Patent Publication Number: US-2005115656-A1

Title: Safe tire with a supporting apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      This present invention relates to a safe tire, particularly with a supporting apparatus for providing a backup support when pressure is lost in the safe tire and it runs flat.  
      2. Description of the Prior Art  
      Tires today are highly reliable and durable—but they&#39;re not invulnerable, they can be damaged by lack of maintenance or accidents, such as running over nails or into holes. Therefore, that means that tire failures—flat tires—sometimes happen. Many cars have small “temporary use only” spare tires. These are designed for limited use, and most importantly, not every driver has the ability to exchange the flat tires by themselves. Hence, a “safe tire” with a backup support mechanism is under development. The car, equipped with the safe tire can be driven on for a safe distance even if the safe tire is flat and the pressure is at zero.  
      First, a cross-sectional view of a conventional safe tire system is shown in  FIG. 1 . The safe tire system is composed of a tire, a wheel, and a supporting ring  113 . The tire is a symmetrical structure and can be divided into a tread  101 , a shoulder  102 , a sidewall  103 , and a bead  104 . The tread  101 , running the circumference around the tire, is the section that makes contact with the road&#39;s surface. The shoulder  102  refers to the section starting from the tread  101  edge to the upper part of the sidewall  103 . The sidewall  103  refers to the side section of tire, providing driving comfort through bending and stretching. The bead  104 , the bottom part of the tire, is arranged to hook the tire onto a rim  111  of the wheel with a wire bead  105  (composed of steel wire and core rubber).  
      The wheel is designed as a single unit in steel or alloy and formed of the rim  111  and a wheel disk (not shown). The rim  111  is connected with the bead  104  of the tire, and the wheel disk is connected with a vehicle (not shown). The feature of the safe tire system is in a supporting ring  113  slid onto the well of the rim  111  of the wheel and fixing the supporting ring  113  with the help of a positioning stop  112  of the rim and the bead  104  of the tire. The supporting ring  113 , a toroidal elastomer, could be formed as a whole or a combination structure of a plurality of elements.  
      When the tire suffers from a puncture and leads to a loss of pressure, the sidewall  113  cannot provide a sufficient elasticity to support the tread  101  and the shoulder  102 . At this point of time, the supporting ring  113  will take charge in the support of the tread  101  and the vehicle will still be under control and able to travel a safe distance.  
      As in the above description, the supporting ring  113  can provide backup support when the tire has an unexpected pressure loss. But the safe tire system can not be applied to a general rim because it needs other special elements such as the positioning stop  112  and an appropriate seat (not shown) to house the supporting ring  113  in the well of the rim  111 , which is immovable. For this reason, the consumer must spend more money to buy the safe tire system with a supporting ring  113  and a peculiar wheel that&#39;s necessary.  
      In the above conventional safe tire system, the supporting ring  113  has to provide a sufficient elasticity to support the tire on an exceptional pressure-losing situation for a safe distance. So the supporting ring  113  is usually made up of a hard rubber and must have an enough thickness to maintain the comfort for driving. The heavy weight of the supporting ring  113  will increase the loading of the wheel in an unexceptional situation. In addition, when the safe tire system has to be replaced or repaired and the tire has to be removed from the rim  111 , the supporting ring  113  will be blocked. A special mounting and removing machine can be used to extract the supporting device  113  and then reinsert it back to the well of the rim  111 , but unfortunately, not every repair shop will be equipped with the special mounting machine within the “safe distance”.  
      Next, a cross-sectional view of another conventional safe tire is shown in  FIG. 2 . The safe tire comprises a general tire and a general wheel. The tire is a symmetrical structure and can be divided into a tread  201 , a shoulder  202 , a sidewall  203 , and a bead  204 . The wheel is designed as a single unit of steel or alloy and formed of a rim  211  and a wheel disk (not shown). The rim  211  is connected with the bead  204  of the tire, and the wheel disk is connected with a vehicle (not shown).  
      The feature of the safe tire is installed in an m-shaped steel rim  213  slid onto the rim  211  of the wheel and fixed in the m-shaped steel rim  213  with the help of the bead  204  of the tire. When the tire suffers from a puncture, which leads to a loss of pressure, the sidewall  213  cannot provide sufficient elasticity to support the tread  201  and the shoulder  202 . At this point in time, the m-shape steel rim  213  will take charge to support the tread  201  and to prevent the bead  204  from separating from the rim  213 . So thus enabling the vehicle to travel a safe distance.  
      As in the above description, the m-shaped steel rim  213  enables the vehicle to travel even in the case of a puncture or insufficient inflation pressure, and the m-shaped steel rim  213  could be utilized in a general tire and a general wheel. But arranging the m-shaped steel rim  213  onto the well of the rim  211  and being jammed by the bead  204  of the tire is a difficult technique. Hence, if the driver has no luck in finding a repair shop with a special mounting machine with a trained technician within the “safe distance”, the tire, the wheel and the m-shaped steel rim  213  must be completely changed.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the conventional safe tire system. An object of the invention is arranging a supporting apparatus on a general tire under the principle of not influencing the normal tire exchange process. The general tire with the supporting apparatus will become a safe tire and keep a vehicle under control and rolling to a safe distance in the case of a puncture or of insufficient inflation pressure.  
      Another object of the present invention is arranging a supporting apparatus on a general tire to provide a backup support for a vehicle without the matching of a peculiar wheel, the original wheel of the vehicle is sufficient to assist the supporting apparatus in keeping the vehicle under control and rolling to a safe distance in the case of a puncture or of insufficient inflation pressure.  
      The other object of the present invention is providing a method for forming a safe tire by arranging a supporting device on a rubber bead of the safe tire. The rubber bead is used for fixing the supporting device on the safe tire and helping to provide a auxiliary backup support.  
      As mentioned in the above objects of the present invention, a supporting apparatus is installed on a safe tire, providing a backup support when the safe tire has an unexpected loss of pressure and hasn&#39;t the ability to support a vehicle. By this supporting apparatus of the present invention, the vehicle could continue to be driven a safe distance.  
      Additional objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BEIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a conventional safe tire system.  
       FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of a conventional safe tire.  
       FIG. 3A  is a front view of a safe tire.  
       FIG. 3B  is a cross-sectional view of the safe tire.  
       FIG. 3C  is another cross-sectional view of the safe tire.  
       FIG. 4A  is a front view of a single supporting element.  
       FIG. 4B  is a front view of the connection of two adjacent supporting elements.  
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       FIG. 3A  is a front view of a preferred embodiment of a safe tire  30  according to the present invention.  FIG. 3B  is a cross-sectional view of the safe tire  30 , along with the hatches  3 B- 3 B′ of  FIG. 3A .  FIG. 3C  is another cross-sectional view of the safe tire  30 , along with the hatches  3 C- 3 C′ of  FIG. 3A .  
      Referring to  FIG. 3B  and  FIG. 3C , they are showing two different cross-sectional views of the safe tire  30 . First, the safe tire  30  is a symmetrical structure and can be divided into a tread  301 , a shoulder  302 , a sidewall  303 , and a bead  304 . The tread  301 , running the circumference around the safe tire  30 , is the section that makes contact with the road&#39;s surface. The shoulder  302  refers to the section staring from the tread  301  edge to the upper part of sidewall  303 . The sidewall  303  refers to the side section of the safe tire  30 , providing driving comfort through bending and stretching. The bead  304 , the bottom part of the safe tire  30 , is arranged to hook the safe tire  30  onto a rim  311  of a wheel with a wire bead  305  (composed of steel wire and core rubber). The wheel is designed as a single unit in steel or alloy and formed of the rim  311  and a wheel disk (not shown). The rim  311  is connected with the bead  304  of the safe tire  30 , and the wheel disk is connected with a vehicle (not shown).  
      According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a rubber bead  312  is formed in the safe tire  30  with a triangular cross-section. One surface of the rubber bead  312  is pasted with the inner wall of the bead  304 , the other two surfaces are intersected by an acute angle to form a circular salient. And a plurality of supporting elements are linked to be a supporting device  313  and chained by the hooked structure of the rubber bead  312 . The rubber bead  312  is not only arrange for fixing the supporting device  313  on the safe tire  30 , and further, it also provides a auxiliary backup support for the safe tire  30 .  
      In this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the structure of the rubber bead  312  is a circular salient, but other structures which could fix the supporting device  313  on the safe tire  30  such as gear-shaped salient or a plurality of separated salient are also arranged to form the rubber bead  312  of the present invention. And the material of the rubber bead  312  of this preferred embodiment is a hard rubber, but other materials which could make a good connection with the bead  304  and provide a high elasticity could also be the material of the rubber bead  312  of the present invention. In addition, another rubber bead (not shown) could be formed in the safe tire  30  and pasted with the inner wall of the bead  304 , matching with the rubber bead  312  and enhancing the combination with the supporting device  313  according the present invention.  
      The supporting device  313  is composed of a plurality of supporting elements. Referring to  FIG. 3B , the cross-sectional structure of each supporting element could be divided into a supporting section  314 , a connection section  315  and an indentation section  316 . The supporting section  314  is contacted with the inner wall of the tread  301  when the inflation pressure of the safe tire  30  is lost. In this preferred embodiment, the supporting section  314  is a flat surface, but a rough structure such as grooved hollow or a plurality of bulges could also be formed on the surface of the supporting section  314  to increase the friction between the surface of the supporting section  314  and the inner wall of the tread  301  in the safe tire  30 . The indentation section  316  of the supporting device  313  is mounted on the salient structure of the rubber bead  312 , meanwhile, referring to  FIG. 3C , a cross-section view of the safe tire  30  is shown in the connection situation between the indentation section  316  of the supporting device  313  and the rubber bead  312 . In the connection section  315 , each supporting element is provided with a hollow structure and is run through by a rivet  317  (fixing device). Referring to  FIG. 3C , a plurality of supporting elements are linked by a chain and surrounded with the rubber bead  312 , and each supporting element is connected by the rivet  317  and a side plate  318  (connection device).  
      In this preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side plate  318  is used to connect with two adjacent rivets  317  of the connection section  315  of the adjacent supporting elements. But other connecting devices and methods have the ability to fasten the adjacent supporting elements will also be arranged in the present invention. And referring to  FIG. 3B , the structure of the connection section  315  of the supporting element is arranged with a hollow structure, and in this preferred embodiment, the material of all supporting elements is an aluminum alloy. The above designs are aimed to lower the weight of the supporting device  313  and decrease the loading of the safe tire  30 . And other materials such as rubber and transition metal are also could be utilized to make the supporting elements according to the present invention.  
      Referring to  FIG. 4A , a front view of a single supporting element. The structure of each supporting element of the supporting device  313  could be divided into a supporting section  314 , a connection section  315  and an indentation section  316 . The connection section  315  is provided with two hollow structures of this preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to  FIG. 4B , a front view of the connection of two adjacent supporting elements. The two hollow structures of the connection section  315  are run through by two rivets  317 , and a side plate  318  is used to connect with two adjacent rivets  317  of the connection section  315  of the adjacent supporting elements. Besides, in order to enhance the combination of the adjacent supporting elements of this preferred embodiment, each supporting element is provided with a malposition structure. The plurality of supporting elements will be linked like a caterpillar to form the supporting device  313 .  
      In this preferred embodiment of the present invention, each supporting element is provided with two hollow structures on the connection section  315 , but the number of hollow structures of the connection section  315  will not be limited of this preferred embodiment. Providing a single hollow and positing it on the malposition structure will also be used to connect the adjacent supporting elements  315 . The number of the plurality of supporting elements is depended on the size and the driving comfort of the safe tire  30 .  
      According to the above description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a supporting device  313  is installed on a rubber bead  312  of a safe tire  30 , providing a backup support when the safe tire  30  has an unexpected loss of pressure and hasn&#39;t enough ability to support a vehicle. By this supporting device  313  of the present invention, the vehicle could continue being driven a safe distance.  
      Skilled workers will further recognize that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiment of this invention without departing from the underlying principles thereof. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that this invention is also applicable to color synchronization applications other than those found in multimedia projectors. The scope of the present invention should, therefore, be determined only by the following claims.