Patent ID: 7426953

Claim:
A tire bead breaker for breaking a tire bead between a tire and a rim or wheel to allow for easy removal of said tire from said wheel, said tire bead breaker comprising: (a) a main chassis comprising rollers attached thereto to directly support and assist in rotating a vertically positioned tire having a rotational axis; (b) securing apparatus for securing said vertically positioned tire to said main chassis; (c) a pneumatic airbag activator unit; (d) an actuation arm having a transfer section and an engagement section, said transfer section for transferring movement from the activator unit to the engagement section; (e) said engagement section having a first engagement section end and a second engagement section end, said first engagement section end having a shoe with a substantially planar bead engaging face, said second engagement section end pivotably attached to said main chassis; and (f) when in a resting state, said activator unit is substantially empty and said actuation arm is in a neutral position such that said engagement section is distanced from said tire bead, said substantially planar bead engaging face being substantially parallel to said engagement section and perpendicular to said rotational axis of said vertically positioned tire; wherein said transfer section and said engagement section are arranged at an angle to each other, said planar bead engaging face engages said vertically positioned tire when said activator unit is activated, and said transfer section transfers movement from said activator unit to said engagement section.