Multiple tire valve stems

[rocketraider]

T-Head's photo without caption thread got me to wondering.

On many early tires and wheels, you see multiple valve stems spaced all around the tire rim.

Why so many?

[oldcarfudd]

They weren't valve stems. They turned wedges inside the rim, to jam the sides of clincher tires against the rim so they wouldn't blow off. Typically there would be one stem that wasn't equally spaced among the others; that was the one that was used to inflate the tire.

I used to have a 1906 Buick that had these extra protrusions. Modern clincher tires stay on the rims with air pressure, so the protrusions are just decoration now instead of having a function. Burt I sure used to get asked why my wheels each had five valve stems!

Gil Fitzhugh, Morristown, NJ

[Layden B]

Left 2 are 2 different "tire locks" and right are tire tube valve stem dust covers. Of course this is just what shows when in use!

[1937hd45]

Just looked these extra valve stems up and they are called "Staybolts" in a 1909 automotive handbook.

[rocketraider]

Thanks! I have learned something new today!

[Guest Steve_Heald]

Also, these covers were used with early single-tube tires (where the casing and the tube were one, in concept not unlike today's tube-less tires, but rather like a "tire-less tube"). They threaded over a concave-headed retaining bolt (which I've heard referred to as a "lug") that was vulcanized into the tube and protruded through holes drilled in the rim and felloe. Without a clincher formed in the rim, air pressure alone could not hold the tire on. Over-tightening of these covers would tend to pull the lug through the tube and cause it to go flat. This inherent problem caused the development and popularitiy of clincher rims.

My Browniekar had two original tires on it when I acquired it that used this method of tire mounting.

-Steve.