5 replies to this topic

[MarkBisset]

‘Whence cometh the aluminium wheel?’

 

One from my buddy, Bugatti historian/racer/author Bob King.

 

Did Ettore Bugatti invent the aluminium wheel which first appeared on his 1924 French GP Type 35s?

 

 

Before Griffith Borgeson claimed priority for the invention of the aluminium wheel for Harry A Miller, it was generally accepted that this construction was solely the product of the fertile and inventive mind of Ettore Bugatti. See ‘Bugatti by Borgeson’ Ch 13 ‘Wheels within Wheels’.

 

 

However, there is another contender to be considered, ‘Automobili Diatto’. It is claimed that Diatto collaborated with Bugatti as early as 1905; and there is a known association between the two companies in the early twenties leading to Diatto aero engine construction to Bugatti designs, and the production of Diatto-Bugatti cars. Of relevance to this discussion is that Diatto constructed a racing car with aluminium wheels in 1923.

 

 

The first question is, was the design of Bugatti’s famous wheel pinched from Miller or Diatto, or conversely did Bugatti have a hand in the design for Diatto?

 

And the second question is whether there were any other manufacturers who used aluminium wheels in the twenties, or earlier? 
 

Bob King

Edited by MarkBisset, 27 June 2021 - 01:48.

[Lee Nicolle]

Do I get the impression those Bugatti wheels were a beadlock design?

If not they probably missed an opening for the 'style'

And with the tall skinny tyres of the day it would have helped the tyres stay on the rim.

Though whatever the style they were generally ahead of the rest of the world.

The aircraft industry was using wire wheel in 1925 though aircraft proceeded very rapidly in that next 10 years.

[BRG]

Whilst wire wheels had become the norm by the 1920s, earlier cars had used often wooden (artillery) wheels. But were there any steel wheels used in that period?

[Ray Bell]

Steel disc wheels were plentiful by the end of the twenties...

 

The 1924 Jewitt, for instance, had them and they weren't an expensive car. Just idle Googling I found 1919 Packards with disc wheels, 1910 Mercedes-Benz as well.

[Roger Clark]

Mathieson tells us that Darracq and Hotchkiss had metal spoked wheels in the 1906 Grand Prix. 
 

edit: looking more closely, it seems they had wire wheels!

Edited by Roger Clark, 27 June 2021 - 12:52.

[Roger Clark]

The drawings in Mark’s original post appear in Mark Dees’ Miller Dynasty in a short chapter on the TNT Racing Car. Dees says that the drawing “illustrate concepts in Miller’s mind at that time”. Photographs of the TNT on test show conventional wire wheels. Dees says that it was “perhaps driven in one or more race events”.  I wouldn’t like to speculate on the probability that Bugatti saw Miller’s drawings.  

 

The Diatto wheels look completely different.