Patent Application
20130213544
1. Technical Field The present invention relates to tires of bicycles, and more particularly, to a tire inner tube that can be replaced without dismounting the whole wheel from a bicycle.
2. Description of Related Art
As known, a typical bicycle wheel is composed of a tire rim, a hollow inner tube mounted around the tire rim and a circular tire wrapping the inner tube. The tire inner tube is usually provided with a charging air inlet from which air is filled into the inner tube and in turn inflates the entire tire.
Since the tire rim is rotatably fixed to a bicycle frame, for replacing the installed inner tube with a new one, the tire rim has to be dismounted from the bicycle frame first and then the inner tube can be removed from the tire rim. After replacement, the tire rim together with the tire has to be assembled to the bicycle frame again. This makes tire replacement a time-consuming and energy-consuming work. As a rear wheel of a bicycle is combined with various transmission mechanisms, replacing the inner tube of a rear wheel is even more difficult and troublesome. When such an inner tube is broken during a bicycle race, the time consumed by the replacement operation can be a negative factor to the race result.
One objective of the present invention is to provide a tire inner tube that overcomes the shortcomings of the conventional device.
According to the present invention, the tire inner tube primarily includes an inner tube body being a hose having two closed ends and a charging air inlet being positioned at an inner side of the inner tube body, wherein the closed ends of the inner tube body are configured to be removably combined and form the inner tube body into a closed loop that fits a tire rim of a bicycle, so that the tire inner tube is allowed to be mounted around or demounted from the tire rim without removing the tire rim from the bicycle.
The inner tube body is a hose that is flexible before inflation, so it can be mounted around the tire rim and formed as a closed loop by combining the two closed ends, without removing the entire wheel from the bicycle frame. Also, the disclosed tire inner tube can be removed by simply separating the two closed ends of the deflated inner tube body and drawing the inner tube body out of the groove of the tire rim. Thus, the installation and removal of the disclosed tire inner tube is simple and convenient and can be done rapidly.
In addition, since the closed ends are provided with the complementary inclined surfaces and the inner tube body is slightly curvy, when the inner tube body is inflated by pressurized air through the charging air inlet, the inner tube body can expand into a closed loop and the two closed ends can be joined at their complementary inclined surfaces, so that the joint between the two closed ends of the inner tube body tends to be smooth.
The invention as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to
The inner tube body 10 further includes a charging air inlet 12 positioned at its inner side near one of the closed ends 11, while having a combining portion 13 at the other closed end 11. The combining portion 13 is formed with a through hole that allows the charging air inlet 12 to pass therethrough and combine therewith.
Basing on the foregoing configuration, the operation of the disclosed tire inner tube will be described in detail below.
A normal tire rim 20, as shown in
Referring to
The disclosed tire inner tube can be easily removed from the tire rim 20 by deflating the inner tube body 10, pushing the tire 40 away from the tire rim 20, removing the charging air inlet 12 from the charging hole 21 and the through hole 14 of the combining portion 13, and taking the inner tube body 10 away from the bicycle frame 30.
The inner tube body 10 is a hose that is flexible before inflation, so it can be mounted around the tire rim 20 as a closed loop by combining the two closed ends 11, without removing the entire wheel from the bicycle frame 30. Also, the disclosed tire inner tube can be removed by simply separating the two closed ends 11 of the deflated inner tube body 10 and drawing the inner tube body 10 out of the groove of the tire rim 20. Thus, the installation and removal of the disclosed tire inner tube is simple and convenient and can be done rapidly.
In addition, since the closed ends 11 are provided with the complementary inclined surfaces and the inner tube body 10 is slightly curvy, when the inner tube body 10 is inflated by pressurized air through the charging air inlet 12, the inner tube body 10 can expand into a closed loop and the two closed ends 11 can be joined at their matching inclined surfaces, so that the joint between the two closed ends 11 of the inner tube body 10 tends to be smooth.
Moreover, the inner tube body 10 is a strip-like component so it is easier to store and carry as compared to the conventional circular inner tube.
The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and it is understood that the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Moreover, as the contents disclosed herein should be readily understood and can be implemented by a person skilled in the art, all equivalent changes or modifications which do not depart from the concept of the present invention should be encompassed by the appended claims.
