepipe tire in this country, for in 1892 they were practically alone in their belief that the single tube tire was the coming tire. The hosepipe tires made at that time were, of course, very heavy and difficult to repair, but they continued to manufacture them and gradually became skilful in their processes of manufacture, and developed repair methods that are still in use. At the Chicago Cycle Shows of 1895 there were only two tire makers who exhibited hosepipe tires, but a year later at the shows nearly every great tire maker in the country exhibited hosepipe tires, and since that time they have been the most popular tires in use in this country.