Measuring and testing – Rotor unbalance – Dynamic
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-07
2002-11-19
Williams, Hezron (Department: 2856)
Measuring and testing
Rotor unbalance
Dynamic
C073S480000, C073S487000, C279S131000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06481281
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
None.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an adapter and method for mounting vehicle wheels to the spindle shaft of a vehicle wheel balancer, and more particularly, to a multi-jawed chuck adapter configured to seat about the spindle of a vehicle wheel balancer and to facilitate the mounting of vehicle wheels thereon with a reduction in the number of error sources.
Traditionally, as seen in prior art
FIGS. 1 and 2
, an automotive vehicle wheel assembly
10
, with or without a tire secured to the wheel, is mounted onto the spindle
12
or rotatable shaft of a wheel balancing machine (not shown) by centering the wheel and tire assembly
10
on a cone
14
fitted around the spindle
12
, and clamping the wheel and tire assembly
10
in place by means of a pressure ring
15
and wing nut
16
or similar retainer. Such a system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,627 to Held et al., and may include a spring (not shown) exerting a force on a spring bias plate
18
contained within a hub
19
to further aid in seating the cone
14
into the wheel and tire assembly
10
.
It has been found that the traditional cone
14
and wing nut
16
mounting systems do not work well with large wheel and tire assemblies
10
, such as those from pickup trucks, recreational vehicles, or commercial trucks which are heavy, and include an offset wheel rim. When mounting wheel and tire assemblies
10
from such vehicles, typically it is difficult to properly seat the wheel and tire assembly on the cone
14
such that the wheel and tire assembly is centered properly. An improper centering of the wheel and tire combination
10
can induce errors during the balancing operation.
Difficulties in mounting the large wheel and tire assemblies
10
to the traditional cone
14
arise from the fact that the center of gravity of the wheel and tire assembly
10
typically lies in a vertical plane which differs substantially from the vertical plane defined by the rim mounting surface containing the wheel pilot hole into which the cone
14
seats. The heavy weight of the wheel and tire assembly
10
and the substantial offset between the wheel pilot hole and the center of gravity of the wheel and tire assembly
10
causes the wheel and tire assembly
10
to twist as it is mounted to the cone
14
, and prevents proper placement on the cone
14
, resulting in the wheel and tire assembly
10
being mounted in an eccentric or non-concentric position to the wheel balancer spindle
12
. It has been found that this eccentricity can be marginally improved if the wheel and tire assembly
10
is manually lifted in an upward direction while the wing nut
16
is tightened, thereby permitting the axial forces exerted by the wing nut
16
to shift the position of the wheel and tire assembly
10
on the cone
14
. However, such wheel and tire assemblies
10
are heavy.
An additional source of error introduced to the wheel balancer system by the traditional cone
14
and wing nut
16
clamping method is the contact surface between the wheel
10
and cone
14
. While the axial pilot hole
20
of a vehicle wheel is generally coaxial with the wheel axis of rotation, the wheel pilot hole
20
often includes a chamfered edge, ground in during the manufacture process to break the sharp comer of the pilot hole
20
. This chamfer is not ground to any specific dimension or tolerance, and therefore cannot be assumed to be concentric with the wheel axis of rotation passing through the pilot hole
20
. When the wheel and tire assembly
10
is placed onto the cone
14
of a traditional balancer mounting system, the surface of the cone
14
contacts the surface of the chamfer, not the pilot hole
20
edge. Therefore, any runout or eccentricity in the chamfer results in an eccentric mounting of the wheel and tire combination
10
to the balancer spindle
12
which can adversely affect balancing operations.
Several variations on the traditional cone mounting system have been employed to improve the accuracy of mounting wheel and tire assemblies to the balancer spindle
12
. Cones
14
having narrow taper angles such as 10° to 20° have been found to improve the mounting of large wheel and tire assemblies
10
over cones
14
having larger taper angles such as 45° to 60°. However, a larger number of narrow taper angle cones is required to correspond to the wide variation in wheel pilot hole
20
sizes, and the inherent difficulties associated with eccentric mounting of the wheel and tire assembly
10
remain.
As seen in
FIG. 2
, an additional variation includes the use of a flange plate adapter
22
M with the cone
14
mounted on the balancer spindle. The flange plate adapters
22
are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,633 to Coetsier. Flange plates adapters
22
commonly include rigid pins
24
with conical ends
26
for positioning within the lug nut openings
28
of a wheel to improve centering of the vehicle wheel about the balancer spindle axis
12
. While the use of flange plate adapters
22
may provide some improvement in reducing eccentric mounting of the vehicle wheel and tire assembly
10
, several problems remain. First, the vehicle wheel must still be lifted into place prior to securing the flange plate adapter
22
. This is a difficult operation. The addition of the flange plate adapter
22
about the spindle axis
12
introduces an additional source of error, as the flange plate adapter
22
and the cone
14
may not be concentric with respect to each other. As with the chamfered edge of the wheel pilot hole
22
, the lug nut holes
28
of a vehicle wheel are often chamfered as well, leading to a source of error when the flange plate pins
24
are seated therein. Furthermore, the chamfers of the lug nut openings
28
are not always concentric with the lug nut openings. Under these conditions, the flange plate adapter
22
itself can be forced to deform as the wing nut
16
is tightened to retain the wheel and tire assembly
10
on the balancer spindle
12
.
Accordingly, there is a need in the wheel balancer industry for an apparatus and method to facilitate the mounting of large vehicle wheel and tire assemblies
10
onto the spindle shaft
12
of wheel balancer machines.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Among the several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
The provision of a multi-jawed chuck configured to seat within the pilot hole of a vehicle wheel or wheel assembly and to facilitate mounting of the vehicle wheel or wheel assembly to the spindle shaft of a balancer without the use of a mounting cone;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein the chuck has three expandable and retractable jaws for contacting the inner surface of a vehicle wheel pilot hole;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein the chuck is self-centering within the wheel pilot hole;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein the chuck is configured for attachment to the vehicle wheel prior to placement of the vehicle wheel on a wheel balancer spindle shaft;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein mounting errors associated with chamfered edges of the vehicle wheel pilot hole are minimized;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein the chuck is self-centering within a wide range of vehicle wheel pilot holes;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein use of the multi-jawed chuck provides for a high degree of repeatability in vehicle wheel balancing operations;
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein use of the multi-jawed chuck eliminates the need to lift the vehicle wheel while tightening the wing nut to retain the vehicle wheel upon the balancer spindle shaft; and
The provision of the aforementioned multi-jawed chuck wherein accuracy of wheel balancing operations is improved.
Briefly stated, the multi-jawed chuck of the present invention comprises a cylindrical b
Hunter Engineering Company
Polster Lieder Woodruff & Lucchesi L.C.
Saint-Surin Jacques
Williams Hezron
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