TYRE FOR AIRCRAFT

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3186, 9 August 1930, Page 2

TYRE FOR AIRCRAFT

THE SAFE AIR WHEEL. Goodyear has developed a new air wheel, increasing the safety factor in airplane landings and take-offs. The new tyre is revolutionary in design, a full balloon casing mounted directly on a hub attached to the plane undercarriage eliminating rim. spokes, and wheel. It is called the Goodyear air wheel, and the name is appropriate inasmuch as the casing has the dual function of a tyre and a wheel. Goodyear sees in the air wheel an opportunity to make costly auxiliary shock-absorbers unnecessary, so adding to the useful load-carrying possibilities of heavier-than-air ships Other outstanding advantages of this new type tyre include extreme cushioning for landings, traction in snow, ice, sand, and mud, nearness to perfect streamline, elimination of ordinary ground leaping, and greater security in cross wind and deflated tyre landings. The air wheel gives larger air volume at extremely low pressure, and extended experiments and tests show it to be capable of sustaining huge loads under ordinary service conditions. Goodyear engineers report that brake tests to date give promise of revolutionary results for airplane use.

The casting is mounted upon a specially designed hub, furnished or without an internal expanding brake, similar to well-known standard types. Smooth and efficient braking has been attained in tests, aviation engineers having stressed the desirability of quick automatic action. . Planes have been landed without any perceptible jar or on the new air wheel, test pilots reporting that the landings were so soft that it was impossible to tell when actual contact with the earth took place. Engineers further point out that such landing cushioning should lengthen the life of the airplane, sparing the framework from racking and wrenching. The secret of anti-bouncing and absorption of shocks in the air wheel type of tyre lies in the low pressure and large air volume, Goodyear engineers explain. The shocks are dissipated in the greater air volume attained in the casings. Actual production and distribution of the new wheel are well under way.