GOODYEAR ON GUM-ELASTIC. 



SELF-ACTING VALVE TUBE.' 



Although this may appear to be a very trivial article, it is 

 very important to the perfection of air-work, and globes in par- 

 ticular. The impracticability of joining gum-elastic to metal, 

 so that it will be secure, is well known, and by the use of metal 

 tubes great injury has been done to the credit of this kind of 

 work, the articles having generally leaked where they are con- 

 nected with the tubes. This defect is completely obviated in 

 the gum-elastic tubes, inasmuch as they become part and parcel 

 of the air- work to which it is united. The head or part of the 

 tube that projects from the life-preserver, cushion, or other 

 article to which it is attached, is made of caoutchouc whale- 

 bone. The lip valve, or end of the tube that is inserted within 

 the article, is made of gum-elastic compound or drapery, or 

 other light gum-elastic material. This lip becomes tight by the 

 internal atmospheric pressure, and when the article is inflated, 

 the greater the pressure the tighter it becomes. 



The weight, as well as the expense of the metal tubes, is 

 another objection to their use for all small articles, and particu- 

 larly for such as globes, fancy, parlor, and bat balls. 



In the use of the gum-elastic tube, it becomes necessary to 

 open the valve by means of some instrument ; it may be done 

 with a pin, broom splint, or tooth pick, but the most convenient 

 article for this purpose is a small light tube of vulcanized gum- 

 elastic compound, or stiffened paper, which may be looped to 

 the article in the manner represented in the plate , fig. 

 The writer has adopted another method in some cases, which is 

 more expeditious for letting the air escape, by inserting another 

 tube without any valve on the opposite side of the ball, with a 

 gum-elastic cork attached for stopping. 



• The idea of a tube of this sort was first suggested to the writer in 1S3S by Mr. E. M. Chaffee, 

 but was only made practicable by the use of the improved fabrics. 



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