Patent Publication Number: US-2006000537-A1

Title: Tire with lip edge structure

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to tires, and particular to a tire with a lip edge structure; wherein the adhering portions of the lip edges have outward cambered shapes so as to tightly buckle the wheel rims. A slide-proof cloth is placed upon each adhering portion so as to provide a friction force to the interface between the adhering portions and the wheel rim.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      In the prior art, tires can be classified as tube type (TT) and tubeless type (TL). The prior art tires are fixed to wheel rims by lip edges of the tires. In the design of lip edges, it is necessary to prevent the lip edges from sliding and releasing and the connection of the lip edges and the wheel rims must be air-tight so as to provide a safety driving to users.  
      With reference to  FIGS. 6, 7 , the prior art tire lip edges are illustrated. In the prior art, each lip edge  1  has an adhering portion  2 . A steel beam  3  is embedded into the adhering portion  2 . Thereby, the lip edge can be firmly secured to the ear portions of the wheel rim.  
      Referring to  FIG. 7 , an un-buckled adhering portion  2  is illustrated. It is illustrated that the adhering portion  14  has an angled outer side. As the adhering portion  2  is buckled with the ear portion  3 , a gap is formed so that air possibly drains from the gap  7 . This is especially harmful to a tubeless type tire.  
      To improve the defect in the prior art, sealant is filled in the gap and the contact surfaces of the adhering portions and wheel rims. Or the wheel rim is shaped to match the shape of the lip edges. However, this will increase the cost. Especially, the tubeless type tire has a cost of 10 higher than that of the tube type tire.  
      However, from  FIG. 6 , it is illustrated that the adhering portions can not fully adhere to the wheel rims so that the buckling effect between the lip edges and the wheel rims are not effective. This is dangerous when the bicycle with the tires drives in a high speed as the tire is released from the wheel rim.  
      In one development, the adhering portion is textured so as to increase the friction force between the adhering portions and the wheel rims to have a preferred slide-proof effect, but this will cause that the air is vented from the gaps in the texture regions.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to provide a tire with a lip edge structure, wherein the adhering portions have an outward cambered shapes for tightly buckling the wheel rims.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a tire with a lip edge structure, wherein a slide-proof cloth is placed upon the adhering portion so as to provide a friction force to the interface between the adhering portions and the wheel rim.  
      A further object of the present invention is to provide a tire with a lip edge structure, wherein sealant is filled between the contact surfaces of the adhering portions and the wheel rim so that no air can vents from the tire.  
      To improve the defect in the prior art, the present invention provides a tire with a lip edge structure which comprises a tire body having an opening; two lip edges formed on two sides of the opening; two adhering portion; each lip edge having a respectively adhering portion; a steel beam being embedded in the adhering portion for retaining the tire body; the adhering portion being an enlarged cambered portion, which protrudes at an outer portion of the tire body; two slide-proof cloths; an outer side of each adhering portion being enclosed by one of the mono-nylon slide-proof cloths. The slide-proof cloths are made of mono nylon with a rubber layer; and the rubber layer has a thickness between 0.3 mm to 0.2 mm. The slide-proof cloth is interleaved by mono-nylon of 10˜50*10˜50 EPI and is interleaved by mono-nylon with each yarn being ranged from 210 Diner to 840 Diner. The lip edges are made of Kevlar Bead.  
      The various objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the appended drawing. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a schematic perspective view of the tire of the present invention.  
       FIG. 2  is a schematic cross view showing the lip edges of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a schematic cross view showing the assembly of the tire and wheel rim according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 4  is a partial cross section view showing that the lip edge is coated with slide-proof cloth according to the present invention.  
       FIG. 5  is a schematic cross view showing the assembly of the present invention with the wheel rim of the tire without any inner tire.  
       FIG. 6  is a schematic cross view showing the assembly of a tire and a wheel rim in the prior art.  
       FIG. 7  is a schematic cross view of the lip edge in the prior art. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      In order that those skilled in the art can further understand the present invention, a description will be described in the following in details. However, these descriptions and the appended drawings are only used to cause those skilled in the art to understand the objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention, but not to be used to confine the scope and spirit of the present invention defined in the appended claims.  
      With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The present invention mainly includes the following elements.  
      A tire body  10  has an opening.  
      Two lip edges  12  are formed on two sides of the opening. The lip edges  12  are mainly made of Kevlar bead.  
      Each lip edge  12  has an adhering portion  14 . A steel beam  16  is embedded in the adhering portion  14  for retaining the tire body  10 . The adhering portion  14  is an enlarged cambered portion, which protrudes at an outer portion of the tire body  10 .  
      An outer side of each adhering portion  14  is enclosed by a mono-nylon slide-proof cloth  20  so as to cause the gap between the tire body  10  and a wheel rim  30  is minimized to have a preferred air-tightness.  
      Referring to  FIG. 3 , when it is desired to combine the tire body  10  and the wheel rim  30 , by the steel beams  16 , the adhering portions  14  are buckled to the ear portions  32  of the wheel rim  30 . Since the adhering portion  14  has a cambered portion so as to have a large contact area with an contact portion  34  of the wheel rim  30 ; where the contact portion  34  is below the ear portion  32  of the wheel rim  30 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 3 , since the adhering portions  14  are enlarged, the contact area between the adhering portions  14  and the wheel rim  30  can be tightly sealed. The slide-proof cloth  20  has the effect of air-tightness with a larger hardness so as to cause the tire body  10  and the wheel rim  30  to have preferred adherence.  
      Moreover, by the cambered adhering portion  14  and the slide-proof cloth  20  of the present invention, the present invention is suitable to various kinds of wheel rims  30  currently used. However, the prior art design is dedicated to one specific kind of wheel rim  30 . Thereby, the present invention is superior than the prior art.  
      With reference to  FIG. 4 , to have a preferred air-tightness, it is preferred that the slide-proof cloth  20  is made of mono nylon. In one embodiment, the slide-proof cloth is interleaved by mono-nylon of 10˜50*10˜50 EPI. The slide-proof cloth is interleaved by mono-nylon with each yarn being ranged from 210 Diner to 840 Diner. The lip edges are made of Kevlar Bead. The slide-proof cloths are made of mono nylon with a rubber layer; the rubber layer has a thickness between 0.3 mm to 2.0 mm.  
      A surface of the slide-proof cloth  20  and the contact portion  34  of wheel rim  30  are coated with sealant so that the sealant can fill the gaps between the slide-proof cloth  20  and the wheel rim  30 . Thereby, a preferred air-tightness is achieved.  
      With reference to  FIG. 5 , it is illustrated that the present invention can be used in tire with an inner tire  50  other than the tire without any inner tire  50 .  
      The present invention is thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.