Patent ID: 7862400

Claim:
A toy vehicle comprising: a chassis; a plurality of wheels mounted to the chassis so as to support and propel the chassis; at least one electric motor operably coupled to at least one of the wheels to rotate the at least one coupled wheel about a rotational axis to propel the toy vehicle in a direction at least generally perpendicular to the rotational axis; and at least one electric power source operably coupled to the motor to power the motor; at least the one wheel operably coupled to the motor including a hub and a tire mounted on the hub, the tire having an interior sufficiently hollow to make the wheel buoyant in water and the wheel being sufficiently sealed to prevent water penetration of the interior of the tire with the wheel immersed in water and loss of buoyancy, the tire of the at least one wheel having a central portion surrounding the hub and a plurality of hollow lobes spaced from one another about the central portion and extending generally outwardly from the hub, the central portion and the rotational axis, each lobe being hollow and sealed to water penetration so as to contribute to buoyancy of the wheel, each lobe having a pair of opposing outer sides cut by a plane perpendicular to rotational axis and bisecting the wheel, and at least one of the opposing outer sides of each lobe being at least partially cupped to improve thrust generated by rotation of the at least one wheel in water wherein the at least partial cupping of the at least one of the opposing sides of each lobe is inward and a remaining one of the two opposing sides of each lobe of the tire of the at least one wheel is also at least partially inwardly cupped to improve thrust generated by rotation of the at least one wheel in either rotational direction of the at least one wheel in water, wherein each of the lobes has a height in a radial direction above the central portion of the tire greater than a maximum radius of the central portion of the tire from a center of the tire.