Saw this advertisement in a 1914 issue of Boy's Life for vacuum cup tires. Pretty odd. I wonder if they worked and, if so, what their rolling resistance was. Specifically made for "oiled" roads. I'm old enough to remember when they sprayed used motor oil on dirt roads to keep the dust down.

I have heard that they suck!-)

.......but, how well do they suck?

I doubt they worked at all (in the implied manner). If they are as durable as stated, they wouldn't have deformed enough to create a vacuum on a paved road, let alone a oiled, dirt road. It's pure marketing rhetoric, as far as I'm concerned.

It's worth noting that they were an independent company and not part of the United States Rubber Company, which virtually monopolized the bicycle tyre industry via it's subsidiaries and control of patents for all four major tyre types.Being an independent, they chose the two most popular types at the time, the single tube and and the clincher. Ironically, they backed the wrong styles, with both being virtually extinct to-day, while the two less popular styles of that era eventually went on to dominate the market.

Probably worked as well as the old time car tires where the tread blocks spell out "NON-SKID".
non-skid tire