A FORD SPECIALITY.

Thames Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 17570, 8 March 1929, Page 7

A FORD SPECIALITY.

STEEL SPOKE WHEELS

Automobile wheels have undergone considerable changes within the, past ten years, and some of the most notable improvements are to be seen in the wheels with which the new model “A” Ford car is equipped. These new wheels are known as “steel spoke” wheels and are of special Ford design and manufacture. The wheel department in the giant machine shop at Ford City, Ontario, is in reality an industry itself. Machines take strips of flat steel and make rims and hub shells. Another set of machines turn out spokes from rolls of steel wiie. Welding makes the individual units one piece of steel. Like other features of the new model “A” Ford, they combine lightness and graceful appearance with strength and durability to a degree never before attained. The steel spokes, of which there are thirty in each wheel, are made of a fine grade of Ford steel, eleetrically welded to the steel rim and the hub shell so that the entire wheel, hub, spokes and ring becomes in reality one piece of steel, with no part that can work or wear loose and weaken the wheel structure or become noisy. Besides, each spoke before' being welded' to hub and rim is set at just that angle in relation to the other spokes which makes it perform the best possible bracing and pulling function. This feature of the design prevents road shocks being transmitted directly to any single spoke in the wheel rim and hub, thus lessening the danger of wheel failure. The rim of this new Ford wheel is of the “drop centre” type, which gives greater,-strength to the rim, imparting the . same qualities of rigidity that are found in channel and corrugated steel, and which also greatly facilitates changing tyres, as the tyfre, once the air is out, may be removed easily even without the aid of tools.—Speed of wheel change is another advantage, as, in case of a puncture, it is far easier to simply remove the nuts from the fixed studs of the Ford spoke wheel, than it is to remove the nuts, lugs, etc., and the demountable rims which are more apt to be rusted on account of being so close to the road.