US 10,518,576 B1 · Expandable wheel

Abstract

An expandable wheel has rollers arranged radially about a plate within a main housing. Spokes pivotally connected to the plate are attached to linkages on which the rollers are mounted. The rollers and linkages protrude through apertures in the main housing. The rollers form the circumference of the wheel. Rotation of the plate relative to the main housing changes the angle of the spokes relative to radii of the plate. When the spokes are parallel with the radii of the plate, the rollers are pushed radially outward at a maximum distance from the plate, forming the largest wheel circumference. When the spokes are as near perpendicular as possible with respect to the radii of the plate, the rollers are pulled radially inward at a minimum distance from the plate, forming the smallest wheel circumference.

Claims8

Dependent claims

An expandable wheel comprised of:

a main housing with a series of apertures disposed radially thereabout;
a plate disposed within a cavity of the main housing;
a set of spokes distributed radially around the plate and attached thereto at a first end, each spoke positioned within one of the series of apertures in the main housing;
a set of linkages distributed radially around the plate and attached to a second end of the spokes, the linkages positioned within the apertures;
a set of rollers distributed radially around the plate and mounted on the linkages;
wherein the spokes, linkages and rollers can be moved from a first, contracted position in which the spokes, linkages, and rollers are pulled by the spokes towards the main housing, to a second, expanded position, in which the spokes, linkages, and rollers are pushed outward from the main housing by clockwise or counter clockwise rotation of the plate relative to the main housing.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Expandable wheel

Life of this patent

Expandable wheel

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims8