Patent Application
20220001692
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The invention relates generally to wheels and specifically to wheels configured to receive different types of wheel center cap.
Within the automotive industry, wheel center caps designed to attach to wheels may be used to both protect central wheel elements and help achieve a desired visual aesthetic. Multiple types of wheel center caps may be available for purchase, including snap caps that are configured to pressure fit to a wheel and hex caps that are configured to engage with a wheel using threads. However, automotive wheels present in the industry are only configured to accept one of the types of wheel center cap available. This effectively limits the type of wheel center caps a consumer can use based upon the wheel they purchase. This may be undesirable in instances in which a consumer may not want to use the type of wheel center cap that a particular wheel is configured for, or if the consumer already owns wheel center caps that are incompatible with their current wheels.
Therefore, there is a need to solve the problems described above by providing a wheel capable of using either type of available wheel center cap.
The aspects or the problems and the associated solutions presented in this section could be or could have been pursued; they are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches presented in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their presence in this section of the application.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key aspects or essential aspects of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, this Summary is not intended for use as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In an aspect, a wheel is provided, the wheel comprising: a hub portion of the wheel, the hub portion disposed in a center of the wheel; a center bore disposed at the center of the wheel and disposed within a perimeter of the hub portion; a center bore perimeter wall disposed around a perimeter of the center bore; a center bore profile nested within the center bore perimeter wall, the center bore profile comprising: a wheel threaded portion configured to engage with a lower thread of an adapter; and a snap cap engaging element configured to secure a snap cap, the snap cap engaging element comprising a seating groove, a securing ridge disposed below the seating groove and a clip slot disposed below the securing ridge; an adapter comprising: an upper thread; a lower thread configured to engage with the wheel threaded portion; and a seating edge disposed between the upper thread and the lower thread, wherein the seating edge is configured to fit securely within the seating groove upon engagement of the lower thread with the wheel threaded portion; and a hex cap comprising: a hex cap body; a snap cap slot disposed within the hex cap body; a hex snap securing ridge disposed within the snap cap slot; and a hex cap thread disposed within the hex cap body, the hex cap thread being configured to engage with the upper thread of the adapter. One advantage is that either a snap cap or a hex cap may be attached to center bore profile, based on the need or preference of the user, through selective usage of the adapter. Another advantage is that a user that already owns a particular set of wheel center caps, whether they are snap caps or hex caps, may use either of them with the wheel. Another advantage is a lug cover may be secured to the wheel through the utilization of gaskets held in gasket retainer slots disposed within the hex cap body and a lug cover seat on the wheel in order to seal and protect the hub portion of the wheel. Another advantage is that the wheel threaded portion and the snap cap engaging element are both nested within the center bore, providing a singular location in which either type of wheel center cap may be secured, enhancing ease of use.
In another aspect, a wheel is provided, the wheel comprising: a hub portion of the wheel, the hub portion disposed in a center of the wheel; a center bore disposed at the center of the wheel and disposed within a perimeter of the hub portion; a center bore perimeter wall disposed around a perimeter of the center bore; a center bore profile nested within the center bore perimeter wall, the center bore profile comprising: a wheel threaded portion configured to engage with a lower thread of an adapter; a snap cap engaging element configured to secure a snap cap, the snap cap engaging element comprising a seating groove, a securing ridge disposed below the seating groove and a clip slot disposed below the securing ridge; and an adapter comprising: an upper thread; a lower thread configured to engage with the wheel threaded portion; and a seating edge disposed between the upper thread and the lower thread, wherein the seating edge is configured to fit securely within the seating groove upon engagement of the lower thread with the wheel threaded portion. Again, an advantage is that either a snap cap or a hex cap may be attached to center bore profile, based on the need or preference of the user, through selective usage of the adapter. Another advantage is that a user that already owns a particular set of wheel center caps, whether they are snap caps or hex caps, may use either of them with the wheel. Another advantage is that the wheel threaded portion and the snap cap engaging element are both nested within the center bore, providing a singular location in which either type of wheel center cap may be secured, enhancing ease of use.
In another aspect, a wheel is provided, the wheel comprising: a hub portion of the wheel, the hub portion disposed in a center of the wheel; a center bore disposed at the center of the wheel and disposed within a perimeter of the hub portion; a center bore perimeter wall disposed around a perimeter of the center bore; and a center bore profile nested within the center bore perimeter wall, the center bore profile comprising: a wheel threaded portion configured to engage with a lower thread of an adapter; and a snap cap engaging element configured to secure a snap cap, the snap cap engaging element comprising a seating groove, a securing ridge disposed below the seating groove and a clip slot disposed below the securing ridge. Again, an advantage is that either a snap cap or a hex cap may be attached to center bore profile, based on the need or preference of the user, through selective usage of the adapter. Another advantage is that a user that already owns a particular set of wheel center caps, whether they are snap caps or hex caps, may use either of them with the wheel. Another advantage is that the wheel threaded portion and the snap cap engaging element are both nested within the center bore, providing a singular location in which either type of wheel center cap may be secured, enhancing ease of use.
The above aspects or examples and advantages, as well as other aspects or examples and advantages, will become apparent from the ensuing description and accompanying drawings.
For exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes, aspects, embodiments or examples of the invention are illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:
What follows is a description of various aspects, embodiments and/or examples in which the invention may be practiced. Reference will be made to the attached drawings, and the information included in the drawings is part of this detailed description. The aspects, embodiments and/or examples described herein are presented for exemplification purposes, and not for limitation purposes. It should be understood that structural and/or logical modifications could be made by someone of ordinary skills in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents.
It should be understood that, for clarity of the drawings and of the specification, some or all details about some structural components or steps that are known in the art are not shown or described if they are not necessary for the invention to be understood by one of ordinary skills in the art.
For the following description, it can be assumed that most correspondingly labeled elements across the figures (e.g., 105 and 205, etc.) possess the same characteristics and are subject to the same structure and function. If there is a difference between correspondingly labeled elements that is not pointed out, and this difference results in a non-corresponding structure or function of an element for a particular embodiment, example or aspect, then the conflicting description given for that particular embodiment, example or aspect shall govern.
The CR hex cap 101 may be comprised of a hex cap 104, the hex cap 104 having a hex cap body 104f, a snap cap slot (not shown) disposed within the hex cap body, a hex snap securing ridge (not shown) disposed within the snap cap slot, two upper gasket retainer slots (not shown) disposed within the hex cap body 104f, a lower gasket retainer slot 104d disposed within the hex cap body 104f and below the upper gasket retainer slots, and a hex cap thread (not shown) on the hex cap body 104f disposed below the lower gasket retainer slot wherein the snap cap slot and hex snap securing ridge are configured to secure an ESR hex snap cap 103. The CR hex cap may be further comprised of two upper gaskets 105a, wherein each upper gasket 105a is configured to be held in a different upper gasket retainer slot, a lug cover 106 disposed around the hex cap body 104f and below the upper gaskets 105a, a lower gasket 105b configured to be held in the lower gasket retainer slot 104d below the lug cover 106, such that the lug cover 106 is secured between the upper gaskets 105a and the lower gasket 105b, a CR adapter 107 having an upper thread 107a configured to engage with the hex cap thread of the above hex cap 104, a lower thread 107b configured to engage with the a CR adapter thread (not shown) on the center bore profile 108 and a seating edge 107c disposed between the upper thread 107a and the lower thread 107b. The hex cap thread may be internally disposed within the hex cap 104, to provide a threaded female coupling that is configured to engage with a threaded male coupling provided by the upper thread 107a of the CR adapter 107. The CR adapter 107 may also be referred to simply as an adapter. The upper gasket retainer slots are configured such that they are concentric, and that each upper gasket retainer slot has a different diameter. The upper gaskets 105a and lower gasket 105b are configured to secure the lug cover 106 to the CR hex cap 101 by having said gaskets compressed against the upper and lower surfaces of the lug cover 106 respectively as a result of the placement of each gasket within its respective retainer slot on the hex cap 104.
Upon engagement of the CR hex cap 101 with the CR adapter thread 110, the lug cover 106 may be secured into the lug cover seat 102b and the seating edge 107c of the CR adapter 107 may be secured within the seating groove of the snap cap engaging element 108, helping to keep the formed wheel 102 together. The lug cover 106 may be supported by the lug cover seat 102b and the lower gasket from below, and the two upper gaskets 105a from above, providing a secure fitting of the lug cover 106 to the wheel 102. Different types of snap caps may be implemented on the wheel 102, depending on which type of wheel center cap is implemented. When using the CR hex cap 101, an ESR hex snap cap 103 may be attached to the wheel through insertion into the snap cap slot of the hex cap 104. Alternatively, an ESR snap cap (not shown) may be inserted directly into the center bore profile 108, without using the CR hex cap 101. The ESR hex snap cap 103 may be comprised of a hex snap body 103a attached to one or more hex snap clips 103b. The ESR snap cap may be comprised of a snap cap body (not shown) attached to one or more snap cap clips. The ESR hex snap cap 103 and the ESR snap cap, may be made of an appropriate material, such as metal or acrylic, and have a design and/or logo provided on them, such that the design and/or logo is visible when the snap cap is installed on a wheel 102. The structural components of the CR hex cap 101, such as the hex cap 104, lug cover 106 and CR adapter 107, may be composed of a suitable material to achieve the desired strength, durability and aesthetic, such as metal or plastic. The upper gaskets 105a and lower gasket 105b may be made of a material that helps to secure the lug cover 106 to the hex cap 104, such as rubber or silicone. The wheel 102 may be made of the same materials as other wheels common in the industry, including metals, rubbers and plastics. Both the ESR snap cap and the CR hex cap 101 with an attached ESR hex snap cap may be provided as part of a wheel 102 in order to protect wheel elements located within the wheel center bore 102e, as well as achieve the desired aesthetic for the wheel.
The upper gasket retainer slots 304c and lower gasket retainer slot 304d may be used to hold the two upper gaskets 305a and the lower gasket 305b, respectively, in the proper location in order to allow for the lug cover 306 to be secured between said upper gaskets 305a and the lower gasket 305b, effectively attaching it to the CR hex cap 301. As can be seen from
As described previously, the snap cap engaging element 311 of the center bore profile 308 may be comprised of three main elements: a securing ridge 311a, a clip slot 311b and a seating groove 311c. A snap cap, such as ESR snap cap 209 from
Certain elements of the disclosed wheel may be modified while still allowing for the attachment of a hex cap 404 to a wheel. For example, the CR hex cap 401 may be provided without the upper gaskets (not shown), lower gasket 405b or the lug cover 406, while also omitting the upper gasket retainer slots (not shown) and lower gasket retainer slots (not shown) from the hex cap 404. Such a simplified CR hex cap 401 may be utilized with an accordingly simplified wheel, such that the wheel has a center bore profile with the disclosed CR adapter thread and snap cap engaging element but lacks a lug cover seat. This combination of the simplified wheel with the simplified CR hex cap 401 may achieve the same goal of providing a wheel that may accept a snap cap or a hex cap 404, but without the utilization of elements related to the lug cover. An embodiment of the disclosed wheel may implement a combined version of the hex cap 404 and the CR adapter 407, such that the hex cap 404 and the CR adapter 407 are formed into a singular, monolithic structure that is configured to engage with CR adapter thread while simultaneously securing a hex snap cap 403. Additionally, the disclosed wheel may be provided without a hex cap 404, such that an alternative type of threaded ESR wheel center cap that is configured to engage with the provided upper thread 407a of the CR adapter 407 may be utilized. Such an alternative type of threaded wheel center cap may be provided with the same internally disposed thread as the hex cap 404 but may not retain the hex shaped characteristics of the disclosed hex cap 404, such as an octagonally shaped wheel center cap having the same internally disposed thread as the disclosed hex cap 404.
It may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used in this patent document. The term “couple” and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The term “or” is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like.
Further, as used in this application, “plurality” means two or more. A “set” of items may include one or more of such items. Whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of,” respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.
If present, use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed. These terms are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements. As used in this application, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.
Throughout this description, the aspects, embodiments or examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus or procedures disclosed or claimed. Although some of the examples may involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives.
Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one aspect, embodiment or example are not intended to be excluded from a similar role(s) in other aspects, embodiments or examples.
Aspects, embodiments or examples of the invention may be described as processes, which are usually depicted using a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may depict the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. With regard to flowcharts, it should be understood that additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the described methods.
If means-plus-function limitations are recited in the claims, the means are not intended to be limited to the means disclosed in this application for performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scope any equivalent means, known now or later developed, for performing the recited function.
Claim limitations should be construed as means-plus-function limitations only if the claim recites the term “means” in association with a recited function.
If any presented, the claims directed to a method and/or process should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Although aspects, embodiments and/or examples have been illustrated and described herein, someone of ordinary skills in the art will easily detect alternate of the same and/or equivalent variations, which may be capable of achieving the same results, and which may be substituted for the aspects, embodiments and/or examples illustrated and described herein, without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of this application is intended to cover such alternate aspects, embodiments and/or examples. Hence, the scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims and their equivalents. Further, each and every claim is incorporated as further disclosure into the specification.
