Patent ID: 7824248

Claim:
A wheel assembly for a pneumatic sander comprising: an inflatable tire for releasable pressure engagement with an abrasive belt; a first hub assembly sealingly engageable with a first axial opening in one side of said tire; a second hub assembly sealingly engageable with a second axial opening on the other side of said tire, said hub assemblies defining between them a fluid tight volume within said tire; and a valve including: an inlet port in fluid communication with said tire; a valve seat; at least one annular valve member formed from a part of said tire, said part being a skirt resiliently biased into unidirectional sealing engagement with said seat, such that application of external pressure through said inlet port causes at least a portion of said valve member to resiliently deflect away from said valve seat to thereby open said valve and permit fluid communication with said fluid tight volume; and load transfer means engageable with said tire, wherein as said hub assemblies are moved into and out of sealing engagement with their respective openings, an annular sealing portion of said tire is compressed between the peripheral rim of a sealing cap and said load transfer means.