Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to intellectual property rights such as but not limited to copyright, trademark, and/or trade dress protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records but otherwise reserves all rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of bead lock rims for tires. In particular, the present invention relates specifically to a particular design for a bead lock rim using a supplemental tread for protecting the bead lock, bolts, tire, and rim.
2. Description of the Known Art
As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, wheel systems and other devices for tires have been the subject of many advances. Classes and subclasses for these types of devices may include: Class 152, Resilient tires and wheels, Subclass 173, 186, 387, 395, 397, 398, 516, 520; Class 301, Land vehicles: wheels and axles, Subclass 39.1, and 40.2. Patents disclosing information relevant to wheel systems include U.S. Pat. No. 1,965,058, issued to Seabra on Jul. 3, 1934; U.S. Pat. No. 2,017,891, issued to Briggs on Oct. 22, 1935; U.S. Pat. No. 2,410,209, issued to Godsey on Oct. 29, 1946; U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,995, issued to Beacher on Nov. 27, 1962; U.S. Pat. No. 3,381,737, issued to Johnson on May 7, 1968; U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,569, issued to Walther on Mar. 6, 1979; U.S. Pat. No. 4,206,797, issued to Holland on Jun. 10, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,271, issued to Olsen on Nov. 25, 1980; U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,302, issued to Mellor on Oct. 28, 1986; U.S. Pat. No. 5,000,518, issued to Markow on Mar. 19, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,443, issued to Boni on Dec. 21, 1993. Each of these patents are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,065,995 issued to Beacher on Nov. 27, 1962 discloses a continuous, generally annular-shaped plate element extending around the wheel and lying closely adjacent to the side wall 30 of the tire engaged on the wheel rim 20, as shown in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,569 issued to Walther on Mar. 6, 1979 discloses a two-piece rim for mounting tires, single or dual, on a wheel. The removable bead ring has an axial projection intended for engagement by restraining means mounted on the wheel in the event a tire on said rim is unintentionally deflated. Various forms of restraining means are provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,235,271 issued to Olsen on Nov. 25, 1980 discloses a removable resilient shield is maintained proximate the sidewall of a tire for off-the-road vehicles to protect this critical area of the tire from damage due to contact with external objects such as rocks. The shield is secured to the terminal portion of the rim flange. The radially inner portion of the shield is spaced axially of the rim and at least one radially extending passage is provided for removal of debris from between the shield and the sidewall of a tire mounted on the rim.
Thus, it may be seen that these prior art patents are very limited in their teaching and utilization, and an improved rim and bead lock assembly with supplemental tread is needed to overcome these limitations.
The present invention is directed to an improved wheel rim and bead lock. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a revised rim configuration is provided using recessed nut apertures for easy field replacement along with a rounded wheel support end to eliminate sidewall cutting during extreme use of the wheel at low pressure. Of particular note is the use of supplemental tread on the outside and ends of the bead lock for protecting the bolt heads while providing additional traction to the vehicle and protection to the tire and rim.
In one embodiment, the invention is a supplemental tread device for use with a tire having a tire wall. The supplemental tread device includes a rim defining an inner tire support and a first connection body connected to a bead lock defining an outer tire support and a second connection body to lock the tire in position. The bead lock has a supplemental tread connected to the outer face.
Another embodiment of the present invention includes a bead lock clamp for connection to a tire rim for clamping a tire wall which has a body with an inside lock face for clamping the tire wall and an outside lock face supporting a supplemental tread that covers at least a portion of the outside lock face.
Yet a further embodiment of the present invention includes a bead lock tire rim having an axle distal rim end forming an inner tire support having a tire end with a rounded contact edge and a first connection body defining at least one nut recess.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention, along with features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear or become apparent by reviewing the following detailed description of the invention.
In the following drawings, which form a part of the specification and which are to be construed in conjunction therewith, and in which like reference numerals have been employed throughout wherever possible to indicate like parts in the various views:
As shown in
The supplemental tread apparatus 100 includes the basic components of a rim 200, a bead lock 300, and a connection bolt 400.
As shown in
Continuing in a clockwise manner, the outside rim face 206 leads down to the axle proximate rim end 208 having the first connection body 210. The first connection body 210 differs from the prior art by utilizing a shank aperture 211 connecting to a nut recess 212 on the inner side of the first connection body 210. Previous design used threaded tapped holes directly in the rim for this connection. This causes problems on the trail when the bolt head 402 sheers off from the shank 406 or the shank 406 pulls loose from the rim. This ruins the ability to provide a quick fix because either the remaining shank 406 must be unthreaded from the rim or the entire rim must be replaced. In contrast to this prior art, the configuration of the present invention allows for the bolt 400 to simply be punched out of the bolt aperture 211 and a replacement bolt 400 to be inserted. Additionally the nut recess 212 may use a rounded recess 214 so that different sized nuts and bolts can be utilized, or the preferred embodiment's faceted recess 216 may be used so that the nut is rotationally held to the rim so that only an exterior wrench is needed to tighten the bolt 400.
As best seen in
As noted by
Reference numerals used throughout the detailed description and the drawings correspond to the following elements:
From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention well adapted to obtain all the ends and objects herein set forth, together with other advantages which are inherent to the structure. It will also be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims. Many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof. Therefore, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.
When interpreting the claims of this application, method claims may be recognized by the explicit use of the word ‘method’ in the preamble of the claims and the use of the ‘ing’ tense of the active word. Method claims should not be interpreted to have particular steps in a particular order unless the claim element specifically referring to a previous element, a previous action, or the result of a previous action. Apparatus claims may be recognized by the use of the word ‘apparatus’ in the preamble of the claim and should not be interpreted to have ‘means plus function language’ unless the word ‘means’ is specifically used in the claim element. The words ‘defining,’ ‘having,’ or ‘including’ should be interpreted as open ended claim language that allows additional elements or structures.
This application hereby claims priority to and is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/658,871, filed Feb. 16, 2010, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/891,047, filed Aug. 8, 2007, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/836,482, filed Aug. 8, 2006, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1041567 | Ashton | Oct 1912 | A |
1965058 | Seabra | Jul 1934 | A |
2017891 | Briggs | Oct 1935 | A |
2145525 | Pedro | Jan 1939 | A |
2249568 | Shinliver | Jul 1941 | A |
2410209 | Godsey | Oct 1946 | A |
2868262 | Straussler | Jan 1959 | A |
3065995 | Beacher | Nov 1962 | A |
3381737 | Johnson | May 1968 | A |
4142569 | Walther et al. | Mar 1979 | A |
4168732 | Monzini | Sep 1979 | A |
4206797 | Holland, Sr. | Jun 1980 | A |
4235271 | Olsen et al. | Nov 1980 | A |
4252169 | Watts | Feb 1981 | A |
4619302 | Mellor | Oct 1986 | A |
5000518 | Markow | Mar 1991 | A |
5271443 | Boni et al. | Dec 1993 | A |
20070261774 | Re Fiorentin et al. | Nov 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
WO 8901878 | Mar 1989 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
60836482 | Aug 2006 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 12658871 | Feb 2010 | US |
Child | 13068109 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11891047 | Aug 2007 | US |
Child | 12658871 | US |