Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – With wheel cover
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-12
2004-05-04
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
With wheel cover
C301S037110
Reexamination Certificate
active
06729695
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not applicable.
FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not applicable.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to wheels that are equipped with a decorative wheel cover. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus and related method for adhesively securing a wheel cover to a wheel in a manner that results in a more economical, yet complete volumetric fill of adhesive therebetween to enhance sound deadening characteristics, and that results in a faster cure time of the adhesive and cycle time of the assembly process when compared to the prior art.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods for adhesively attaching two components together to make an assembly have been well known for a long time. More specifically, many types of decorative wheel covers are widely known to be adhesively attached to an underlying wheel to economically enhance the aesthetic appearance of many different types of automobile wheels. A classic example of a vehicle wheel construction having an adhesively attached wheel cover is U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,501 to Derleth.
Derleth discloses an annular-shaped overlay composed of a thin plastic cover formed from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) mounted to a wheel spider. The overlay is configured to have variations in contours in a direction transverse to the axis of the wheel which exceed the variations in the rim and/or disc contour of the wheel, which variations would be extremely difficult and expensive, if not impossible, to stamp or draw in the disc of the wheel. During assembly, an adhesive foamable polyurethane is coated on the wheel, and the cover is then quickly clamped to the wheel before the polyurethane begins to foam. As such, the void between the wheel and cover is filled with the polyurethane foam, and any excess polyurethane foam formed around the bolt holes or at the periphery of the assembly must be trimmed. Thus, the polyurethane foam serves to permanently adhere the cover to the wheel.
Derleth teaches that the polyurethane foam adhesive provides a low-density, semi-resilient reinforcement for the thin gauge plastic cover while also providing sound insulation for tire and wind noise. However, it is understood by those skilled in the art that another reason for spacing the overlay's cover from the wheel surface is to avoid the deleterious effects of heat generated by the wheel and brake, which would otherwise distort the plastic cover and delaminate any surface treatment, i.e. paint, plating, etc., applied thereto. Further, the polyurethane foam adhesive completely breaks down at high temperatures experienced under certain actual road conditions. This is particularly true in the immediate region of the wheel hub where temperatures tend to be much higher than in the remainder of the wheel. While the polyurethane foam adhesive taught by Derleth has an insulating effect, the thermal barrier provided by the foam adhesive is inferior to air. Also, the manner in which the foam adhesive is formed in situ on the wheel does not readily permit limiting the degree to which the foam adhesive fills the cavity.
One obvious shortcoming of the process disclosed by Derleth is that the composite wheel must be imperforate, except for the small bolt openings necessary for attaching the wheel to a vehicle. It is understood by those skilled in the art that it is necessary to avoid the deleterious effects of heat generated by the wheel and brake that cause the ABS plastic overlay to distort, cause delamination of any surface treatment, i.e. paint, plating, etc., and further cause the foam adhesive to degrade, distort and eventually melt. Further problems with urethane formed wheels surfaced in use. These wheels were very heavy due to the high density of the foam and variation in localized density during the manufacturing phase resulted in severe wheel imbalances and costly assemblies.
Turbine openings are a necessary element in today's wheel systems in providing proper cooling to the brake system, not to mention the aesthetics of endless configurations of turbine openings that add individuality and style to a vehicle. Any opening in the wheel or overlay using the process disclosed in Derleth is a pathway for the foam mixture to escape when it begins to foam and/or cure. Larger openings, such as turbine openings, would not be possible using the Derleth process without additional structure to seal the openings to prevent the foaming material from escaping. Therefore, a drawback of the process according to Derleth is that excess foam mixture is required to ensure that the cavity between the cover and the wheel is completely filled after the material vents out through the bolt openings. The process disclosed by Derleth requires any substantial opening in the wheel be plugged or sealed with a sleeve to prevent foam leakage. For example, if the wheel hub was left unsealed it would provide a path for some of the foam to escape, and the security of the cover could be jeopardized. Further, all of the excess foam must be manually removed, which adds significant labor cost to the process.
The method according to Derleth has been known since the early 1970's and due to its many disadvantages has yet to realize practical applications and commercial success. The process cannot accommodate the application temperature requirements, the need for lighter weight components, and degradation of the urethane adhesive over time, as well as the need for turbine openings in the outboard face of the wheel. Further, the process is extremely costly due to the labor intensive trimming operations, difficult process control, and potential environmental, health and safety concerns.
Another example of an adhesively attached wheel cover is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,926 to Maglio which discloses adhering a wheel cover to a wheel with a resin matrix containing hollow microspheres to form a structural syntactic foam and reduce the density of the resin to result in a lightweight product. Similar to the teachings of Derleth, the wheel cover taught by Maglio is also axially spaced away from the wheel to avoid the wheel's potentially high temperatures, particularly near the center of the wheel. Unfortunately, however, the Maglio disclosure does not at all teach one skilled in the art how to introduce the hollow microspheres into the resin to achieve the syntactic foam. Furthermore, Maglio does not teach a process, or at what point in the process, wherein the microspheres are introduced and what effect the microspheres have on the fill volume or cure rate of the foam.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,747 to Oien, however, does teach just such a process. Oien teaches a method for of using a hot-melt adhesive containing a particulate filler to fill cavities in a substrate wherein the particulate filler improves the cure time of the adhesive. Oien discloses a method of mixing, among many other ingredients, the hot-melt adhesive with a quantity of hollow inorganic microspheres to form a cellular hot-melt adhesive composition. Again, it is submitted that such a process is unnecessarily complicated as evidenced by the many required chemical components and the lengthy and intricate recipe disclosed in Oien. Furthermore, use of hot-melt adhesive is generally not acceptable for use with a wheel assembly near the hub of the wheel, where braking heat can easily destroy the adhesive properties thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,428 to Carter, III teaches a decorative wheel having a unique wheel cover retention system for attaching to an ordinary underlying automotive wheel in a manner that more closely duplicates the appearance of a custom wheel. Carter, III discloses a specially configured plastic wheel cover that includes a deeply contoured body portion and a narrow outer rim portion. The retention system is disposed between the wheel cover and the wheel and includes two mating rings arranged concentrically, the first of which attaches to th
Lacks Industries Inc.
Stormer Russell D.
VanOphem & VanOphem P.C.
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