Resilient tires and wheels – Tires – resilient – Wheel securing means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-03
2003-02-25
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Resilient tires and wheels
Tires, resilient
Wheel securing means
C152S520000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06523589
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Application No. 199 30 939.6, filed on Jul. 5, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rim of a vehicle wheel for tubeless pneumatic tires. The rim includes an emergency running support surface formed on a radially outer carcass surface of the rim.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Tubeless vehicle pneumatic tires of modern design are customarily formed into beads on the radially inner ends of their sidewalls. A carcass of radial design formed of strength supports coated with rubber extends from tire bead to tire bead. A ring-shaped, tenacious, rigid bead core of steel, arranged concentrically to the tire axis and in which the carcass is anchored, is formed in each tire bead. During the mounting of the vehicle pneumatic tire on the rim, the vehicle pneumatic tire is fixed with its bead on the radially outer jacket surface of the rim. The high tenacity and rigidity of the bead, which is caused by the tenacity and rigidity of the bead core, ensures the sealing in the rim/tire connection desired in a tubeless tire and ensures the tight seat of the tire on the rim when the tire is in the inflated state. The high-tensile-rigidity, tenacious design of the bead core also prevents an axial slippage of the vehicle wheel from the rim over the rim flange, which faces radially outwards, during demanding driving maneuvers.
To mount or dismount the vehicle pneumatic tire with a one-piece rim, the tenacious, high-tensile-rigidity bead must be moved with its inside diameter over the outside diameter of the rim flange, which is larger than the inside diameter of the rigid bead. To make this possible, additional expenditure, e.g., the formation of the rim with a well base, is required.
If there is a loss of air pressure, the tire sidewall buckles. It can be pressed thereby on the rim flange formed on the rim for the axial securing of the vehicle pneumatic tire. When the vehicle continues to travel, the tire sidewall and the rim flange may be destroyed. The vehicle pneumatic tire can spring off the rim.
In order to prevent this and to enable safe continued travel in spite of a loss of air pressure, it has been suggested to construct the rim, on the radial outer side of the one-piece rim, with additional emergency running support surfaces projecting radially above the rim flange, on which the radially inner side of the tread area of the vehicle pneumatic tire supports itself during a loss of air pressure and thus guarantees emergency running properties after a loss of air pressure. The mounting and demounting of the vehicle pneumatic tires on such rims has proved to be difficult, since the tenacious, rigid beads must be moved over the even larger outside diameter of the emergency running support surfaces, and the emergency running support surfaces additionally limit the axial space available between the bead seat surfaces on the rims for the insertion of mounting aids, e.g., for the construction of a well base. In order to be able to mount the rigid, tenacious bead at all, the practicable ratio between the outside diameter of the emergency running support surface and the inside diameter of the tenacious, rigid bead is very limited. The outside diameter of the emergency running support surface must be selected so that the rigid bead can still be moved over it. As a result, the emergency running support surfaces are largely determined by the comparatively small inside diameter of the rigid bead and are thus determined by a parameter that is not significant for the emergency running properties. The vehicle pneumatic tires can no longer be mounted over larger outside diameters of the emergency running support surfaces of the rims that are tailored to optimum emergency running properties.
For CTS (Continental Tire System) tires, it is known to support tubeless vehicle pneumatic tires with their beads on support surfaces on the radially inner side of the one-piece CTS rim formed with emergency running support surfaces on its radially outer side. In each tire bead, a ring-shaped, tenacious, pressure-resistant bead core of steel is formed that is arranged concentrically to the tire axis in which the carcass is anchored. During mounting of the CTS vehicle pneumatic tire on the rim, the vehicle pneumatic tire is fixed with its bead on the radially inner jacket surface of the rim. The high tenacity and pressure-resistance of the bead, which is caused by the tenacity and pressure-resistance of the bead core, ensures the sealing in the rim/tire connection desired in a tubeless tire and ensures the tight seat of the tire on the rim when the tire is in the inflated state. The pressure-resistant, tenacious design of the bead core also prevents an axial slippage of the vehicle wheel from the rim over the rim flange, which faces radially inwards on the radially inner side of the rim, during demanding driving maneuvers. Such a tire is known, for example, from DE 30 00 428 C2.
Since both the rim seat and the rim flange are formed on the radially inner side of the rim, in a CTS tire a larger axial length area is available for the construction of emergency running support surfaces on the radially outer jacket surface of the rim than in the conventionally fixed tire/wheel system on the radially outer jacket surface of a rim. The rim flange no longer represents a rim element disturbing emergency running, on the radially outer side of the CTS rim.
For mounting or dismounting the CTS vehicle pneumatic tire, the tenacious, pressure-resistant bead must be moved with its inside diameter on the radially outer jacket surface of the rim over the outside diameter of the emergency running support surfaces, which is larger than the inside diameter of the rigid bead, and on the radially inner jacket surface of the rim over the inside diameter, which is smaller than the inside diameter of the rigid bead. In order to make this possible, additional expenditure, e.g., the design of the rim with a high bed on the radially inner jacket surface, is required, as well as laborious special mounting techniques.
The mounting and dismounting of vehicle pneumatic tires on such rims has thus likewise proved to be difficult since the tenacious, pressure-resistant CTS beads must also be moved over the even larger outside diameter of the emergency running support surfaces on the radially outer side of the rim and over the inside diameter on the radially inner jacket surface of the rim, which is smaller than the inside diameter of the rigid bead. In order to be able to mount the pressure-resistant, tenacious bead at all, the practicable ratio between the outside diameter of the emergency running support surface and the inside diameter of the tenacious, pressure-resistant bead is still very limited for the CTS tire as well. The outside diameter of the emergency running support surface must be selected so as to be only just large enough for the rigid bead still to be able to be moved over it. The result of this is that for the CTS tire as well, the emergency running support surfaces are still determined to a large extent by the comparatively small diameter of the rigid bead core and thus by a parameter that is not significant for the emergency running properties. The vehicle pneumatic tires with their rigid beads can no longer be mounted over the larger outside diameters of the emergency running support surfaces of rims that are tailored to optimum emergency running properties.
From DE 19530939 C1, a vehicle wheel with a one-piece rim and a tubeless, beadless pneumatic tire is known in which the radially outer jacket surface of the rim is formed with emergency running support surfaces. The beadless vehicle pneumatic tire is vulcanized onto the radially inner jacket surface of the rim. The bead-free design of the vehicle pneumatic tire enables the emergency running; support surfaces to be desig
Bellinger Jason R.
Continental Aktiengesellschaft
Morano S. Joseph
LandOfFree
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