Rims (was: NOS)

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In 9-359 Joe Elliott, laudably defending technically correct and precise
language, appended to his signature "(who still thinks "rim" refers to the
outer edge of a wheel)" to which Gerry Lehmann added in 9-360 "I absolutely do
agree with you regarding Rims.  That always rubs the technical side of me
wrong when I hear it used as slang." (Fred DiMatteo has made much the same
point in the past.)

I don't disagree, but this vernacular use of 'rim' as 'the thing on which the
tire is mounted' is relatively defensible; its use is fairly ancient and
established, and hardly mere slang.

Lawrence Pomeroy, in "The Grand Prix Car", wrote re the French Grand Prix of
1906: "The one technical novelty of the race was the use by the Brazier,
F.I.A.T., Itala and Renault teams of detachable rims. These were of
considerable benefit under the new ruling which prohibited external
assistance, an arrangement which had put a premium on a well-trained team who
could slash off worn covers with knives and quickly force new tyres on to the
rim. The 1906 rules restricted this work to the tired drivers and mechanics,
who necessarily lost a tremendous amount of time when replacements were
needed." The new detachable rims "enabled the driver and mechanic to fit an
inflated tyre at the rate of two minutes per wheel."

The Rudge-Whitworth detachable wheels had been invented in that same year of
1906, and their use was suggested for the 1908 Grand Prix but was explicitly
prohibited by the regulations. In the following years their use on touring
cars became common, and Peugeot used removable wheels in the 1912 Grand Prix
without objection.

Prior to the development of the detachable rim spare tires and tubes (several
of each) and a hand pump had been standard equipment, along with the knives,
for both touring cars and racing cars. There was no question of returning to
the pits for a tire change; the laps in the '06 race were sixty-five miles
each, on road surfaces of crushed stone, (very hard on the tires of the era,
as well as on the faces of the crews) and the prohibition of 'external
assistance' for the driver and mechanic included the overnight stop at the
midpoint in the race, which began at 6 AM on each day. The use of detachable
rims made life a lot easier for the participants, who might do several dozen
tire changes in the course of a race.

Joe Elliott's understanding of "rim" as the outer edge of a wheel corresponds
to the third definition of 'rim' given in the OED: "the edge, border, or
margin of an object, esp one which has more or less of a circular form", but
the earliest citation for this use in the OED dates only to 1603; their first
meaning, "the peripheral portion or outer ring of a wheel, connected with the
nave or boss by spokes or by a web", is considerably older, with a citation
for this use dating to 1440.

While wheels have come in many forms, many cars (Fords in the thirties, for
example) had what were essentially detachable rims bolted to the periphery of
the brake drums, so it doesn't seem too surprising that this vernacular use of
"rim" has lasted in some quarters. I will go with Joe, and call a wheel a
wheel, but rim doesn't bother me as much as many other things do.

Minimal Alfa content: as far as I can tell from photos Alfa occasionally used
detachable rims as early as 1911, and detachable wheels as early as 1921.

Cheers,

John H.
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