Bridge washer for metal valve stem 1910s and 1920s inner tubes

[Morgan Wright]

Today I redid a tire and got rid of the tube with the rubber valve stem and used a tube with the correct metal valve stem.

 

For 1910s and 1920s era Buicks and other makes.

 

From Hartford Tubes, and Coker Tires, it comes with this thing. What the hedgehog is this thing:

 

 

Edited March 28 by Morgan Wright
change title for searching purposes (see edit history)

[Lee H]

The screw on the valve stem tightens against that, instead of galling on the rim.

[Layden B]

That is called a bridge washer.

[Morgan Wright]

3 minutes ago, Layden B said:

That is called a bridge washer.

 

 

 

Thanks. It's good to know I did all 4 of my tires wrong, now.

[Brian_Heil]

But mounting tires is so much fun …….

[Terry Wiegand]

It also helps to keep the brass stem perpendicular to the rim and helps to keep from pulling the stem out of the inner tube.

 

Terry Wiegand

South Hutchinson, Kansas

AACA Life Member #947918

[Morgan Wright]

I was so proud of my tire mounting skills. Knew just how to split the rim, tuck the rim flap in, stomp the tires back on, hammer the lock. Look at me, I'm the world's expert on 1917 tires. All the while, I had no idea what I was doing.

[kgreen]

8 hours ago, Morgan Wright said:

I was so proud of my tire mounting skills. Knew just how to split the rim, tuck the rim flap in, stomp the tires back on, hammer the lock. Look at me, I'm the world's expert on 1917 tires. All the while, I had no idea what I was doing.

I use a calculator to count the number of times I've assembled, disassembled and re-assembled each part on my car.  The first time doesn't count, the second time is to break it, the third time is to verify that the NOS part is actually nonfunctional and the fourth time is to see if the reproduction part actually belongs on the car.

[Skidplate]

Yep, the only difference between the amateur mechanic (us, the guys who make the mistakes for free) and the professional mechanic, those are the guys we PAY to make all their mistakes. 
 

A professional is a person who makes his or her mistakes enough times to finally get it right, but never admits it to anyone. An amateur is all the same except we don't know to keep our mouth shut. 😂

[27donb]

It has been said, you can judge your progress by the size of your scrap pile. 

 

Using that measure, apparently I am making incredible progress. 

 

Luckily in this case of the tires, tubes and rim situation, 'only' a redo of all the labor is required. 

[Morgan Wright]

Tire shop mechanics probably did 50 tires a day back then. I can redo this one.

[Drakeule]

Morgan:

 

Most all has been said, and most eloquently.

 

Affix the half smile of the Buddha on your face, and remember: "some days you are the bug, some days the windshield."

[Morgan Wright]

I saved my old tires. Miller Tire Company (defunct 1920's) with Silvertown tubes. The old "bridge washers" are rusted but there they are!!

[dibarlaw]

Morgan:

I love the archiological digs. I bought a late 1920s General 500 X 22 tire to get the 22" rim for Hugh Leidlein. The tire had a LIGHT GRAY Dayton inertube in very good shape and a soft felt/canvas flap. The tube still held air but as it was exposed to outside air it turned to a medium brown. I had the tube pumped up with the flap as a display for over several years untill one day I thought it looked like it needed  a bit of a charge I put in a few more pound of air........ POP!

[Morgan Wright]

What's missing from my tube setup, and shown in the Schrader illustration that Leyden B posted above, is item J, the ring washer. I wondered if my old 1920's tires had them. I removed one of the bridge washers (item 𝙸 on the Schrader picture) from my 90-year-old tubes, looking for (item J) the ring washer, and this is what I found, compared to the modern bridge washer and tube they sell today, which has no ring washer. I think we need to use these. Somebody tell Coker.

 

Outside diameter 0.93 inch, inside diameter 0.48 inch, thickness 0.15 inches on the outer ring but made of 3 rings, the inner ring thickness 0.08 and middle one 0.097 inch

 

 

Edited March 27 by Morgan Wright (see edit history)

[Morgan Wright]

Here is another one:

 

 

[Layden B]

Morgan,

My first illustration shows the plain bridge washer used with a stem that is vulcanized to the tube. That process does the seal between the stem and tube.

Second illustration is a stem that is inserted into a hole in a plain inner tube. The hole is a snug fit to the stem diameter next to the head and is a stretch to get the stem head into that hole in the tube, ( see attached). The tube has no "pad" or reinforced section. On the head of the stem there is at least one ring formed into it to aid in sealing. The illustration shows a bridge washer and a ring washer, often they were made swedged together as one ( as in your pictures). 

Edited March 27 by Layden B (see edit history)

[Morgan Wright]

Leyden,

 

You can see the base of the valve stem is round and not squared off like the rest of the valve stem. The squaring of the valve stem, and the squaring of the hole of the bridge washer, forces the bridge washer to be oriented parallel to the tube. But if the bridge washer goes too low, it can rotate any which way, which is not good, like this. 

 

 

But if I use the 90 year old bridge washer which is swedged with a ring washer, it brings it up to the squared part of the valve stem, and it can't rotate. So, there needs to be a washer there to keep it up on the squared part like this so it doesn't rotate. Here is the old bridge washer / ring washer combo being pressed back into service after 90 years.

 

Edited March 28 by Morgan Wright (see edit history)

[Layden B]

Morgan,

I think you do not have a ring washer under the plain bridge washer in your upper picture. That is why the bridge washer can turn.

First picture here shows what you should have, either the plain bridge washer with a separate ring washer ( on the left) OR a bridge washer with swedged on ring washer (on the right).

Second picture shows a selection of plain bridge washers, wing washers (made to be separate pieces from the bridge washer), and bridge washers with swedged on ring washers that were intended to stay together as an assembly.

Plain bridge washers are intended for use by themselves, without any ring washer ( either as a separate washer or swedged to the bridge washer),  on stems that are vulcanized to the tube with a rubber vulcanizing pad as in the upper picture in my first posting ( which is a modern drawing of reproduction stem and tube).

[Morgan Wright]

Agreed

 

I knew there was something wrong when my bridge washer was spinning around in circles, I figured there had to be a washer to hold it up on the squared part of the valve stem. So I looked at my old Silvertowns and there it was.

[Morgan Wright]

Also, don't throw away these nuts. In the hardware store the 1/2 inch nuts are coarse (13 threads) or fine (20 threads) but these are much finer than fine. They are like 26 threads or something, and hard to find.