Resilient tires and wheels – Tires – resilient – Pneumatic tire or inner tube
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-20
2002-10-15
Ball, Michael W. (Department: 1733)
Resilient tires and wheels
Tires, resilient
Pneumatic tire or inner tube
C152S155000, C152S331100, C152S516000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06463976
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle wheel with an emergency running support body for a pneumatic tire affixed to a wheel rim, which tire has essentially one tread, two side walls, one casing, reinforcement elements, as well as two tire beads provided with bead cores, in which the emergency running support body is formed as a shell-shaped ring body within the tire which has an emergency running surface that supports the tire in the case of damage and supports itself on the wheel rim with its two axial outer wall sections via ring-shaped supporting elements.
2. Discussion of Background Information
A wheel provided with an emergency running support body is disclosed in DE-OS 35 07 046, in which the emergency running body shown there is composed of an exterior metallic reinforcing ring and a cushioning ring arranged between the reinforcing ring and the rim. With this type of wheel, it is necessary for the emergency running support body and the wheel to be applied to the rim in an extensive assembly process in which particularly the emergency running body and the reinforcing ring must be carefully fixed in the well base. It is unfavorable that assembly that can be performed in a reasonable amount of time without great effort is not possible with this system.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,308 shows a tire with emergency running capabilities in which the tire beads extend toward the inside of the tire and are formed as emergency running bodies against which the underside of the tire tread can position itself. However, due to the relatively narrow bearing surface that is available during emergency running for bearing the tread, such a formation of an emergency running body causes heavy strain and premature wear to the rubber parts that are rubbing or sliding against one another. In addition, the tire beads formed as the emergency running support body can also displace into the well base and thus promote peeling of the tire.
The disadvantage of this type of peeling in emergency running is reduced somewhat by a solution as disclosed, for instance, in DE-AS 10 22 483, in which projections are arranged beneath the tread on the surface facing the hollow space of the tire, which produce a connection, which is effective with transverse force, between the tread and the emergency running rings formed on the tire beads. Fabricating this type of tire equipped with projections is relatively expensive and, in addition, the fabrication of tires with emergency running support bodies must be purposefully adapted and planned as a deviation from the normal production process.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Thus, the invention provides for a vehicle wheel for tires with an emergency running support body that can be mounted easily and without special effort on standard well-base rims, which maintains safe vehicle handling and adequate elastic rolling characteristics during emergency running, which can transmit cornering forces without an excessive increase in weight and safely counteracts peeling of the tire, and which flexibly permits combining (even subsequently) with pre-existing types of tires and ready-made tires so that separate fabrication and logistics do not necessarily have to be reserved.
In this connection, at least one of the minimum of three parts that form the emergency running body and are composed of the shell-shaped ring body and at least two ring-shaped support elements, is formed as a separate component that completes the emergency running support body once the tire has been mounted on the rim.
The design of the parts that form the emergency running support body in such a way that enables completion initially during assembly also permits, along with a previously unachieved variable design of the emergency running support body, any degree of prefabrication or partial fabrication of an emergency running support body adaptable to every rim and tire shape, which allows the current geometric circumstances to be taken into consideration in an optimal manner.
In this process, at least one of the axial outer wall sections of the shell-shaped ring body is advantageously detachably connected to the associated first ring-shaped supporting element and at least the second ring-shaped supporting element associated with the other of the axial outer wall sections of the shell-shaped ring body is formed to be elastically deformable and/or swivelable in the axial direction.
The detachable connection permits extraordinarily simple mounting of the tire on the rim, in which the shell-shaped ring body, optionally in connection with additional parts, is first placed loosely within the tire cavity and then a tire bead and optionally a first support element as a part of the emergency running support body is mounted in the normal manner via the well base on the one bead seat. Then, the detachable connection between the shell-shaped ring body situated in the tire cavity and the first supporting element can be closed after the appropriate positioning of the ring body.
As a result of the design of the second ring-shaped supporting element as elastically deformable and/or swivelable in the axial direction, during assembly to mount the second tire bead, the second supporting body is elastically molded toward the center of the tire so that the second tire bead can slide into the well base. Subsequently, the tire bead is raised on the bead seat, whereupon the second supporting element elastically follows the tire bead and springs back into the original position next to and adjacent to it so that radial strains can be absorbed.
The elasticity of the second supporting element is designed in this case in such a way that adequate restoring force is present to overcome the rim hump, which fixes both the supporting element and the tire bead that is adjacent above in their positions on the interior side.
In the same way, if a tire change of the shell-shaped ring body already located in the tire cavity becomes necessary, for instance, due to corresponding tread performance, the connection with the associated supporting element can be detached, while the other elements, but at least the shell-shaped ring body, can be used again with a tire that can be newly mounted.
The supports of at least the first supporting element on the rim and/or the associated detachable connection are formed advantageously as a snap-in or snap-on connection.
This further facilitates assembly and, at the same time, allows simple and precise positioning of the ring body with a corresponding elastic design of the snap-in or snap-on mechanisms. When replacing the tire, this type of snap-in or snap-on connection is just as easy to detach and to precisely position another time.
In another advantageous further development, the detachable connection between the one axial outer wall section of the shell-shaped ring body and the associated first ring-shaped supporting element as well as its support on the rim is formed as a fixed bearing for the ring body that acts in the axial and radial direction after wheel assembly.
In this connection, the supporting element that is formed as a fixed bearing has a ring collar for receiving the radial outer wall section of the shell-shaped ring body, which axially and radially fixes the shell-shaped ring body. This ring collar permits both a fixing of the ring body at the supporting element and a detachable connection to be realized equally simply and, in both cases, produces a secure bearing and mounting as well as establishes a highly stressable emergency running support body.
Due to such a embodiment, one also obtains a secure fixing of the shell-shaped ring body or the entire emergency running support body already during assembly, which clearly facilitates mounting of the second tire bead. On the other hand, however, it is also possible hereby, even before mounting the second tire bead during assembly, to control the correct seat and positioning of the shell-shaped ring body and thus guarantee an extraordinarily secure emergency running function without great assembly effort
Glinz Michael
Hellweg Hans Bernd
Continental Aktiengesellschaft
Fischer Justin
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
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