Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
1040~85
WHREL RIM HAVING TIRE LOCK MEANS
AND COUNTERSUNK SPOKE SEATS _
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to a wheel rim, and
more particularly to a wheel rim having countersunk spoke
holes therein and further having blind holes in the flanges
thereof for the reception of lock pins engageable with side-
walls of the tire for locking the tire in place.
In wheel rims for especially motorcycles and bicycles,
the rims are conventionally embossed with a spherical radius
and then pierced as by punching in order to accommodate the
nipp;es or sleeves provided for the wheel spokes. The em- ~
bossing operation is, however, imprecise and does not provide - -
proper location for the head of the nipple to be seated there-
on. To insure that the nipple is properly seated at the rim
- embossment, the spokes must be tightened several times thereby
requiring a consi~derable amount of time and skill for this to
be carried out correctly. Also, another disadvantage to an
embossed rim is the fracturing of the material when forming
~20 the embossment, which thereby causes the spoke nipples to
loosen under severe loads.
Also, wheel rims of the aforementioned type are conven-
tionally provided with metal screws extending completely through
.
the flanges thereof and engaging portions of the tire for
25 ~ assuring that the tire remains secured to the wheel rim even
under low tire pressures. However, such an arrangemen~ re-
quires drilling and threading of holes completely through the
rim side flanges, thereby possibly effecting a weak rim condi- -
tion. Moreover, the metal screws may loosen and fall onto the
~30~ ~ roadway during travel thereby causing a hazardous condition to ~
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other vehicles on the road. As an alternative, one or more
tire clamps have been utilized for securing the tire to the
rim by installing such clamps-inside the tire sidewalls and
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project~ng the bolt extending from such clam~ tl~rough the rim.
The clamp is then drawn ~nto the ti~re sidewalls by a nut on the
weather side of the rim~ Thls approach i~, howeyer, difficult
to carry out and requ~res much sk;"ll and time to assemble into
the tire and rim. Also, the tire clamps are heavy and can cause
an out-of-balance cond~tion ~`n the wheel.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an ob~ect of this invention to provide a wheel rim
having countersunk spoke seats arranged to effect a flush seat- -~
ing of the nipple heads of the spokes on the wheel rim.
Another object of this invent~on is to provide a wheel
rim as having blind holes in the flanges thereof for the re-
ception of lock pins engaging sidewalls of the tire for securely -~
locking the tire and rim together.
In carrying out these objects, the wheel rim is drilled
and countersunk at an angle corresponding to the angle at the
inner surface of the nipple head so as to insure a flush seating
between such head and the rim. The spokes may therefore be pro-
perly and more efficiently located relative to the rim, and the
tooling required for making such a rim is minimized while pro-
ductivity is increased as compared to the embossed type rim
mentioned above. Also, by not embossing the rim, any fracturing
of rim material due to such embossing is substantially avoided.
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1C)4~)685
In carrying out the ~b~ecti~ve pertainin~ to the proYision
of blind ~oles i~n the r~m flanges, such holes are drilled alon~
the inner ~alls of such flanges, and are equally spaced. The
lock pins have shanks-wh~ch are snugly~embraced within the
blind holes, and furtl~er have con~cal heads engag~ng the side-
walls of tHe tire.
Broadly, the invention contemplates a velocipede
which has a ground wheel including an annular rim having
spaced outer annular flanges, and an elastomeric tire encir-
cling the rim. The tire has spaced annular bead flanges incontact engagement with the inner walls of the rim flanges
and elements on the rim flanges engage the tire for assuring
securement of the tire to the rim. Those elements comprise
annular spaced lock pins having conical heads bearing against
the tire with the pins further having shanks of a length less
than the thickness of the rim flanges, and the rim flanges
have annular spaced cup-shaped depressions opening into the
inner walls. The lock pin shanks are respectively located
within the depressions, whereby no portion of the lock pins
` 20 extends beyond the outer walls of the rim flanges.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
.
Figure 1 is a prior art showing in cross-section of a
wheel rim having embossed and punched spoke holes;
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1C)~C)685
Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the Figure 1
showing;
Figure 3 is a sectional view of a part of a wheel rim : -
having spoke holes designed in accordance with the invention;
Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the rim of
Figure 3 showing a spoke nipple seated in place;
Figure 5 is a prior art showing in cross-section of part
of a wheel rim and tire secured thereto by means of a tire
clamp; ~.
Figure 6 is a prior art showing in cross-section of part
of a wheel rim and tire secured thereto by means of a threaded
screw;
Figure 7 is a showing in cross-section of a wheel rim and ; i;
tire secured thereto in a manner of the invention;
Figure 8 is a side elevational view of a lock pin used as
shown in Figure 7; and :
Figure 9 is an end view of the Figure 8 lock pin. :~.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Turning now to the drawings wherein like reference charac- ~ ;
ters refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the . :
several views, part of a typical wheel rim is shown at 10 in
Figure 1 as having spaced outer annular flanges 11 between which
~: - the bead flanges of a tire (not shown) are supported in the --
customary manner. An annular web 12 of this wheel rim normally ;
has a central portion 13 of smaller diameter and, in accordance
with this prior art showing, portion 13 is embossed as at 14 at
predetermined locations and spaced annularly about the rim de-
pending on the number of locations required for the spokes (not
shown) used in interconnecting the axial hub (not shown) with
the wheel rim. The embossments are typically a 5/16 inch to
3/8 inch spherical radius and are about 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch
deep. They are then pierced as by punching to form openings 15
into which a nipple or sleeve 16 as shown in Figure 2 is inserted
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with its head end 17 facing inwardly of the tire. The opposite
end of the nipple is inwardly threaded as at 18 so that, upon
turning the nipple, the threaded end of the spoke engaged with
thread 18 may be moved toward or away from the nipple to there-
by correspondingly ~ighten or loosen the spoke.
The embossing operation carried out for the prior art
wheel rim constructions is, however, imprecise and fails to
provide an adequate seat for the heads of the spoke nipples.
Therefore, the nipples must be repeatedly tightened before the s
nipple is properly seated. This, however, requires a consider-
able amount of time and skill if it is to be done correctly.
Also, portions of the wheel rim in the vicinity of the emboss-
ment have been found to fracture, as illustrated at 19, while
forming the embossments. The spoke nipples are therefore apt
to loosen under severe loads because of these weakened areas.
In accordance with the invention, rim 10 is provided with
holes 21 such as by drilling completely through portion 13 of
web 12. Holes 21 are then countersunk as at 22 shown in
Figures 3 and 4. The countersinks are specifically at angles
to their respective spoke axes which correspond with the angles ;
of the undersurface 17a of nipple head 17. Therefore, upon
insertion of nipple 16 through opening 21, undersurface 17a of -
its head will be in flush contact with conical surface 22 of
the countersink, as shown in Figure 4. A fracturing of portions
of the wheel rim arising out of an embossment is thereby sub-
stantially eliminated, and the nipple heads are seated in place
on the wheel rim without having to repeatedly tighten the
spokes as before. The axle hub is therefore made easier to
properly position relative to the wheel rim.
Wheel rim 10 in accordance with the prior art is like-
wise designed to facilitate securing of an elastomeric tire 23
between flanges 11 thereof in a manner shown in Figure 5 of -
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lV4068S
the drawings. One or more tire clamps 24 having a resilient
channel-shaped element 25 engage the inner sides of the tire
bead flanges. A threaded shank 26 embedded in element 25 ex-
tends to the weather side of the rim through a suitable opening -~
27. A nut 28 engages the threaded shank and draws element 25
into engagement with inner surface of the tire to thereby lock
the tire in place on the rim. This technique is however diffi- -
cult to carry out and requires much skill and time to assemble
into the tire and rim. Also, the tire clamps are heavy and can
cause an out-of-balance condition in the wheel.
In accordance with another prior art construction as shown
in Figure 6, one or more metal screws 29 having pointed ends each
engage a threaded opening 31 located in rim flanges 11. The
pointed ends of the screws engage a portion of the tire at the
crease between bead flanges 23a and 23b and the remainder of
the tire as shown in Figure 6. Openings 31 are normally formed
by drilling and threading completely through the rim flanges so
as to thereby cause a possible weak condition in the rim. More- ~
over, the metal screws are apt to easily loosen thereby possibly ~ ~ .
CauSing disengagement between the tire and rim at especially
: low tire pressures. Also, the loosened screws may eventually
fall away from the rim thereby causing a hazardous condition
for other vehicles on~the road. As an improvement over both
the aforementioned prior art designs, Figure 7 illustrates the
present lnvention wherein blind holes 32 are tapped into both
rim flanges 11 at the inner surfaces thereof with about 9 to 10
equally spaced blind holes being provided for each rim flange.
Each hole is drilled to about a 3/16 inch depth and to about a
1/8 inch diameter. A tire lock pin 33 is then inserted into
30 ~ each blind hole with its shank portion 34 (see Figure 8)
~fricti~nally engaging the sidewall of the blind hole. Conical
end 35 of each }ock pin extends outwardly of the rim flanges
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and engages the tire at the crease between bead flanges 23a and
23_ and the rel~aining portion of the tire, as shown for one of
the lock pins in Figure 7. Therefore, when the tire is mounted
on the rim, tapered ends 35 of the lock pins will preven-t rela-
tive slippage of the tire. And, as shown in Figures 8 and 9,
shank 35 of each lock pin is provided with equally spaced splines -
36 designed for engagement with equally spaced grooves provided
in ~he blind holes to increase the frictional engagement of the
lock pins within the blind holes and to prevent any relative
rotation therewith.
With the present design, it can therefore be seen that the
wheel rim lock pins are located in the rim flanges so as not to
interfere with the mounting or the demounting of t'ne tire and the
tube, if any, with a reasonable amount of care. Moreover, the
outer contour of each wheel rim remains unchanged since the
heads of the lock screws do not protrude outwardly thereof as
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in the prior art design. Also, by countersinking the spoke
holes as aforedescribed, the wheel rim cross-section is constant
throughout its annular extent.
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the inven-
tion are made possible in the light of the above teachings. It ~;~
is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the
appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than
; as specifically described.
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