Patent Application
20160243892
The present invention relates to a non-rotating decorative cap which can be fixed to a rotating body, and in particular, the present invention relates to a non-rotating decorative cap which can be fixed at the center of a vertically rotating member such as a vehicle's wheel; thereby showing a non-rotating state of a pattern, emblem or advertisement irrespective to the rotation of a rotating member.
Non-Rotating decorative caps are widely known as vehicles' accessories, which are used to display logos, emblems, or advertisements upon; wherein such caps use adhesives in order to be installed, and use transparent protective covers on the displayed item; wherein the transparent cover causes dust to be accumulated between the transparent cover and the displayed item; and wherein such caps vibrate at certain speeds causing the displayed item to vibrate, and thus become unreadable.
To overcome the rotation problem of regular decorative wheel caps which causes the logo, emblem, advertising or pattern of the caps to be unreadable during the motion of the vehicle, a new non-rotating wheel cap must be put in place with an engineered shape that prevents the caps from vibrating. The new cap must be light in weight, easier to install and more stable than those in the prior art, and does not use any protective covers to prevent the accumulation of dust in order for the logo to be readable all the time.
Through the movement of a vehicle and during the rotation of the vehicle wheels, any decoration; whether it was a logo, an advertisement or an emblem imprinted on a regular wheel cap becomes impossible to be seen and identified clearly, and after the vehicle stops in a static position, the decoration rarely remains in its upright position and usually stops in a tilted manner, therefore, the main purpose of such cap is to exhibit certain decorative shapes clearly.
Having discussed the main flaw in a regular wheel cap, the need for a non-rotating wheel cap that overcomes this flaw becomes apparent, but due to the limitations of acceptable prices paid for wheel caps and due to constructive and design-related issues, the mechanism that keeps the decoration in its upright vertical position in such caps must be cost effective, simple in design, small in size, light in weight and easy to clean, therefore it is a main objective of the present invention to provide a non-rotating wheel cap that is distinguished by these advantageous features.
To achieve the objective of the present invention, all the components of the non-rotating wheel cap disclosed in this invention are press-fitted to each other in order to avoid the usage of bolts and nuts; which would increase the weight of such cap, and accordingly increases the force needed to maintain such cap in its upright position. Such cap is installed in its position at the center of a wheel rim using fixtures, thus, it is easy for the user himself to install and uninstall such cap, whenever he pleases. Narrow spaces are avoided in the cap of the present invention, since these spaces increase the difficulty of cleaning such cap. The decorations displayed on such cap are at the most apparent component on the outer side of such cap, with no transparent surfaces covering the decoration, since these surfaces are known for accumulating mist.
There is provided a non-rotating wheel cap device for displaying decorations at the center of a vehicle's wheel rim, the device comprising:
A cylindrical body 1 having a central axis 15, a lower body edge 16 and an upper body edge 17, the cylindrical body comprising an opening 18 at the upper body edge 17, a bottom wall 19 at the lower body edge 16, and inner body space between said bottom wall 19 and said opening 18, a pin 3 extending vertically from the bottom wall 19 along the central axis 15 outwardly toward the opening 18, a lip 20 extending from the upper body edge 17 radially outwardly from the central axis 15 and having an upper lip portion 21 and a lower lip portion 22, and mounting members 2 located at said lower lip portion 22 adapted to removably mount said cylindrical body 1 on said vehicle's wheel rim;
a roller bearing 6, said pin 3 being adapted to be press-fitted inside said roller bearing;
a curved crescent-shaped body 4 having an upper and a lower lateral surfaces 26 and 27, wherein the upper surface 26 is concaved while the lower surface 27 is flat. Said body 4 has a plurality of holes 7 extending throughout the upper and lower lateral surfaces 26 and 27 of the body;
a cylindrical housing 9 having cylindrical wall 28 and a concaved base 29 with an upper surface 33 and a lower surface 34 , wherein the radius of said cylindrical wall 28 is smaller than the radius of said concaved base 29, thus rendering the base 29 to be extended radially outwardly from said cylindrical wall 29. Said cylindrical wall 28 has a plurality of partitions 35a, 35b, 35c, 35d, 35e that define a plurality of housing spaces 36a, 36b for said crescent shaped body 4 and said roller bearing 6 respectively, and a plurality of empty spaces 36c, 36d, 36e. The housing space for said crescent-shaped body 36a comprises cylindrical members 8 extending vertically downwardly from the lower cover surface 34, said cylindrical members 8 being adapted to be press-fitted inside said cylindrical holes 7 at the upper lateral surface 26 of the crescent-shaped body 4. The curvature of said base 29 is adapted to allow said upper surface 26 of said body 4 to be always in contact with the lower surface 34 of said base 29;
a concaved circular metal sheet 37 having a plurality of protrusions 37a, 37b, 37c, 37d, 37e, protruding radially from said concaved circular metal sheet 37.
Preferably, the cylindrical body 1 and the cylindrical housing 9 are made out of plastic, while the crescent-shaped body 4 and said metal sheet 37 are made out of metal. Preferably, the cylindrical holes 7 are three holes. Preferably, the cylindrical housing 9 is adapted to cover the opening 18 of the cylindrical body 1. Preferably, the roller bearing 6 and the crescent-shaped object 4 are adapted to be enclosed inside the inner body space between the opening 1 and the bottom wall 19.
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in combination with the appended drawings, in which:
Preferably, the bottom wall 19 is inclined upwards toward the pin 3.
Preferably, said pin 3 comprises a curved base 300, a cervix 301 and a head 302 with the head and cervix forming a mushroom-shape such that the radius of the cervix 301 at the point of connection to the head 302 is greater than the radius of the remaining portions of the cervix 301. Said head 302 and part of the cervix 301 are divided into three symmetrical parts 3a, 3b, 3c.
Preferably, said cylindrical body has a plurality of holes 38 distributed radially at the distance between the upper and lower body edges 16,17.
The inclination of said bottom base 19, the curvature of the pin base 300, and the holes 38 allows for better centrifugation force to clean the device of the present invention.
Preferably, each of the supporting members 2 of the cylindrical body 1 has supporting member 200 connected to said lower lip portion 22.
Preferably, desired decorations are printed on the concaved circula metal sheet 37.
The cylindrical body 1 and the cylindrical housing 9 are made out of plastic, and the crescent-shaped object 4 is made out of metal. Preferably, the cylindrical holes 7 are three holes. Preferably, the cylindrical housing 9 is adapted to cover the opening 18 of the cylindrical body 1. Preferably, the roller bearing 6 and the crescent-shaped object 4 are adapted to be enclosed inside the inner body space between the opening 1 and the bottom wall 19.
From the discussed features of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is clearly noticed that the cylindrical body 1 can be manufactured based on the central space of a wheel rim, thus, and due to the compact design of the non-rotating wheel cap disclosed in present invention and since these designs enfold the mechanisms needed to keep the upright position of the cap inside the inner space of the cylindrical body 1, the cap can be simply inserted in the inner space of any wheel rim with no need to any modifications, in a manner similar to any regular wheel cap.
Excluding the roller bearing 6, the crescent shaped object 4 and concaved circular metal sheet 37; which are made out of metal, all the components of the cap are made of plastic, in order to reduce weight; wherein such reduction in weight enables the single roller bearing 6 to efficiently hold the cap in its upright position.
The non-rotating wheel cap of the present invention has also been tested at a machine that rotates the wheel of a vehicle in order to simulate the actual motion of vehicles. Going at a simulated speed that exceeds 400 km/hr, the non-rotating wheel cap disclosed in the present invention kept at an upright position during the whole period of the test.
Although the above description of the present invention has disclosed the features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiment; additions, omissions and modifications applied to the details of the embodiment illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the essential characteristic of the present invention.
This is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/104,081, filed on Dec. 12, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 14104081 | Dec 2013 | US |
| Child | 14856330 | US |
