Resilient tires and wheels – Spring wheels – Spring encircling rigid annulus
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-04
2004-05-11
Avila, Stephen (Department: 3617)
Resilient tires and wheels
Spring wheels
Spring encircling rigid annulus
C152S048000, C152S050000, C295S011000, C295S012000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06732775
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to elastic wheels to be used as wheels of vehicles, and more particularly to elastic wheels with excellent riding comfortableness performance, vibrationproof performance, and soundproof performance.
BACKGROUND ART
An elastic wheel typically comprises a disk to be fixed on an axle hub and a rim for supporting a tire, where an vibrationproof body is provided between the disk and the rim. Various proposals have been put forth to provide the elastic wheel with improved vibrationproof performance and riding comfortableness performance. As one of these proposals, a tire wheel is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho. 59-188701, in which a spring is used as a vibrationproof body to improve the riding comfort.
Alternatively, an elastic wheel with a vibrationproof body made of rubber and arranged between a rim and a disk has been also proposed. For example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Sho. 57-73203, there is proposed an elastic wheel in which a rim is connected to a disk via a rubber-like elastic body. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 5-338401 discloses an elastic wheel where a clearance is created between a rim and an elastic wheel and a vibrationproof rubber is fitted into the clearance. In WO 9833666 official gazette, there is disclosed a wheel barrier assembly in which an annular rubber strip is arranged between a rim and an inner rim having the same profile as that of the rim.
However, in the conventional elastic wheels where rubbers are used as their vibrationproof bodies and are uniformly arranged between their rims and disks respectively, each of the rubber elastic body, which is cemented to the inner peripheral surface of the rim and the outer peripheral surface of the disk by means of vulcanization adhesion, is provided. Therefore, the rubber elastic body appropriately prevents each of vibrations transmitted from the rim to the disk in the axial direction, the radial direction, and the rotational direction, but there is a problem that it cannot prevent a displacement of the rubber elastic body under a heavy load. In other words, the cross sectional profile of the rubber is consistent, so that it is difficult to obtain appropriate vibrationproof characteristics with respect to each of cases from the small input load to the large input load. In this respect, there is the same problem when the spring is used as the vibrationproof body.
Furthermore, it has not been make clear the relationship between the rubber arranged between the rim and the disk and the soundproof performance, so that it is susceptible of improvement in terms of soundproof.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an elastic wheel with improvements in riding comfortableness performance, vibrationproof performance, and soundproof performance without impairment of the durability and the safety at any time of small input load to large input load.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present inventors have devoted their efforts to solve the above problems while making full use of the characteristics of a rubber elastic body as a vibrationproof body. As a result, the present invention has completed because of their finding that the following configuration will attain the object of the present invention.
In other words, the present invention is an elastic wheel having a disk equipped with a base rim and a rim for supporting a tire, comprising a pair of guides fixed annularly on the inner peripheral surface of the rim and a pair of wall portions fixed annularly on the both side areas in the axial direction of the wheel on the outer peripheral surface of the base rim, in which rubber elastic bodies are interposed annularly between the side surfaces of the guides and the side surfaces of the wall portions, respectively.
Consequently, the rubber elastic bodies being installed are able to absorb vibrations by their shearing deformations, so that especially the riding comfortableness performance, vibrationproof performance, and the soundproof performance can be improved against the small input load. Regarding the soundproof performance, furthermore, it is extremely effective on a high frequency area of 100 Hz or higher.
Here, in the elastic wheel, it is preferable that the width of the pair of guides in the axial direction of the wheel may be smaller than the width of the pair of wall portions in the axial direction of the wheel, the inner ends of the pair of the guides in the radial direction of the wheel are connected to each other to form a generally U-shape in cross section in the axial direction of the wheel, and a rubber elastic body is fitted annularly between the inner peripheral surface of the guide in a generally U-shape and the outer peripheral surface of the base rim with a space provided between one of the surfaces and the elastic body. Alternatively, the width of the pair of guides in the axial direction of the wheel may be greater than the width of the pair of wall portions in the axial direction of the wheel, the outer ends of the pair of guides in the radial direction of the wheel are connected to each other to form a generally inverted U-shape in cross section in the axial direction of the wheel, and a rubber elastic body is fitted annularly between the outer peripheral surface of the wall portions in a generally inverted U-shape and the inner peripheral surface of the rim with a space provided between one of the surfaces and the elastic body. Consequently, in addition to surely obtain the effects described above, the compression action of the rubber elastic body provided on the outer peripheral surface of the base rim or the inner peripheral surface of the rim or the like is able to prevent the large deformation against the large input load.
Also, the present invention is an elastic wheel having a disk equipped with a base rim and a rim for supporting a tire, inserting an elasticity-providing device, between an outer peripheral surface of said base rim and an inner peripheral surface of said rim, the elasticity-providing device comprising; a pair of guides fixed annularly around an internal peripheral surface of an external annular ring body of two annular ring bodies having different radiuses and concentrically arranged together; and a pair of wall portions fixed annularly on both side areas in the axial direction of the wheel on an outer peripheral surface of an internal annular ring body, wherein rubber elastic bodies are fitted annularly between the side surfaces of the guides and the side surfaces of the wall portions, respectively.
In this case, also, the vibrations can be absorbed by the shearing deformation of the rubber elastic body being positioned, so that especially the riding comfortableness performance, the vibrationproof performance, and the soundproof performance can be improved. Regarding the soundproof performance, furthermore, it is extremely effective on a high frequency area of 100 Hz or higher. Furthermore, the manufacture can be easily performed because the afore-mentioned elasticity-providing device is provided.
Here, also in the elastic wheel, preferably, the elasticity-providing device may be constructed in such a manner that a width of the pair of guides in the axial direction of the wheel is smaller than a width of the pair of wall portions in the axial direction of the wheel, inner ends of the pair of guides in the radial direction of the wheel are connected to each other to form a generally U-shape in cross section in the axial direction of the wheel, and rubber elastic bodies are fitted annularly between the inner peripheral surfaces of the guides and the outer peripheral surface of the internal annular ring body, respectively, with a space provided between one of the surfaces and the elastic body. Alternatively, preferably, the elasticity-providing device may be constructed in such a manner that a width of the pair of guides in the axial direction of the wheel is greater than the width of the pair of wall portions in the axial direc
Kikuchi Hirohumi
Mizuno Keiichiro
Murase Masanori
Tashiro Katsumi
Bellinger Jason R.
Bridgestone Corporation
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