Wheelwright machines – Rubber tire mounting and/or demounting apparatus – For collapsing or shifting tire axially
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-12
2002-10-22
Smith, James G. (Department: 3723)
Wheelwright machines
Rubber tire mounting and/or demounting apparatus
For collapsing or shifting tire axially
C157S001000, C157S001200, C137S223000, C141S038000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06467524
ABSTRACT:
This application is based on and claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of German Patent Application 100 07 019.1, filed on Feb. 16, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a tire filling station for filling pneumatic tires such as a motor vehicle tire in the form of a wheel/tire combination comprising a tire mounted on a wheel rim. The tire filling station includes a transport apparatus that transports the wheel/tire combination to a filling stand, including a tire filling dome or bell and an oppositely arranged support and seal arrangement, as well as means for moving at least one of the wheel/tire combination and the transport apparatus relative to each other in a direction perpendicular to the transport plane. A respective wheel/tire combination is received between the tire filling bell and the support and seal arrangement, which respectively contact and cooperate with the outer side walls of the tire, so as to fill air into the tire through an annular gap between the tire bead and the wheel rim.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In the high volume series production of motor vehicles on an assembly line, wheel rims and tires are respectively transported from different warehouse or supply locations by means of suitable transport apparatus, to a tire mounting production line, in which a respective tire is mounted on a respective wheel rim and then pressurized air is filled into the mounted tire at the desired tire air pressure. Next, the wheel/tire combination that has been produced in this manner is generally tested for its running characteristics or unbalance condition, and is generally also subjected to a balancing operation. The finished wheel/tire combination is then delivered from the tire production line to the assembly line for the complete motor vehicle, where the respective wheel/tire combinations are mounted on the motor vehicles.
A conventional tire filling station of the above mentioned general type is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 4,947,919. The conventional tire mounting and filling system according to this U. S. Patent essentially comprises a mounting station, a transport apparatus, and a tire filling station. In the mounting station, the tire is mounted on the wheel rim, and this combination is then transported in a pressure-less condition to the tire filling station by the transport apparatus. The transport apparatus comprises two chains on which the tire sidewalls of the wheel/tire combinations are supported. In the tire filling station, the transport apparatus is lowered or dipped down so that the respective wheel/tire combination comes to rest with its downwardly-facing side wall surface on a support plate.
In the arrangement shown in FIG. 5 of the above U. S. Patent, a tire filling bell or dome is arranged above the opposite or upwardly-facing side of the wheel/tire combination. In order to carry out the tire filling process, the tire filling bell is lowered, until the rim thereof presses the tire sidewall away from the wheel rim so as to form an annular gap or space between the tire side wall bead and the wheel rim. Then, the pressurized air filling of the tire is carried out through this annular gap. To achieve this, pressurized air flows from a pressurized air source through air passages in the support plate, through the sealed wheel rim inner space into the tire filling bell, and from there through the annular gap into the inner space of the tire. As the air pressure builds up within the tire, the air pressure inflates or expands the tire, whereby the air pressure pushes the tire sidewall and particularly the tire sidewall bead into sealing contact with the tire rim, while closing the above mentioned annular gap.
The above described conventional tire filling station is not suitable for use in tire mounting production lines in which wheels having respective wheel rims and/or tires of greatly varying sizes are to be mounted. In other words, such a known tire filling station is not readily adaptable for filling wheel/tire combinations of greatly differing sizes in succession, but instead is generally only suitable for the series production of a single size of wheel/tire combinations. Particularly, the capacity of the known tire filling station to handle wheel/tire combinations of different diameters is limited because the diameter of the support plate is limited or confined by the dimensions of the transport apparatus. Also, the size capacity of the known tire filling station is limited by the diameter of the tire filling bell. For these reasons, wheel/tire combinations having a larger diameter than intended for the respective tire filling station cannot easily be mounted or filled on such a tire filling station.
If the tire filling bell of the known filling station is equipped with a seal ring to seal against the side of the wheel rim during the filling operation, the filling station suffers the following additional disadvantages. The seal ring is subject to wear and damage, so that it requires a high degree of monitoring and maintenance. Wheel rims having any degree of running deviation of the lip or edge of the wheel rim can be crushed or bent by the seal ring pressing thereagainst. Especially when a seal ring is used in connection with wheel rims of present-day modern design, in which the major wall or bowl of the rim protrudes laterally outwardly beyond the rim lip, the seal ring will improperly contact the protruding bowl wall of the wheel rim at an angle relative to the wheel rim lip. For these reasons, it has been found in practice that such a tire filling bell has very little flexibility or adaptability for use with a tire size mix. All of these problems lead to additional efforts and costs in carrying out the tire filling process.
On the other hand, if the tire filling bell is not equipped with a seal ring, the major disadvantage is the substantially higher consumption and waste of pressurized air, because the entire interior space of the wheel rim must be filled with pressurized air during each filling cycle, in the manner as described above.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus and a method for filling pneumatic tires, which is suitable for use with a broad variety of different wheel models or configurations and wheel sizes, even when such different wheel configurations or wheel sizes are successively to be processed in a mixed operation, in a fully automated tire filling and mounting system. The invention further aims to avoid or overcome the disadvantages of the prior art, and to achieve additional advantages, as apparent from the present specification.
The above objects have been achieved according to the invention in a first embodiment of a tire filling station for filling air into a wheel/tire combination including a tire mounted on a wheel rim. The tire filling station comprises a tire filling bell and a support and seal arrangement that are arranged respectively opposite one another, so as to receive the wheel/tire combination therebetween in a filling position while respectively contacting and cooperating with the side surfaces of the side walls of the tire, as well as a transport apparatus that transports successive wheel/tire combinations to and away from the tire filling station. The support and seal arrangement comprises a multi-part contact or support plate, of which the respective separate parts are movable apart and together with respect to each other, and particularly are arranged sealed against one another for carrying to out the tire filling process. At least one part of the multi-part support plate or the transport apparatus is respectively supported by a lifting device to be movable relative to the other in a direction perpendicular to the transport plane in which the successive wheel/tire combinations are transported by the transport apparatus.
The above objects have further been achieved according to the invention in a second embodiment, or according to a second feature of a tire fi
Lipponer Georg
Rogalla Martin
Ronge Heinz
Fasse W. F.
Fasse W. G.
Schenck RoTec GmbH
Smith James G.
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