Patent GB-1456196-A (GB)
Title: Pneumatic tyre and wheel rim assemblies
IPC: B60C5/00
Filed: 1972-11-10
Abstract: 1456196 Packages; portable containers DUNLOP Ltd 1 Nov 1973 [10 Nov 1972] 51914/72 Headings B8C and B8D [Also in Division B7] A pneumatic tyre and wheel rim assembly has in its inflation chamber a container 3 containing a lubricant composition 22 and comprising an aperture 5 sealed by a sealing member, e.g. 6, formed at least in part by a solid material having a softening and/or melting point in the range 60-120 C. such that, in use, the sealing member prevents escape of the lubricant composition during normal running of the tyre and wheel rim assembly but should the tyre deflate and the temperature in the inflation chamber rise, due to heat generated by friction between contacting interior surfaces of the deflated tyre, the sealing member softens and/or melts thus enabling release of the lubricant composition to lubricate the contacting interior surfaces of the tyre and prevent tyre destruction.  The container 3 may be made of plastics or of metal or metal alloy, e.g. aluminium. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1, the sealing member is merely a blob 6 of the solid material, e.g. a solder alloy, located so as to cover the aperture 5, although the blob may enter the aperture 5 (Fig. 3, not shown) or be located within an increased diameter portion of the aperture (Fig. 6, not shown). The Fig. 1 embodiment may be modified, Fig. 5, by mounting the blob 6 so as to cover an aperture 9 in a sheet 8 of material, e.g. Tufnol, which is sealed to the container 3 with its aperture 9 in registry with the aperture 5, the sheet 8 serving to thermally insulate the blob 6 from the container material. In an alternative embodiment, Fig. 8, the sealing member again comprises a sheet 8 of thermally insulating material, the sheet having a frusto-conical aperture 12 therein in alignment with the aperture 5 and receiving a plug 13, also a thermally insulating material, sealed in the aperture 12 by a ring 14 of the solid material. The Fig. 8 embodiment may be modified by forming the sheet 8 into a screw-threaded cap which fits into a screw-thread on the periphery of the aperture 5 (Fig. 10, not shown) or on a flange around the aperture 5 (Fig. 9, not shown). In a further modification of the Fig. 8 embodiment the plug 13 fits directly into the container aperture 5. The sealing member may, in the embodiments of Figs. 1 and 8 or their modifications, be covered by a film 15 of heat absorbing material, e.g. copper, having a matt black outer surface 16. In the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 12 the sealing member comprises a plug 31 engaged in the container aperture and having a recess 33 with a smaller 35 and a larger 34 diameter part, and a peg 32 fitted into the recess part 35 and having an aperture 37 in registry with an aperture 36 in the plug 31, the peg aperture 37 being closed by solid material 38, e.g. bitumen, such that, in use, on tyre deflation the tread of the tyre should contact the peg 32 and push the plug 3 into the container to release the lubricant composition but should this fail the material 38 will melt and release the composition. The Fig. 12 embodiment may be modified by fitting the peg 32 directly into the container aperture. When the container 3 is made of metal it may have an inner liner of material with a lower heat conductivity. Specifications 1,359,461 and 1,359,467 are referred to.