Abstract:
An improved puncture-proof structure for tires is provided. The structure forms a spare tire body that can be assembled rapidly and adapted to various tire types by being finely tuned. A tire using the spare tire body is puncture-proof such that when punctured by sharp articles or knifes, the tire can still work to make safe arrival at a nearby repair workshop. This saves a car driver who has a damaged tire from the trouble of shoving the car and from the danger of endangering his/her life, in turn ensuring the public traffic safety.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Technical Field 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to an improved puncture-proof structure for tires, which can be rapidly installed into a tire and is adaptive to various tire types by using fine tuning, thereby ensuring driving safety. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Generally, tires can be categorized into regular tires that have an inner tube therein and tubeless tires without using an inner tube, both of which are not resistant to damages caused by external force. A tire with an inner tube is ready to work when the inner tube is inflated to expand an outer tube of the tire. Upon puncture by a knife or a sharp article, the tire becomes flat and unusable immediately, bringing the driver with much trouble, such as shoving the car. In the case such a tire gets punctured when the car using it is running fast, traffic accidents are likely to happen. On the other hand, tubeless tires are known to be able to defer the tire&#39;s complete flatness upon puncture, so as to provide sufficient buffer time for the driver to drive the car to a nearby repair workshop. While this buffering function does allow a driver with a damaged tubeless tire to safely arrive at a repair workshop, this function can also hinder a car driver from immediately noticing the tire damage as the tire pressure does not drop sharply. In this case, if the car driver not aware of the tire damage drives his/her car in high speed or on a rugged road, the tire is likely to become unusable immediately and put the driver into the risk of a traffic accident that endangers his/her life. 
         [0005]    In view of the shortcomings of the prior-art devices, the present inventor is concerned about the public traffic safety and has invented numerous novel tire improvements, including many that have been patented in many countries. Nevertheless, instead of being complacent about his achievements, the inventor continues to research and improve his patented inventions (as the inventor owns numerous applications and patents, the list is too long to name here), and herein provides further improved simplified structure that can be assembled rapidly in order to benefit the public in terms of driving safety. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention is directed to an improved puncture-proof structure for tires. Particularly, the improved puncture-proof structure provides a spare tire body that can be installed to a tire rapidly and is applicable to various tire types by using fine tuning. The spare tire body makes a tire using the same puncture-proof. The tire has its two top inner edges formed with hooked portions for engaging with the spare tire body made of serially connected combining blocks. When the tire gets punctured and damaged by a knife or a sharp article, the spare tire body allows the tire to keep work safely. Therein, the spare tire body is a C-shaped member composed of plural combining blocks, plural C-shaped holding pieces and a C-shaped lining piece. It can be engaged with the hooked portions of the tire rapidly and arm the tire with puncture-proof ability. 
         [0007]    The objective of the present invention is to provide such an improved puncture-proof structure, wherein the preassembled spare tire body is a C-shaped part that can be directly engaged with the hooked portions of the tire, thereby achieving rapid installation. Besides, a tire using the spare tire body is puncture-proof such that when punctured by sharp articles or knifes, the tire can still work to make safe arrival at a nearby repair workshop. This saves a car driver who has a flat tire from shoving the car along a high-traffic road and risking his/her life, thereby ensuring the public traffic safety. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    The invention as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  is a cutaway view of a tire for working with the improved puncture-proof structure for tires of the present invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a C-shaped holding piece of the improved puncture-proof structure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of a C-shaped lining piece of the improved puncture-proof structure; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of a combining block of the improved puncture-proof structure; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is another perspective view of the combining block of the improved puncture-proof structure; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a partially exploded view of a spare tire body formed by the improved puncture-proof structure for tire; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the spare tire body formed by the improved puncture-proof structure for tire; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  shows components at two joined ends of the spare tire body formed by the improved puncture-proof structure for tire; 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a cross-sectional view of a tire having the spare tire body formed by the improved puncture-proof structure engaged with hooked portions of the tire; 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  is another cross-sectional view of the tire having the spare tire body formed by the improved puncture-proof structure engaged with the hooked portions of the tire; 
           [0019]      FIG. 11  is a cross-sectional view of a simplified spare tire body formed according to another embodiment of the improved puncture-proof structure of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 12  is a cross-sectional view of a simplified spare tire body formed according to still another embodiment of the improved puncture-proof structure of the present invention; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 13  and  FIG. 14  are cross-sectional views of a simplified spare tire body formed according to yet another embodiment of the improved puncture-proof structure of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    The present invention provides an improved puncture-proof structure for tires. Referring to  FIG. 1 , a tire  10  has its two top inner edges formed with hooked portions  101  and is reinforced by cords arranged therein. 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , two C-shaped holding pieces  40  each have a C-shaped body formed with plural through holes  401  and notches  402 . 
         [0024]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , a C-shaped lining piece  30  has a C-shaped body formed with plural through holes  301 . 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 8 , a fine tuning member  50  has a lengthwise body formed with plural receiving holes  501 , and a propping plate  502  is extended from the upper edge of the fine tuning member  50 . 
         [0026]    Also referring to  FIG. 8 , an adjusting member  60  is a lengthwise piece with one end formed with one receiving hole  601  and an opposite end formed with plural indentations  602 . 
         [0027]    Still referring to  FIG. 8 , a pressing shaft  70  is an axle that passes through a through hole  201  provided on a combining block  20 . The pressing shaft  70  has its two ends formed with threaded holes  701 , and has a through hole  702  running radially therethrough. 
         [0028]    A pressing bolt  80 , as shown in  FIG. 8 , is an axle that passes through a through hole  201  provided on the combining block  20 . The pressing bolt  80  has its two ends formed with threaded holes  801 , and has a threaded retaining hole  802  running radially therethrough. 
         [0029]    A pressing screw bolt  90 , as shown in  FIG. 8 , is provided with plural positioning holes  901 . 
         [0030]    A reinforcing plate  71 , also shown in  FIG. 8 , is a lengthwise piece provided with separated locking holes  710 . The reinforcing plates  71  may come with different intervals between the locking holes  710  for option in practical use. 
         [0031]    The combining block  20 , as shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , is a hollow member with two lateral sides thereof provided with through holes  201  and with its top formed as an engaging valley  202 . The combining block  20  has its two lengthwise ends diagonally formed with projecting portions  203 . An engaging rib  204  is formed above each of the through holes  201  at the two sides of the combining block  20 . 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , the C-shaped lining piece  30  is configured to be inserted into the hollow combining blocks  20  so that the through holes  301  of the C-shaped lining piece  30  are aligned with the through holes  201  on the combining blocks  20 . The two C-shaped holding piece  40  are such placed that the through holes  401  thereof are aligned with the through holes  201  on the combining blocks  20 , so that screw bolts passing through the through holes  301 ,  401 ,  201  of the C-shaped lining piece  30 , the C-shaped holding pieces  40  and the combining blocks  20  can hold the components together to form a C-shaped spare tire body  1000 . At this time, the two engaging ribs  204  provided at the two sides of the combining block  20  are engaged with notches  402  formed on the C-shaped holding pieces  40 . 
         [0033]    As shown in  FIGS. 8 ,  9  and  10 , the combination between the spare tire body  1000  and the tire  10  is, for example, achieved by engaging the engaging valleys  202  of the combining blocks  20  with the hooked portions  101  of the tire  10 , and the two combining blocks  20  terminating the spare tire body  1000  have their through holes  201 , together with the through holes  401 ,  301  of the C-shaped holding pieces  40  and the C-shaped lining piece  30 , aligned with the receiving holes  501  of the fine tuning members  50  so as to allow screws to pass all the holes and hold all the components together. The fine tuning members  50  connecting two ends of the spare tire body  1000  have their receiving holes  501  each aligned with a threaded hole  701  of the pressing shaft  70  fixedly held by the through hole  201  of one of the combining block  20  or the threaded hole  801  of the pressing bolt  80  fixedly held by the through hole  201  of the other of the combining block  20 . The through hole  702  of the pressing shaft  70  receives a pressing screw bolt  90 , and the threaded retaining hole  802  of the pressing bolt  80  is configured to screwedly receive the pressing screw bolt  90  passing through the through hole  702  of the pressing shaft  70 . By screwing the pressing screw bolt  90  in or out with respect to the threaded retaining hole  802 , the spare tire body  1000  can be finely tuned to fittingly engaged with the hooked portions  101  of the tire  10 . Also provided is an adjusting member  60 , which, together with the two reinforcing plate  71 , straddles on the fine tuning members  50  such that the receiving hole  601  and the indentations  602  of the adjusting member  60  and the locking hole  710  of the reinforcing plate  71  are aligned with the receiving holes  501  of the fine tuning members  50 . Then screw bolts can be inserted into the threaded holes  701 ,  801  of the pressing shaft  70  and the pressing bolt  80  to hold these components together. At this time, one of the screw bolts can prop against the positioning hole  901  of the pressing screw bolt  90  to prevent the pressing screw bolt  90  from loosening. Therein, the propping plates  502  of the fine tuning member  50  can prop against the adjusting member  60  to prevent the adjusting member  60  from loosening. When damaged by a sharp article, the tire  10  can still drive the car to a repair work shop by using the spare tire body  1000 . 
         [0034]    Moreover, the plural receiving holes  501  of the fine tuning member  50  and the plural indentations  602  of the adjusting member  60  provide different combined distances for optional use in order to make the spare tire body  1000  fittingly engaged with the hooked portion  101  of the tire  10 . 
         [0035]    As described above, the spare tire body  1000  is composed of plural combining blocks  20 , a C-shaped lining piece  30  and two C-shaped holding pieces  40  held together by screw bolts. However, for its use in tires with different load levels, the spare tire body  1000 , as shown in  FIG. 12 , may be simplified into a combination of plural combining blocks  20  and one C-shaped lining piece  30  that are held together by screw bolts. Alternatively, the spare tire body  1000 , as shown in  FIG. 13  and  FIG. 14 , may be simplified into a combination of plural combining blocks  20 , one C-shaped holding piece  40 , and one C-shaped lining piece  30  held together by screw bolts. In another embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 11 , the spare tire body  1000  is formed by plural combining blocks  20  and two C-shaped holding pieces  40  held together by screw bolts. 
         [0036]    To sum up, the present invention is effective in preventing puncture and ensuring driving safety with simple yet accomplished configuration that requires significantly reduced manufacturing costs and time. As this novel configuration has not been seen in public to date, a patent application is herein made for the same. 
         [0037]    The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments and it is understood that the embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Moreover, as the contents disclosed herein should be readily understood and can be implemented by a person skilled in the art, all equivalent changes or modifications which do not depart from the concept of the present invention should be encompassed by the appended claims.