Patent ID: 7398806

Claim:
A tire chain, for installation on a vehicle wheel resting on the ground, or roadway, comprising a generally circular, flexible side member on the inner face side of the tire, a generally circular, flexible side member on the outer face side of the tire, an attachment device provided on each side member to attach the ends for each to form a loop on the wheel, a multiplicity of flexible cross members between the two side members, arrayed on the tire tread in a repetitive pattern, and the pattern is of such density that there is always a cross member in the tire to ground contact area during operation, and the wheel has a vertical centerline, as it rests on the ground ready to receive the tire chain, and it has a center of rotation, and the installation procedure includes the step of imposing adjacent cross members upon the edges of the tire to ground contact area, such that one or both of said adjacent cross members are deflected from their natural positions in the pattern, and said adjacent cross member, or members, deflected from their natural positions, are each slidably connected to the outer face side member by means of a fitting on the outer face end of the cross member, adapted to slide on, and be supported by a ramp support means built into the outer face side member, and the ramp support means has two interconnected support zones, comprising a first zone positioned at the end of the ramp support means away from the wheel vertical centerline, to support the cross member end in its initial installation, deflected, retracted position, and a second zone, positioned at the end of the ramp support means nearer the wheel vertical centerline, and positioned to support the cross member end in its vehicle operating position, and the outer face end of each deflected cross member is adapted to connect to a tension means, for manual attachment, to provide tension onto the deflected cross member at all times during operation, and positioned to pull the cross member end radially inward toward the wheel center of rotation.