Resilient tires and wheels – Tires – resilient – Wheel securing means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-06
2002-10-15
Stormer, Russell D. (Department: 3617)
Resilient tires and wheels
Tires, resilient
Wheel securing means
C152S520000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06463974
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present application is a National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/EP99/03724, filed May 28, 1999. Further, the present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of German Patent Application No. 198 25 311.7 filed on Jun. 5, 1998.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle wheel with an emergency running support body for a pneumatic tire attached to a wheel rim, having essentially a tread, two side walls, a carcass, reinforcing elements, and two tire beads provided with bead cores, with the emergency running support body being embodied as a shell-shaped ring body inside the pneumatic tire, which has an emergency running surface that supports the tire in case of damage and is supported on the wheel rim with its two axially outer wall regions by way of ring-shaped support elements, with the support elements having different elasticities in the radial and axial stressing directions.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A wheel provided with an emergency running support body is disclosed in DE-OS 35 07 046, with the emergency running body shown therein consisting of an outer metallic reinforcement ring and a padding ring arranged between the reinforcement ring and the rim. In such a wheel, it is necessary for the emergency running support body and the wheel to be placed on the rim in an extensive mounting in which the emergency running body and the reinforcement ring must be carefully fixed in the rim drop center. Disadvantageously, a mounting that can be performed in an appropriate amount of time and without great expense is not possible with this system.
U.S. Pat No. 3,610,308 discloses a tire capable of emergency running in which the tire beads extend to the inner side of the tire and are embodied as emergency running bodies on which the underside of the tire tread can rest. However, due to the relatively small contact surface that is available for the contact with the tread during emergency running, such a construction of an emergency running body necessitates a heavy stressing and a premature wearing of the rubber parts rubbing and/or sliding against one another. Moreover, the tire beads embodied as emergency running bodies can be displaced into the rim drop center and thus can contribute to peeling of the tire.
The disadvantage of such a peeling under emergency running conditions is somewhat reduced by a solution such as is disclosed in DE-AS 10 22 483, in which, under the tread on the surface facing the hollow chamber of the tire, projections are arranged that produce a connection between the tread and the emergency running rings formed on the tire beads that is effective in the case of crosswise forces. The production of such a tire provided with projections is relatively expensive and, moreover, the production of tires with emergency running support bodies must be deliberately planned as a deviation from the normal production process.
In most emergency running support bodies for standard rims, there is the additional problem that the emergency running support body, on the one hand, if possible, must not hinder the pulling of the tire onto the rim during mounting, i.e., the entry of the tire bead into the drop center, and thus should be flexible and, on the other hand, must remain as stable in its form as possible during emergency running conditions. Until now, these opposing requirements could only be taken into account using holders, distance maintainers, etc. applied in addition to the emergency running support body.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention therefore provides for a vehicle wheel with an emergency running support body to be provided with a pneumatic tire, which can be mounted easily and without special expense on conventional drop center rims (standard rims) as well, which, under emergency running conditions, maintains a secure driving behavior and a rolling that is sufficiently stable in its form, which can transfer lateral guidance forces without an excessive increase in weight and securely counteracts peeling of the tire, and which flexibly allows the combination with preexisting types of tires and tire confections, including retroactive combination, such that separate production and logistics must not necessarily be reserved.
The invention provides for a vehicle wheel comprising a wheel rim. A pneumatic tire having a tread, two side walls and two beads, is mounted to the wheel rim. An emergency running support body is arranged within the pneumatic tire. The emergency running support body comprises a ring-shaped body. The ring-shaped body comprises a first axial outer wall region, a second axial outer wall region, and an emergency running support surface adapted to support the pneumatic tire in an emergency running condition. A first ring-shaped support element is arranged to support the first axial outer wall region. A second ring-shaped support element is arranged to support the second axial outer wall region. At least one of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements comprises a multi-layered structure.
The emergency running support body may be shell-shaped. Each of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements may comprise a multi-layered structure. At least one of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements may comprise at least three layers. At least one of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements may comprise at least four layers. At least one of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements may comprise at least one layer of one material and at least another layer of another different material. At least one of the first and the second ring-shaped support elements may comprise at least one layer having an elasticity and at least another layer having a different elasticity.
The multi-layered structure may comprise at least two layers connected to each other. The first ring-shaped support element may be connected to the first axial outer wall region and the second ring-shaped support element may be connected to the second axial outer wall region. The emergency running support surface may be disposed between the first axial outer wall region and the second axial outer wall region. The ring-shaped body may be slotted. The ring-shaped body may comprise a slot which is essentially axially oriented. The ring-shaped body may comprise a separating slot.
At least one layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise an upper layer and at least another layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise a lower layer, whereby the upper layer has a lower elasticity than the lower layer. At least one of layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise an upper layer, at least another layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise a middle layer, and at least another layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise a lower layer, whereby the middle layer is arranged between the upper layer and the lower layer and whereby the upper layer has a lower elasticity than both the middle layer and the lower layer. The upper layer of the multi-layered structure may be connected to the first axial outer wall region and the lower layer may engage a surface of the wheel rim. The upper layer of the multi-layered structure may be connected to the second axial outer wall region and the lower layer may engage a surface of the wheel rim.
At least one layer of the multi-layered structure comprises an upper layer, at least another layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise a middle layer, and at least another layer of the multi-layered structure may comprise a lower layer, whereby the middle layer is arranged between the upper layer and the lower layer and whereby each of the upper layer and the lower layer have a greater elasticity than the middle layer. The upper layer of the multi-layered structure may be connected to the first axial outer wall region and wherein the lower layer engages a surface of the wheel rim. The upper layer of the multi-layered structure may be connected to the second axia
Glinz Michael
Hellweg Hans-Bernd
Continental Aktiengesellschaft
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Stormer Russell D.
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