Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Nonresilient tire
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-30
2001-10-02
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Nonresilient tire
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296320
ABSTRACT:
This application is based on Japanese Patent Applications HEI 10-224781 filed on Aug. 7, 1998 and HEI 11-53466 filed on Mar. 2, 1999, the content of which is incorporated into the present application by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a large, or an extra large multi-piece rim type disk wheel mounted to off-road vehicles, for example, construction vehicles, and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
As illustrated in
FIG. 6
, the conventional multi-piece rim type disk wheel includes a rim base
1
, a bead seat band
2
, a lock ring
3
, and a flange
4
. In order to make the manufacture of a large-sized rim easy. The rim base
1
is usually divided into a gutter band la located at one end of the rim base
1
, a back flange
1
d
located at another end of the rim base
1
, and center bands
1
b
and
1
c
located between the gutter band
1
a
and the back flange
1
d
. The gutter band
1
a
, the back flange
1
d
, and the center bands
1
b
and
1
c
are manufactured separately and then welded to each other into the rim base
1
.
Then, an outside portion
8
a
of a disk
8
having a T-shaped cross-section is fit to an inside surface of the center band
1
c
located in the center of the rim base, and the center band
1
c
and the outside portion
8
a
of the disk
8
are connected by a fillet weld.
When a construction vehicle needs to handle an increased movable load, which requires an increase in an axle shaft strength and a hub strength, outside diameters of the axle shaft and the hub need to be increased in order to meet the increased demand on the construction vehicle.
However, if the outside diameter of the hub of a conventional structure of a multi-piece rim type disk wheel were increased, the conventional multi-piece rim type disk wheel would interfere with a wheel coupling portion
9
a
of a hub
9
and a break drum
98
b
, as shown by a broken line in
FIG. 2
(in which the conventional multi-piece rim type disk wheel is shown by the broken line and the structure of the present invention is shown by a solid line), so that it would be impossible to meet the needs of an increased movable load.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a multi-piece rim type disk wheel and a method for producing the same which can accommodate an increase in a movable load of an off-road vehicle.
The object of the present invention is achieved by a multi-piece rim type disk wheel and a method for producing the same in accordance with the present invention. The multi-piece rim type disk wheel includes a multi-piece rim and a disk. The multi-piece rim includes a rim base, a bead seat band, a lock ring and a flange which are formed separately from each other. The disk includes an outside portion constituting a part of the rim base and a hub coupling portion extending radially inwardly from the outside portion. The disk has a substantially T-shaped cross-section.
The rim base includes a gutter band, a first center band, the disk, a second center band and a back flange constructed separately from each other. The gutter band, the first center band, the disk, the second center band and the back flange are arranged in that order in an axial direction of the rim base, and are connected to each other by a weld.
The outside portion of the disk has two opposite ends. One end of the two opposite ends of the outside portion is connected to the first center band by a full penetration butt weld, and another end of the two opposite ends of the outside portion is connected to the second center band by a full penetration butt weld.
The outside portion of the disk includes a first center band side portion located closer to the first center band than an axial center of the hub coupling portion. An outside surface of the first center band side portion is inclined radially inwardly toward the first center band.
The method of producing a multi-piece rim type disk wheel of the present invention includes the steps of: manufacturing a disk, which includes an outside portion constituting a part of a rim base and a hub coupling portion extending radially inwardly from the outside portion, and has a substantially T-shaped cross-section, and manufacturing a gutter band, a first center band, a second center band and a back flange, separately from each other; arranging the gutter band, the first center band, the disk of the substantially T-shaped cross-section. the second center band and the back flange in that order in an axial direction of the rim base, and connecting them with each other by a full penetration butt weld to construct the rim base; and assembling the rim base integrally formed with the disk, the bead seat band, the lock ring and the flange, which are separate from each other, into a multi-piece rim type disk wheel.
In the above multi-piece rim type disk wheel, since a part of the rim base is constructed by the outside portion of the disk, a relatively large space is provided inside the multi-piece rim type disk wheel, which allows an outside diameters of a hub and an axle shaft to be increased. As a result, it becomes possible to carry an increased movable load, and to reduce the weight of the multi-piece rim type disk wheel.
In the above multi-piece rim type disk wheel in a case where the first and the second center bands, the gutter band and the back flange are separately manufactured and then connected to each other by a full penetration butt weld into the rim base, reliability of the strength of the rim base is improved.
In the above multi-piece rim type disk wheel, in a case where the outside surface of the first center band side portion located closer to the first center band than the axial center of the hub coupling portion is inclined radially inwardly toward the gutter band, the transition of the cross-sectional configurations among members constituting the rim base is smooth, which makes mounting and demounting of a tire easy.
In the above production method of the multi-piece rim type disk wheel, since the disk, the gutter band, the first center band, the second center band and the back flange are separately manufactured and then are connected integrally with each other by a full penetration butt weld into the integral rim base, production of the rim base becomes easy as compared with a case where a rim base is manufactured by rolling and then bending. Further, with a multi-piece rim type disk wheel produced according to the method of the present invention, the same advantages as those in the above-described multi-piece rim type disk wheel are obtained.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 33046 (1989-09-01), Suckow
patent: 3372957 (1968-03-01), Taylor
patent: 3783927 (1974-01-01), Verdier
patent: 3882919 (1975-05-01), Sons, Jr. et al.
patent: 4530387 (1985-07-01), Osawa
patent: 4574859 (1986-03-01), Smith
patent: 5380071 (1995-01-01), Kier, jr.
patent: 5795034 (1998-08-01), Sayer
patent: 5938291 (1999-08-01), Pankhurst et al.
patent: 5984421 (1999-11-01), Proctor
patent: 6027176 (2000-02-01), Kuhl et al.
Itoh Mitsuru
Miyashita Satoru
Takeuchi Ichiro
Morano S. Joseph
Nguyen Long Bao
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
Topy Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
LandOfFree
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