394 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1. 1919. 



GERMAN SUBSTITUTES FOR RUBBER TIRES. 



BEFORE the war English, French and Americans were the 

 inventors of and experimenlors with spring wheels. When 

 rubber became scarce in Germany, however, Teutonic imi- 

 tative genius attempted to work out substitutes for both solid and 

 pneumatic tires. Many types were produced, but of them all none 

 were anywhere near the equal of the rubber tire. .\ European 

 correspondent of The B. F. Goodrich Co., who has studied Ger- 

 man spring wheels on the West- 

 ern front, groups them as 

 follows : 



Group 1 : (a) The spring wheel uses spiral springs wound from 

 square steel and mounted radially in one or two rows between 

 cups secured to the inner and outer wheels. There is a risk of 

 the springs being displaced when running over obstacles or 

 round corners, particularly, at more than moderate speed, (b) 

 The Moll wheel is of similar construction, except that side plates 

 are used to protect the springs from dirt, and telescopic tubes are 

 used inside the springs to prevent lateral displacement. These 

 tubes are extended as spherical end caps, which give the requisite 

 degree of transverse flexibility, (c) The Fruth wheel uses a 

 series of oval springs placed on their sides in troughs attached to 

 the outer and inner rims. Bolts through the troughs pass through 

 the overlapping loops of consecutive springs. The wheel is rather 

 less flexible radially, since the springs are ' compressed in the 

 plane of their winding instead of axially. One of the troughs 



slides in the 

 other, and so 

 takes up trans- 

 verse forces. 

 The construc- 

 t i o n provides 

 ^circumferential 

 fl e X i b i 1 i t y 

 against accel- 

 erating and 

 braking forces. 

 The whole can 

 be mounted as 

 a unit in place 

 of a rubber 

 tire, fd) The 

 Sievert wheel 

 retains rubber 

 or similar ma- 

 Gekman Spring Suspens.on Wheel. ^^^.^j ^^^ ^,^^_ 



ticity and uses a wood road rim. A rubber ring is held on each 

 side of the felloes by through-bolts, which also secure steel side 

 rings carrying the outer wood rim clear of the inner wheel. All 

 wear comes on the wood rim, and the only connection between 

 this and the inner wheel is through the rubber side rings. These 

 are rather flexible and liable to side-slip. Group 2: (a) The 

 Siemens aad Halske wheel uses radially mounted spiral springs 

 (imperfectly protected against dirt and transverse forces) and a 



llexible outer rim. The outer rim is built up from strip sieel 

 wound to form a hoop, (b) The Flohr wheel is similar save 

 that the outer rim has steel links (resembling link belting), the 

 pins of which serve also to carry cups for the radial springs. The 

 rim pins are exposed to dirt and moisture. 



The section of a steel spring tire, shown herewith, was used 

 on a German vehicle belonging to the personal messenger and 

 bodyguard of Prince 

 Eitel Friederick of 

 Bavaria, and was sent 

 10 The B. F. Goodrich 

 Rubber Co. by one of 

 its former truck-tire 

 salesmen, Captain 

 August Barth, who is 

 serving in France with 

 the 303rd repair unit of 

 the Motor Transport section of J^"'""^^^ wIk^'' 

 Corps of the Army. 



In this tire spiral springs were mounted radially on the rim 

 of the wheel and the tread comprised three plies of springs steel 

 to which was bolted a heavy strip of leather. The tire was 

 fairly satisfactory when the roads were good and the rate of 

 speed moderate, but was practically useless when excessive 

 speeds were called for, because the radially mounted spiral 

 springs became easily misplaced when turning corners or wlien 

 olistacles were encountered. 



BARCELONA FIRM INCORPORATES. 

 On the first of October, 1918, the well-known lirm of Tusell 

 Brothers, rubber manufacturers, Barcelona, Spain, was dissolved 

 and a new company incorporated, which will henceforth conduct 

 its business as: Fabricas Reunidas de Caucho y Apositos 

 Sociedad Anonima. The new concern will continue to make 

 mechanical rubber goods, hard rubber goods, druggists' and sur- 

 gical sundries and sporting goods. The products of this company 

 are sold under the trade marks : "La Hermana" and "Caracol." 

 The oflScers of the company are: Matias Tusell. president; M. 

 .-Mantara Gusart, treasurer; Juan Ingles, secretary; Jairer Tusell, 

 manager. 



FOR BETTER AFRICAN RUBBER. 



The Colonial Institute of Marseilles has just sent G. Van Pelt, 

 Chief of its Rubber Service, on a mission to West .\frica, with 

 the object of establishing at the place of production a program 

 of research to be carried out in connection with technical ex- 

 periments which the Institute will make to determine the best 

 methods for preparing African rubber. 



Mr. Van Pelt will investigate particularly the cleaning of the 

 raw rubber in order to determine whether this should be under- 

 taken at the places of production or in the ports of shipping, 

 or whether it is necessary to rely on the central installations 

 established in France at the ports of entry. Mr. Van Pelt has 

 carried with him the machinery necessary for these experiments 

 and before his departure he completed a series of preliminary 

 studies at the laboratories of the Institute, covering the prin- 

 cipal objects of his investigations. The expense of this mission 

 is borne by the Compagnie Frangaise de r.-\frique Occidentale 

 and the Compagnie Comnicrcialc de I'Ouest .Africain, 



A PORT FOR SUMATRA'S EAST COAST. 

 Work will be started early this year at Belemar, on the East 

 Coast of Sumatra, near Medan. to construct a harbor for ocean 

 steamers drawing 30 feet, to be completed within three years, at 

 a cost of $4,000,000. It is estimated that shipments from this port 

 will amount to about 125.000 tons a year, some 35,000 tons of 

 which are expected to be rubber. 



