Land vehicles: wheels and axles – Wheel – Balancing device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-12
2001-05-29
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Land vehicles: wheels and axles
Wheel
Balancing device
Reexamination Certificate
active
06238005
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheel balance weight attached to a wheel of an automobile.
2. Related Art
In a wheel assembly in which a tire of an automobile and the like is assembled into a rim of a wheel, if an unbalance of the wheel assembly in a circumferential direction around a rotating shaft or in an axial direction becomes larger, various defects such as a vibration or a noise will be generated in running of the automobile. These vibration and noise are resulted from the unbalance of the wheel, and a wheel balance weight is attached to the wheel to remove the unbalance.
A conventional wheel balance weight is comprised of a weight body made of a lead or a lead alloy and has a predetermined weight, and a clip for fixing the weight body to the wheel. The weight body and the clip are integrally formed by a casting. The lead or lead alloy constituting the weight body is selected due to a large specific gravity thereof and a soft, adaptable character thereof to a curved surface of the wheel. However, since the material containing the lead has a problem in an influence to a natural environment, the wheel balance weight which has the weight body made of an iron or an alloy of iron has been developed. Concretely, the wheel balance weight comprised of the weight body made of the iron or the iron alloy, and an engaging member made of a steel plate and bent so that one end portion thereof is fixed to the weight body and other end thereof is bent to nip a periphery of a rim portion of the wheel therein.
As the conventional wheel balance weight, Japanese U.M. No.3046046 discloses a wheel balance weight comprised of a weight body made of a cast iron, and an engaging member made of a steel plate bent and fixed to the weight body by a rivet. On the other hand, Japanese U.M. Laid-open (Koukai) No.62-70001 discloses a wheel balance weight comprised of a weight body having a recessed groove on a bottom surface on which a protruded portion is formed, and an engaging member having a through-hole at one end thereof to be fixed to the weight body. The engaging member is fixed to the weight body by penetrating the protruded portion through the through-hole and caulking a head or top portion of the protruded portion over the engaging portion.
However, the wheel balance weight disclosed in Japanese U.M. No.3046046 has an disadvantage that the numbers of parts and a manufacturing cost of the wheel balance weight increase, since the engaging member is fixed to the weight body by riveting. On the other hand, the wheel balance weight disclosed in Japanese U.M. Laid-open No.62-70001 has an disadvantage that the fixing of the engaging member to the weight body is not sufficient, since only a top of the protruded portion is engaged with a periphery of the through-hole. Also, the manufacturing cost of the weight body increases due to of the protruded portion formed within the recessed groove.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is made in view of the above mentioned circumstances, and has an object to provide the wheel balance weight in which the engaging member can be fixed to the weight body sufficiently and firmly.
In order to achieve the above object, inventors of this application has studied a fixing manner or method of the engaging member to the weight body, and found that, pawl portions on the weight body formed by caulking opened end portions where an engaging groove opens to engage with the one end portion is effective to fix the engaging member to the weight body.
That is, the wheel balance weight attached to the wheel rim portion is comprised of 1) a weight body having an engaging groove formed at a part thereof, and caulkable opened end portions defining said engaging groove; and 2) an engaging member formed by bending a metallic plate so that of which one end portion is to be fixed to said engaging groove said weight body and of which other end nips a periphery of said rim of wheel. Said engaging member is fixed to said engaging groove of said weight body by pawl portions formed by caulking said opened end portions over said one end portion in a state where said one end portion is engaged with the engaging groove.
According to the wheel balance weight of the present invention, the engaging member can fixed to the weight body by caulking the both opened end portions of the weight body onto the one end portion, so that the engaging member can be fixed to the weight body firmly.
The present invention can include various embodying modes, as follows.
The weight body which constitutes the wheel balance weight has the engaging groove with which one end portion of the engaging member engages. This engaging groove is opened in a width corresponding to a width of the one end portion of the engaging member. One end portion of the engaging member is fixed to the engaging groove, in the state where one end portion is engaged with the engaging groove of the weight body, by caulking the opened end portions over one end portion to form the pawl portions. Thus, one end portion of the engaging member is fixed to the engaging groove at opposite sides thereof to increase or widen the fixing portions, so that the engaging member can firmly fixed to the weight body.
The weight body preferably has, at the opened end portions of the engaging groove, a protruded portion(s) protruded from the opened surface of the engaging groove in a thickness direction along side wall surfaces thereof to be caulked. This protruded portions make the formation of the pawl portions protruded toward the engaging groove to fix the engaging member easier, that is, the caulking operation of the opened end portion for the fixing becomes more simple.
The weight body preferably has a first guiding portion protruding in a longitudinal direction into the engaging groove at the side wall surface defining the engaging groove, while one end portion of the engaging member preferably has a second guiding portion to be guided by the first guide portion. Thus, the engaging member is guided by the first and second guiding portions and positioned smoothly, when it is fixed to the weight body.
The first guiding portion is preferably a protruded portion or a recessed portion formed by protruding or recessing the side wall surfaces. Preferably, the first guiding portion is formed at the side wall surfaces near to the bottom wall surface to extend in a depth direction of the engaging groove from the bottom wall surface to the opened surface. The second guiding portion is complementary to the first guiding member. That is, when the first guiding member is protruded or convex, the second guiding member is recessed or concave. By such complementary relation, the first guiding member is smoothly guided by the second guiding member in the depth direction of the engaging groove.
Also, the weight body preferably has a positioning emboss protruding in the thickness direction from the bottom wall surface of the engaging groove, while one end portion of the engaging member preferably has the through-hole through which the emboss penetrates. The top portion of the emboss is preferably caulked. Further, the weight body can have deeper grooves at both end of the engaging groove.
The weight body adjusts the weight of the wheel balance weight, and can be manufactured by an iron steel and the like, by the iron preferably. The wire material of constant cross-section is cut by the predetermined length, and then subject to a cold-forging, for manufacturing the weight body.
The engaging member preferably which constitutes the balance weight has one end portions opposing to the bottom wall surface of the engaging groove and being bent at both side edge portions thereof toward the weight body. In this case, the engaging groove preferably has a protruded portion at a central portion of the bottom surface, corresponding to the cross-sectional shape of one end portion. In detail, the bend or curvature of the side edge portions of one end portion toward the bottom surface of the engaging groove prevents the pawl portio
Sugayauchi Tatsuhiko
Yamaguchi Osamu
Jacobson Price Holman & Stern PLLC
Morano S. Joseph
Nguyen Long Bao
Taiho Kogyo Co., Ltd
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