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Steel wheel clamps
The "steel wheel" used in the later Tigers consisted of an outer shell containing two rubber tyres. It was held to the hub by three clamps, highlit in this diagram.
This is part of a German sketch. It shows one half of a steel wheel in profile. At the right, you can see that two rubber tyres are held safely within the wheel. At the left, the locking clamps have been highlit. The clamp consists of two curved metal strips held together by five 90mm bolts. The wheel's axle is not shown.
The original design of the clamp placed two bolts close to each end of the strips.
Later a new type was used, with the bolts more evenly spaced. We don't know when this change was made; the earliest examples that I can see in photos are from May 1944. A change to the roadwheel design was made in April, at chassis 1025 [1, see 3.4.1.24 ] ; it's possible that the new clamps were designed then.
As we can see on this wheel on the Saumur tank (chassis 1113), the old type of clamp remained in use and was often mixed with the new type on the same wheel.
Sources
[1] DW to Tiger 1
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