[Healeys] Wire wheel hubs - how?

[Len and/or Marge Hartnett]

Back in 2003, Norman Nock and I had a discussion on this very matter.  He 
sent me copies of pages 33 through 38 of "The Book of the Motor Car".  Those 
pages explained Detachable Wheels and The Detachable Wire Wheel.  A bit of 
trivia from page 33:  "...The detachable wheel is considered by many to be a 
better spare to carry than a detachable rim.  It was first patented by Mr. 
John Pugh in 1906 and is now known as the Ridge-Whitworth...".

I had some difficulty understand the concept but eventually sent an e-mail 
to Norman stating the following:

"...Norman:  I read the section (several times) you sent from The Book of 
the Motor Car about the wheels.  I was quite confused about the two 
'articles' revolving at different speeds.  The author states that the matter 
can "...easily be demonstrated..." with walking stick and serviette ring or 
lead pencil and wedding ring.  He did not give instruction on how to do the 
demonstration.

Today, I took off my wedding ring and using a pencil did the only thing I 
could see to do with the two.  I laid the ring on the table and ran the 
pencil around the inside of the ring.  This caused the ring to turn but at a 
much slower rate.  To me this is logical since the pencil is not attached to 
the ring and thus the ring rotates only from the friction of the pencil. 
The pencil is sliding along the inner surface of the ring.

My conclusion is that the author is explaining why the knock-off will secure 
the wheel to the hub.  He states that when two articles are revolved and 
kept in frictional contact, it can be proved that the outer and larger 
article revolves appreciabley slower than the inner one and therfore lags 
behind.  His "larger" refers to the diameter of the knock-off in relation to 
the diameter of the mating surface on the wheel.  Thus, assuming that the 
threads are going in the correct direction, the knock-off will tighten 
itself in use...".

(The Other) Len
Vacaville, CA, USA
1967 AH 3000 MkIII, HBJ8L39031