Patent ID: 8162017

Claim:
A tire chain, of link construction, for installation on a vehicle wheel resting on the roadway, comprising a generally circular, flexible side member forming a loop on the inner face of the tire, and a like member on the outer face of the tire, and a multiplicity of flexible cross members arrayed on the tire tread, between the two side members, and said chain has a first end and a second end and the installation procedure includes the step of imposing the two end-of-chain cross members around the edges of the -tire-to-ground-contact area, and the pattern of cross members is of such density that there is always a cross member in the -tire-to-ground-contact area during operation, within the length of the chain, regardless of the space between the end-of-chain cross members, when mounted on the wheel, and the chain is constructed with three features in combination, comprising an attachment means, for attaching the outer face side member into a loop on the wheel, and a pivot lever means for removing chain slack and increasing chain tension, and the typical accuracy for hooking the outer face side member into a loop on the tire is one side member link pitch length produced by hooking one side member end into the closest possible side member link along the circumference of said side member, to produce the shortest available side member, and the side member attachment means comprises sliding a side member link over the elongated pivot lever, and the third feature in combination comprises means for user selection of the loop length of the outer face side member when the chain is fully mounted on the wheel, at an accuracy of selected length greater than the one link accuracy possible with side member straight links, and said means for user selection of the loop length of the side member when fully mounted is an adjustment link for manual replacement of the link serving as the side member attachment means, and an adjacent link when needed, and said adjustment link has a pitch length less than the link or links which it replaces, whereby the three features in combination are provided by two mechanisms.