The Growing Use Of Rubber

Northern Advocate, 22 July 1939, Page 6 (Supplement)

The Growing Use Of Rubber

One of the features of the modern chassis is the liberal use of rubber, not only in mounting the engine, but for many components and minor fittings. The results obtained have been so good that still further use will no doubt be made of it in bushings and mountings throughout the chassis. Some very interesting results have been obtained from* tests using a system by which rubber can, as it were, be welded to metal, almost as though the two were chemically combined. That the rubber docs, in fact, combine with the metal has been demonstrated by a special testing machine. A test piece, consisting of two metal faces, connected by rubber, had to be subjected to a very high stress before

the rubber itself could be persuaded to break, and even then, rubber was left on each metal face.

An example of where such components can be used is the rubber for the damper employed on the crankshaft of multi-cylinder engines, for the damper thus constructed consists very simply of a heavy rim connected to a centre through rubber, so that when it is once right, the damper remains a permanent fixing, requiring no adjustment. The flexible centre of a disc clutch is another instance and a universal joint a third, having, incidentally, the advantage that there are no wearing parts. Other uses are in the suspension, fan mountings, coachwork, and the mourn, ings for the power unit and gear ncx.