Patent ID: 7077065
Filing Date: 2006-07-18
Classification: B60B

Abstract:
1. An integrated bi-modal wheel assembly for roadway and railway travels, comprising: a steel railway wheel including a disk portion and a rail tread portion, and an alignment wheel flange area formed on the disk portion of the steel railway wheel; a roadway tire including a tread portion, and a reinforced inner sidewall that is abutted against an outside surface of the alignment wheel flange area, the inner sidewall of the roadway tire extending laterally outwardly beyond the rail tread portion of the steel railway wheel; and control means on the wheel assembly for sensing the presence of a roadway or a railway so as to correspondingly and automatically inflate or deflate the roadway tire to set the wheel assembly in a proper roadway or railway operating mode, wherein, the contour of the alignment wheel flange area is configured to complement the shape of the abutting inner sidewall of the roadway tire.