Motor & Cycle

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7865, 29 July 1911, Page 15

Motor & Cycle

A non-skid tyre tread now on the market in America is said to bo a distinct success. The new tread is just a little bit different from anything of its kind that has been offered to the public before and it was perfected only after long testd and experiments. The rubber of which the tyre proper is made is of a dark colour, but the powdered compounds mixed into the tread to give it its peculiar wear resisting power -turn it almost white. The surface of this tread is covered with small diamondshaped projections running lengthwise ot tho tyre. These projections are fdightly wider at 'the base whore they join the lyre, which makes them wear longer and prevents them, from breaking off. In making this tread seven layers of thin strips of rubber of varying width are laid one on another and tho whole strip is then wrapped round a mould. It is then put into a:n hydraulic press and squeezed so tightly that the ‘rubber is forced into the diamond-shaped holes ot , the mould and tho tread is formed. The tread is then laid over a cement coated tyro and wrapped tightly with several (hickiiiosses of tape, after which the tyro and its wrapping is placed in a big vulcaniser where the process of attaching the trend is completed and from which it comes forth a finished tyre. Twelve years back the Dunlop Rubber Company organised an Australasian 100 Miles Inter-club Road Relay Ride, each club being allowed a team of ten riders,, each of whom had to cover a ten miles section and then hand over a dispatch to a team mate, and so on until the “’century" had been covered. After a close contest between tho crack clubs of Australia and Now Zealand, the contest and trophy was won by the Christchurch Cycling Club, who covered the 100 miles in 4t hours 29 minutes 30 seconds. In May last a similar contest was held in America, and, strange to say, exactly tho same time—to a second—was taken by tho winning team as that recorded years ago by tho Christchurch Club. In America they arc waking up to tho value of good roads, and it is officially •announced that 2*1,116,000 dollars will be spent on road making in the United States during tho next road making season. . This enormous sum is but the first of a series of annual contributions to form a great highway system through, out tho United States. ,A Valuable Patent. It was cabled the other day that Mr ‘G. _ Westinghousc, the inventor of the ■universally used Wcstinghouse Railway Air Brake, has perfected an air spring wheel which will, it is said, do away with pneumatic tyros. The Dunlop .Rubber Company state that they are of the opinion that the invention referred .to is not a spring wheel but a new typo .of air spring to supersede the laminated jsteel springs that aro to-day used on • every motor car. Twelve months ago Air Westinghouso was said to have ir hand the perfecting of an air spring isystem, which consisted of a set of brass ‘tubes which/ worked into each other like ia piston, one set of four tubes being ffixed to the frame and the other to the axles, the whole weight of the chassis thus resting on four columns of compressed air. The upper tubes were fitted with leather packing at the lower ends, oil being used to prevent escape of air past the • packing. Any leakage was taken, up by a small interior pump. Seven inches of play was allowed for the working of the air piston. Experiments conducted.-by Air Westinghouso on a car weighing over two tons, fitted‘with his iair piston springs, demonstrated that (Solid tyros could bo used with no more vibration than is associated with tho pneumatic. The experiments were then said to bo in every way successful, but as nothing has been heard of this air .spring system for months the chances ,are there were defects to be eliminated and that these have now been remedied. Th probabilities are them that this is the invention referred to in the cable, and that the air spring has been perfected is to bo handled commercially. . -