Abstract:
A hubcap spinning device is disclosed which utilizes the rotation of a vehicle wheel to turn a hubcap. The hubcap can turn at a different speed and a different direction than the rotation of the wheel. The hubcap uses a central sun gear that nrovides toruue to planetary gears and a ring rigidly connected to a rotatable hubcap. By using different gear ratios or number of gears, the direction and relative speed of the rotating hubcap may be changed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Field of the Invention. The invention relates to spinning hubcaps, and more specifically to hubcaps which spin at different rates or directions from the wheel to which they are attached. 
   It has become popular in automotive trends for hubcaps and wheels to become more decorative. One way in which this is accomplished is by hubcaps which attach to the wheel and which have a portion of the hubcap which rotates freely and independently of the wheel. Thus when a vehicle comes to a stop the hubcaps continue spinning even though the wheels of the car continue spinning. They come in many different sizes and styles, and all add the feature of motion of enhanced interest to a vehicle wheel. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The invention is a vehicle hubcap rotation device which causes the hubcap of a vehicle to rotate based on wheel rotation. The hubcap can rotate at a different speed than the wheel to which it is attached. The rotation can be in the same direction as the wheel, and the rotation can also be in the reverse direction in which the vehicle wheel is turning. The hubcap can also continue rotating while the wheel is stationary. 
   This rotation, which can be different in speed or direction from the rotation of the vehicle wheel, is achieved by a device which attaches to the vehicle wheel. The device can attach by a number of different means, including attaching to the threaded studs of the wheel. The attachment would typically be made by a connector assembly, which can include a number of connectors being threaded onto the threaded studs of a wheel, and being locked in place. Attached to the connector assembly is a static piece which is free to rotate. It is eccentrically weighted, so that the weight on one side of the static piece causes it to remain in a stationary orientation as the vehicle wheel turns. The static piece can take the form of a disc, a plate, a bar, or other shapes. In each case, the static piece is free to rotate independently of the vehicle wheel, and has a weight distribution which causes the static piece to maintain a consistent orientation, due to gravity. 
   Another part of the device is a gear such as a sun gear, which is rigidly coupled to the vehicle wheel through the connection assembly. In one configuration, the shaft of the sun gear would extend through the static piece, by means of a shaft attached to the connector assembly that connects to the vehicle wheel studs. As the vehicle wheel turns, the sun gear and its shaft also turn, but the static piece remains in a constant orientation. Arranged around the sun gear, is an annular ring gear. Between the sun gear and the ring gear is at least one planetary gear which interacts with both the sun gear and the ring gear. The planetary gear or gears are mounted on shafts attached to the static piece. As the sun gear rotates in relation to the static piece, the sun gear causes the planetary gears to rotate and to spin the ring gear which is rigidly attached to the hubcap, and held in contact with the planetary gears. Thus as the vehicle wheel turns, the hubcap is caused to turn at a speed and direction determined by the gearing selected, which can be at a different rotation speed and direction from the vehicle wheel. 
   Other configurations are also possible, such as having the planetary gears mounted so that one planetary gear does not touch both the sun gear and the ring gear. For instance, one planetary gear or a set of planetary gears could be mounted adjacent to the sun gear, and would interact with the sun gear and another planetary gear or set of planetary gears in a position further from the sun gear, and that second set of planetary gears would interact with the ring gear. If the set of planetary gears interacts with both the sun gear and ring gear, the hubcap would be caused to spin in the reverse direction as the vehicle wheel. If two sets of planetary gears are used, in whatever numbers are arranged between the sun gear and annular gear, the hubcap would rotate in the same direction as the vehicle wheel but at a different RPM. Different RPMs of rotation can be achieved either in a forward or backward rotation, by use of different sized sun and ring gears. 
   The speed of rotation of the hubcap may be changed by using different numbers of gear teeth on the sun gear, ring gear, or both. Also, the makeup of the planet gears must be such that they still “shim” the space between the ring and sun gears. 
   An automatic transmission for the device is possible, in which energy is transmitted through a fluid, magnetic, or other coupling. It may be desirable to include a freewheel on the hubcap, so that if the vehicle came to a rapid stop, the hubcap could continue spinning. Such a freewheel could be a sprag clutch. A clutch of some kind could also be included, so that if a vehicle wheel increased RPMs rapidly, the gears of the hubcap drive would not be damaged, and also if the vehicle wheel stopped rotating suddenly, the hubcap could continue turning and not be damaged by an instantaneous stop. Such a clutch would be rotationally coupled through any of the members (such as the static piece-sun connection). The torque-limiting clutch would likely be in the same location, and could for example be a pin clutch or a conventional industrial clutch pack. 
   The driving force of the vehicle wheel to the spinning hubcap could be through the use of wheels instead of gears, with the edges of the wheels contacting adjacent wheels, and using friction to transmit force. Although the device of the invention is shown as being geared or using wheels to transmit motion, it is to be understood that using mechanical equivalents such as belt drives, magnetic drives or chain and gears could be substituted for a gear driven mechanism. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded view of the geared hubcap of the invention, configured for reverse rotation. 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded view of the geared hubcap of the invention, geared for forward rotation. 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the geared hubcap of the invention, with gearing for reverse rotation. 
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the geared hubcap of the invention, with gearing for forward rotation. 
       FIG. 5  is a front view of the geared hubcap of the invention, with a single planetary gear, and a single secondary planetary gear. 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the geared hubcap of the invention, with gearing for forward rotation and showing the gear case and the connector assembly. 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the geared hubcap of the invention, which utilizes wheels to transmit power in a gearlike fashion. 
   

   DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
   While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, certain illustrated embodiments thereof have been shown in the drawings and will be described below in detail. It should be understood, however, that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but, on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims. 
   A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in  FIGS. 1 through 5 .  FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of the geared hubcap of the invention which includes the vehicle wheel  12  with wheel studs  24 . Attached to the wheel studs  24  is a connector assembly  26 . The connector assembly  26  includes stud attachments  28 . The stud attachments  28  are threaded onto the wheel studs  24  and secure the connector assembly  26  to the vehicle wheel. Thus when the vehicle wheel  12  rotates, the connector assembly  26  also rotates. Alternately, the wheel studs can extend through holes in the connector assembly  26  and be secured with nuts. Obviously other connection strategies can be utilized, as are known in the art. 
   Connected to the connector assembly  26  is a static piece  14 . The static piece  14  is shown in  FIG. 1  as being disc shaped, but could also be configured in the form of a plate, bar, a rod, or other shapes. The static piece  14  is rotatably attached to the connector assembly  26  and is eccentrically weighted so that the static piece tends to maintain a constant orientation due to gravity. It is free to rotate on the connector assembly to achieve this stable orientation. Rigidly attached to the connector assembly is a sun gear  16 , with a sun gear shaft  30  being rigidly attached to the connector assembly  26 , so that as the vehicle wheel  12  rotates the sun gear  16  also rotates. The direction of rotation is shown by the arrows adjacent to the rotating parts. 
   Surrounding the sun gear is a ring gear  18 , which is held in place by the structure of the geared hubcap device. The ring gear  18  is operationally attached to a hubcap spinner  22  so that the turning of the ring gear causes turning of the hubcap spinner  22 . This connection may be by a rigid connection, or by a non-direct connection. In the preferred embodiment, when the ring gear rotates, the hubcap spinner  22  also rotates in the same direction and speed as the ring gear. 
   In the configuration shown in  FIG. 1 , the space between the inner edge of the ring gear  18 , and the outer edge of the sun gear  16  is occupied by three planetary gears  20 . As the sun gear  16  rotates, the planetary gears  20  are caused to rotate in the opposite direction. The planetary gears interact with both the sun gear  16  and the ring gear  18 , and thus in this configuration would cause the hubcap spinner  22  to rotate in the opposite direction as the vehicle wheel rotation. 
   Included in the assembly is a clutch  32  which in this case is shown being attached to the connector assembly  26 . The clutch  32  would allow the hubcap spinner  22  and the associated gears to be disengaged from the vehicle wheel, and to continue spinning if the vehicle wheel came to a sudden stop, or to remain stationary if the vehicle wheel suddenly spun rapidly, as in a high acceleration start from a standing position. The clutch  32  can take the form of a sprag clutch, and could also use such standard clutching mechanisms as a fluid connection, or using a magnetic linkage. The clutch  32  can take the form of a freewheel and allow free rotation of the hubcap spinner in a chosen direction. In the configuration shown in  FIG. 1 , one planetary gear  20  could also be substituted for the three that are shown. 
     FIG. 3  shows a perspective view of the assembled geared hubcap of  FIG. 1 . 
     FIG. 2  shows a different embodiment of the geared hubcap of the invention. In this configuration which is also shown in  FIG. 4 , the planetary gears  20  interact with a set of secondary planetary gears  34 . By using a set of secondary planetary gears  34  the direction of rotation of the hubcap spinner  22  is in the same direction as the vehicle wheel  12  rather than three pairs of planetary and secondary planetary gears being used as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 4 , a single pair of planetary gear  20  combined with secondary planetary gear  34  can be utilized in order to reduce the moving parts of the device. A counterweight  38  may be attached to the static piece, as shown. 
     FIG. 5  shows a version of the geared hubcap of the invention which utilizes a single planetary gear  20 , a single secondary planetary gear  34 , with the two being connected to the sun gear  16  and the ring gear  18 . 
     FIG. 6  shows the version of the geared hubcap  10  with the connector assembly being a plate with holes for the wheel studs  24 , attached to a gear case  36 , in which are housed the sun gear  16 , the planetary gears  20 , secondary planetary gears  34 , and the ring gear  18 . The clutch in this version is mounted between the gear case  36  and the connector assembly  26 . 
     FIG. 7  shows the device in a form which utilizes wheels instead of gears to transmit power, with a sun wheel  116 , planetary wheels  120 , secondary planetary wheels  134 , connector assembly  126 , and wheel case  136 . In this configuration, the wheels act as a type of gear. 
   While there is shown and described the present preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that this invention is not limited thereto but may be variously embodied to practice within the scope of the following claims. From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.