Patent Application
20170349361
The present invention generally relates to covers for wheels. More specifically, the present invention is directed to noise-quieting covers for wheels made of plastic, hard rubber, or other material which would otherwise generate loud noise when rolled across the ground, such as the wheels commonly found on the containers issued to residents by city garbage and recycling services.
There are several inventions in the prior art used to mitigate noise produced between a surface and an object having wheels and an axle when the object rolls over the surface. For example, German Patent No. DE 20306012 to Schwarz et al. is directed to a noise absorbing cover attachable to hollow plastic wheels of various kinds of movable toys. The device takes the form of a “coating” comprising a solid tread or rubber mesh cover. The solid tread cover has one sidewall and is designed to be slid over the wheel until the sidewall of the cover hits the sidewall of the wheel. The solid tread cover is designed to fit tightly over a certain type of wheel, such as the wheels of Bobby Cars®. The rubber mesh cover is designed to be stretched over a plastic wheel and is secured to the wheel by elastic bands on either side of the rubber mesh. These toy wheel covers may be used indoors or in an outdoor area such as a street. Because these covers are designed specifically for certain wheels on movable toys, they cannot be adapted for use on refuse or recycling containers. Furthermore, because of the design of the covers, they can only be used on the specific wheel size for which they are made. Refuse and recycling containers have varying wheel sizes and thus it would be advantageous to have one wheel cover that would work on a variety of wheel sizes.
Another reference, Chinese Patent No. CN 201668617 to Keming, is directed to a wheelchair wheel cover attachable to front and rear wheels of a wheelchair for preventing the accumulation of dirt when outside and the generation of noise when rolling across a floor indoors. The wheel covers are strips of elastic fabric with buckling devices on the ends, such as Velcro. To secure a wheel cover around a wheelchair wheel, one must stretch the fabric strip around the wheel and secure the ends by the buckling device. This design would not be ideal for use on refuse, recycling, or other hand-portable containers. These types of containers have much smaller wheels than wheelchair wheels and would require a thicker cover to absorb shock and dampen noise generated from rolling the containers. Because of this, a cover configured as a strip would require a strong buckling device to hold the cover around the wheel which would likely cause a bump in the cover or become loose with repeated rolling.
Additionally, European Patent No. EP 0,730,985, to Delessert et al. is directed to a sound damping panel comprising a sound disc attachable to a motor vehicle wheel rim by peripheral coupling tabs. The disc may comprise a visco-elastic material layer disposed between two metal sheets. The disc is designed to provide for a quiet car interior even under high speed running conditions. Other patents and patent applications disclose similar inventions to reduce the “road noise” heard in the cabin of a vehicle. See U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0245847 to Hasegawa; British Patent No. GB 2,163,103 to Wolf; and Chinese Patent No. CN 203019726 to Xiaoke et al. This type of shield would not work for refuse, recycling, or other type of hand-portable containers because it is designed to reduce the noise heard inside a container when the problem with the wheels of refuse, recycling, or other type of hand-portable containers is that they generate a lot of noise heard outside of the containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,572 to Albrecht et al. discloses use of a noise damping screen attachable to an outside surface of a railway wheel for damping wheel noise. U.S. Pat. No. 2,605,132 to Watter and European Patent No. WO 2008/012855 to Cervello disclose similar damping devices for railway wheels. However, this method of damping sound of a wheel would be inconvenient for a refuse or recycling container because it would require a much longer time to install than a cover that is stretched over the wheels.
While there are a number of references in the prior art that disclose devices to mitigate the noise produced by wheels when rolling over a surface, there are no acoustic dampening covers or wraps for attachment to the wheels of utility vessels such as refuse or recycling containers. Refuse and recycling containers, such as those commonly issued by a city's garbage and recycling services, often have a wheel set and axle to transport the container from storage to the side of a street for pick up by a garbage or recycling truck. These wheels are often made of a plastic or other hard material which generates a loud noise when rolled across a driveway or hard surface that is disturbing to the person rolling the container and also to nearby neighbors. Furthermore, when rolled, these hard wheels often create vibrations that travel up the container and to the handles which can cause discomfort to the person moving the container—especially if this person is elderly or suffers from arthritis.
Thus, there exists a significant need for an invention that reduces the noise level and vibrations caused by the wheels of containers such as those commonly found on city issued refuse and recycling containers. Furthermore, it would be desirable to have a noise reducing cover for a wheel that is inexpensive, simple to install, simple to remove, and which fits a range of wheel sizes. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.
The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.
The present invention comprises a noise-quieting cover which stretches around a wheel of a container, such as the plastic wheels commonly found on city issued refuse and recycling containers. This noise-quieting cover may be comprised of rubber and includes an elastomeric tread forming a hollow cylinder having a first edge and a second edge. The tread is thick enough to effectively quiet the noise produced by rolling the wheel over a surface as well as to dampen the vibrations generated from rolling the wheel. However, the tread is not so thick as to make the cover difficult to stretch over a wheel.
The noise-quieting cover also includes a first sidewall and a second side wall on both sides of the tread which effectively hold the cover in place over the wheel. The first sidewall attaches to the first edge of the tread while the second sidewall attaches to the second edge of the tread. The areas of the first and second sidewall preferably match the areas of the sidewalls of the wheel and are large enough to prevent the cover from slipping out of place when rolled along with the wheel of the container.
The noise-quieting cover includes at least one grip tab that extends off of either the first or second sidewall of the cover, but may include a plurality of grip tabs extending off of the first and second sidewalls of the cover. The grip tabs are located in positions to allow a user to stretch the noise-quieting cover up and down and from side to side. Preferably, the noise-quieting cover includes a plurality of grip tabs on each sidewall where the grip tabs are spaced ninety degrees apart from each other. This spacing is particularly useful when making small adjustments to the cover after it is placed on a wheel.
The relaxed diameter of the tread is slightly smaller than the smallest wheel that is commonly found on refuse and recycling containers. This allows the noise-quieting cover to fit over a range of wheel sizes and to grip the wheels tightly so that the cover does not wrinkle or fold when rolled along with the wheel.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. In such drawings:
As shown in the drawings, the present invention is directed to a noise-quieting cover 10 for wheels. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a noise-quieting cover 10 for the wheels of refuse or recycling containers, such as those often distributed by a city's garbage or recycling services.
The area of the sidewalls 18 of the noise-quieting cover 10 should be large enough to effectively hold the noise-quieting cover 10 in place over the wheel 12. Preferably, the area of the sidewalls 18 of the noise-quieting cover 10 will match the area of the sidewalls of the wheel 12. The grip tabs 20 protrude off of the inner circumferences 21 of the sidewalls 18 and allow the user to better grip and stretch the noise-quieting cover 10.
Although one preferred embodiment has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited, except as by the appended claims.
