Patent Application
20240066927
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The disclosure relates to non-pneumatic tires and more particularly pertains to a new non-pneumatic tire for supporting a wheel rim on a rough road surface without needing to be filled with air.
The prior art relates to non-pneumatic tires which rely on elastic materials to reduce the impacts of bumps in the road on a vehicle traveling across the road. The prior art discloses myriad structures for achieving this functionality, but it does not disclose a non-pneumatic tire with separate flat springs disposed in an annular space between the rim of the wheel and the tread of the tire and connected to a concentrically mounted cable. Nor does the prior art disclose a device with this structure that also comprises photoluminescent material for increasing visibility of the device, thereby decreasing the likelihood of collisions, which is especially advantageous for small vehicles like motorcycles which can be more difficult to spot on the road.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a cylindrical inner wall, a tread concentrically positioned around the inner wall, and a pair of sidewalls coupling said inner wall to said tread. A cable is concentrically coupled around the inner wall, and a plurality of flat springs extend from the cable to the tread. Each flat spring is deformable and contributes to smoothing bumps in a road surface traversed by the device. The device also comprises a photoluminescent material which serves to increase the visibility of the device.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
Each of a plurality of cylindrical and resiliently deformable tubes 38 extends between the pair of sidewalls 22 and defines an associated aperture 56 of a plurality of aperture 56s extending through each sidewall 22. Each tube 38 may also be constructed of a material comprising rubber or like material. A first quantity of tubes 40 of the plurality of tubes 38 is evenly dispersed along a first tube circle 44 which is concentric with the inner wall 12. A second quantity of tubes 42 of the plurality of tubes 38 is evenly dispersed along a second tube circle 46 which is also concentric with the inner wall 12. The second tube circle 46 has a diameter greater than a diameter of the first tube circle 44. Each tube 38 of the second quantity of tubes 42 is positioned angularly between an associated pair of tubes 38 of the first quantity of tubes 40 and has a diameter less than a diameter of each tube 38 of the first quantity of tubes 40.
A cable 48 is coupled to and extending concentrically around the inner wall 12. Each of a plurality of elastically deformable flat springs 50 is coupled to and extends between the cable 48 and the inner surface 32 of the tread 28 such that each flat spring 50 extends at an incline relative to a radial line from a center axis of the inner wall 12 to the flat spring 50. Each flat spring 50 has a first arced portion 52 and a second arced portion 54, wherein the first arced portion 52 concentrically arcs around an associated tube 38 of the first quantity of tubes 40 and the second arced portion 54 concentrically arcs around an associated tube 38 of the second quantity of tubes 42. Each flat spring 50 may be constructed of steel or like material.
In use, the device 10 is mounted on the wheel rim 20 just like a pneumatic tire. As the device 10 rolls on the road surface 36, the flat springs 50 deflect as they are compressed between the wheel rim 20 and the road surface 36. The tubes 38 also deform when compressed between the wheel rim 20 and the road surface 36 to allow for the deflection of the flat springs 50. The plurality of flat springs 50 smooths out bumps in the road surface 36, minimizing forces experienced by the wheel rim 20. The photoluminescent material 26 also increases the visibility of the device 10 to other drivers nearby.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
