Sidebar: No Flats, Just Ingenuity

Lawrence Brown aimed to create an alternative to traditional pneumatic tires. He sought to invent a spring wheel: a wheel and tire assembly that did not depend on air pressure but instead used built-in metal springs.

Before the development of tubeless tires in the late 1940s, conventional tires contained inflatable rubber tubes that were notoriously easy to puncture. They drove many motorists crazy because small objects such as nails and screws, shards of glass, pointy thorns or twigs, and even gravel would easily puncture the inner tubes.

Lawrence's concept was a far more reliable and durable method—at least in theory. Remove the air-filled inner tubes and replace them with inner springs. Just as coiled or leaf-type springs would bend when compressed by weight or impact, he sought to create a self-contained suspension system that incorporated springs as part of the tire. It sounded like a simple enough concept. No air meant no punctures and no flats.

Little is known about the number of spring wheels Lawrence produced, if he produced any at all, or if he even created a prototype. However, the concept was consistent with Lawrence's inventive mind: a real, workable fix to a common problem driven by his curiosity about all things mechanical. It was an idea that was functional, reliable, and designed to last a lifetime.