Resilient tires and wheels – Tires – resilient – Anti-skid devices
Patent
1984-08-13
1986-10-28
Kimlin, Edward
Resilient tires and wheels
Tires, resilient
Anti-skid devices
152160, B60C 1114
Patent
active
046193014
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spike tire to be used for securing safe travel of a vehicle on frozen and snowy roads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In snowy cold districts, tire chains and spike tires are used to drive motor vehicles safely on frozen and snowy roads. In this connection, lately there is a trend that in most cases the spike tires which have spikes or anti-skid elements constantly projected on the surface of a tire tread are preferred to the chains which are fitted on tires only when road surfaces are frozen or snowed, because of the problems of putting on and taking off the chains.
However, partly because of recent development of snow removing techniques and partly because of increases in the amount of traffic, road surfaces are often exposed even after snowfalls, shortening the travel distances which need spike tires to a considerable degree. For instance, in Hokkaido, a northern district of Japan, it is assumed that the distance which requires spike tires is as small as 5% of the total travel distance.
If used on such non-frozen, snow-free roads, the conventional spike tires which have hard metal spike pins embedded in the tread faces give rise to problems such as damages and abrasive wear of road surfaces and pollution by the resulting dust. These problems occur commonly in cold snowy districts of various countries, and are generally dealt with by totally prohibiting the use of spike tires or restricting the use to a certain period. However, from a view point of safe travel of vehicles in snowy districts, the use of spike tires is very effective, and therefore it is desirable to solve the above-mentioned problems in a way to permit the use of spike tires on non-frozen bare roads.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a spike tire with spike pins which are automatically retractable into the tire on a non-frozen bare road according to a difference in temperature of the tire and spike pins on a frozen or snow-covered road and on a non-frozen bare road, thereby preventing the damage and abrasive wear of road surfaces as well as the generation of pollutional dust.
According to the present invention, there is provided a spike tire which is characterized by the provision of: a spike pin retractably fitted in a pin receptacle hole on the surface of a tire tread; biasing means constantly urging the spike pins radially outward into a protruded position; and an actuating member of a shape memory alloy capable of restoring a memorized shape against the action of the biasing means upon a temperature increase by the heat generated in the tire as a result of operation on a non-frozen bare road to thereby retract the spike pin into the tire.
With the above-described spike tire according to the present invention, the actuating member of a shape memory alloy is retained in an easily deformable plastic state on a frozen or snow-covered road by a temperature drop, the biasing means urging spike pins to protrude from the pin receptacle holes to ensure safe travel of a vehicle. On the other hand, when a vehicle is cruising on a non-frozen bare road, the biasing force of the biasing means is overcome by the restoring force of the shape memory alloy of the actuating members and the spike pins are automatically retracted into the pin receptacle holes to prevent damages and abrasive wear of road surfaces by the spikes and the resulting dust pollution.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which show by way of example some preferred embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the accompanying drawings
FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a spike tire according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing a spike in a different position;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of a modification of the embodi
REFERENCES:
patent: 3095918 (1963-07-01), Mike
patent: 3831655 (1974-08-01), Cantz
Agency of Industrial Science and Technology
Bokan Thomas
Kimlin Edward
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