660 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[August 1. 1917. 



air from the top of the boot, and so on alternately at every 

 step, thereby keeping the feet sweet, clean and dry. 



All who have worn rubber boots, especially in warm weather, 

 know the torture they undergo and I would like to see such a 

 thing put on the market at a reasonable price. 



M. C. B.\RDEN. 



West Pawlet, Vermont, June 4. 1917. 



As far back as 1890 the Hannaford ventilated boot, manufac- 

 tured in Boston, was on the market. It had an elastic middle 

 sole with compressible air cells connected witli a tube extending 

 to the top of the leg. It was similar in action to Mr. Barden's 

 device, though the pneumatic feature was an integral part of the 

 boot. We understand Mr. Barden's idea is a separate insole which 

 can be placed in any of the boots now manufactured. Some years 

 ago the Commonwealth Shoe & Leather Co., of Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts, bought out the "Resiha" shoe, which had a ribbed 

 rubber inner-sole cft'ecting the same purpose, the air intake being 

 at the breast of the heel. Its manufacture was discontinued 

 after it had been on the market a few years. Undoubtedly any 

 effective method of ventilating rubber boots must conduce to the 

 comfort of the wearer. — The Editor. 



PFYFFER'S RESILIENT WHEEL WITH 

 PNEUMATIC HUB. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubbkr WHkld; 



DEAR SIR — Your good description of my resilient wheel in 

 the June issue, page 523. leads me to supplement additional 

 information regarding its operation, which is based upon a new 

 and thus far not generally admitted principle. 



As it was your book "Rubber Tires and Ail About Them," 

 which, more than anything else, showed me the right trail, es- 

 pecially by way of what you said on page 30 about the way in 

 which a pool of water "receives a solid body thrown into it," I 

 should like first of all to thank you for this book and then to 

 take the liberty of submitting the main principle upon which 

 my invention is based, to your kind personal investigation. 



The whole question is whether or not from a given pneumatic 

 tire, with a given inflation pressure and a given load, or load- 

 shock, there is a bigger depression obtainable when the tire is 

 in contact with a convex-shaped rigid member encircling the 

 tire, than when the tire is in direct contact with the flat road. 



My conve.x-shaped member D takes, so to say, the place of 

 the pebble on the road in relation to the pneumatic tire, or the 

 place of the "solid body" of your book (page 30) thrown in a 

 pool of water. Not being able to increase the pool of water, I 

 practically reduced the size of the solid body by reducing the 

 size of the bearing part of the member D. 



All the many attempts made long ago to obtain a really punc- 

 ture-proof pneumatically cushioned wheel by putting an inflated 

 tire somewhere between rim and axle instead of between rim 

 and road proved to be a failure because no satisfactory resili- 

 ence was obtained. The fact was always overlooked that the 

 position of the tire inside of the rim necessarily means an enor- 

 mous increase of the bearing surface, the encircling rigid mem- 

 ber always bearing upon one-half of the circumference of the 

 tire (in length). Now by means of the convex shape of the en- 

 circling rim I reduce at will the width of the bearing surface. 

 thereby counterbalancing the increase in length. The result. 

 as proved by my working model, is a lively cushioning effect not 

 hitherto obtained from a pneumatic tire placed inside of the 

 rim. 



Repeated tests with my working model have confirmed the 

 following facts : 



1. A considerably deeper depression is obtained in contact 

 with the convex-shaped member than the depression obtainable 

 in direct contact with the flat road. 



2. All other factors being the same, the depression is in- 

 creased in proportion to the reduction of the radius of the rigid 

 member's convexity. 



3. .\ stronger inflation is allowed when the tire is bearing 

 upon the convex-shaped rim without the increased inflation 



pressure, giving such hard riding as would result from the same 

 inflation in direct contact with the flat road. 



4. Given a certain depression of the axle, a much gentler 

 bend of the tire is obtained in contact with the convex-shaped 

 encircling rim than the bend obtained in contact with a flat body, 

 and this is the case in the plane parallel to tke wheel as well 

 as in the plane rectangular to the wheel. 



5. The road shocks operate in my resilient wheel in an en- 

 tirely different way according to their nature; those which are 

 strong and persistent enough to overcome the inertia of the 

 whole rim-section of the wheel being transmitted to and ab- 

 sorbed by the internal pneumatic tire, while quicker or weaker 

 shocks are absorbed by the rim parts (solid rubber or other ma- 

 terial) in contact with the road, eventually spoiling them to a 

 certain extent. Thus practically all shocks are prevented in one 

 way or the other from reaching the axle. 



These five facts are of far-reaching importance, opening up 

 an entirely new field for the use of pneumatic tires in well pro- 

 tected and well supported position somewhere between rim and 

 axle, be it in addition to the usual pneumatic tire in contact 

 with the road, when softest resiliency is wanted (twice pneu- 

 matically cushioned ambulance cars) or in combination with 

 solid tires or even bare steel rims in contact with the road for 

 commercial and war vehicles, where unfailing reliance and low 

 maintenance cost under rough conditions is required. Power 

 losses such as Professor E. M. Lockwood referred to in The 

 Indi.\ Rubber World of May, 1917, page 447, as being due to 

 "flexure at the contact with the road" and to "under-inflation,'' 

 are reduced to the minimum. 



Dr. p. de Pfyffer. 

 New York City, June 5. 1917. 



THE OBITUARY RECORD. 



AN OLD-TIME RUBBER MAN. 



J TUGH A. NEWELL, for many years connected with prominent 

 * ■'• rubber companies in the capacity of superintendent, died at 

 his home in Reading, Massachausetts, on July 10, aged 72 years. 



He was born in Belfast, Ireland, 

 and came to America when about 

 22 years old. His first position 

 was with the Revere Rubber Co., 

 Chelsea, Massachusetts, in its 

 coated fabric department, where 

 he worked for three years, going 

 from there to the Aetna Rubber 

 Mills, which were owned by 

 Clapp, Evans & Co., at Jamaica 

 Plain, Massachusetts, where rub- 

 ber boots, clothing and general 

 molded goods were made. Here 

 he advanced to foreman under the 

 superintendence of Wheeler Cable. 

 After 12 years with the Aetna 

 Hugh A Newell company, in 1881, the Cable Rub- 



ber Co. was formed for the manu- 

 facture of high-grade rubber clothing and carriage cloth, and 

 Mr. Newell became its superintendent. After nine years with 

 this concern he went to the Reading Rubber Manufacturing 

 Co., Reading, Massachusetts, filling the position of superin- 

 tendent of that company for 22^ years. His next position 

 was with the International Rubber Co., West Barrington, 

 Rhode Island, then a small concern with a single calender, and 

 which during his five years' connection grew to treble its former 

 capacity. He retired from active business a few years ago and 

 returned to Reading, where he had spent so many of his active 

 years. At his death he was a member of the Baptist Church of 

 that town. 



Mr. Newell was well known in the trade as an able and efiicient 



