Pneumatic tire and wheel allowing unassisted manual mounting of the tire and a method for designing such a tire and wheel
AssigneeMichelin Recherche et Technique S.A.
InventorsRoger C. Cottrell, Ronald H. Thompson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire and wheel assembly permits hand-mounting of the tire on the wheel by specifying the relationship of the tire bead circumference and the wheel geometry so that: C1=0.5Cw+2{square root}{square root over (0.5DW2+(0.5Dw+G+H)2+(W+Y)2)}+M where, Ct is the circumference of the tire bead seat, CW is the circumference of the wheel well, G is the depth of the wheel well, W is the axial distance of the wheel well from the mounting side flange, H is the radial height of the rim flange, and Y is the axial width of the rim flange, and M represents an amount of additional length, preferably about 80 millimeters.
Claims4
A wheel for a pneumatic, tubeless tire, comprising a rim having a flange of height H and width Y, and a well having a depth G, a well floor diameter Dw, a well floor circumference Cw, and a well position W relative to the flange on a mounting side of the wheel, wherein, for a tire having a bead seat circumference Ct and wherein an additional length M has a value in a range of approximately 75 to 100 mm, the wheel satisfying the relationship:
- C1=0.5Cw+2{square root}{square root over (0.5Dw2+(0.5Dw+G+H)2+(W+Y)2)}+M
- is mountable on the wheel by hand without tools.
A pneumatic tire and wheel assembly, the tire being hand-mountable on the wheel without tools, comprising:
- a tire having a bead with a bead seat circumference of Ct;
- and,
- a wheel having a rim with a flange of height H and width Y, and a well having a depth G, a well floor diameter Dw, a well floor circumference Cw, and a well position W relative to the flange on a mounting side of the wheel, satisfying the relationship:
- C1=0.5Cw+2{square root}{square root over (0.5Dw2+(0.5Dw+G+H)2+(W+Y)2)}+M
- wherein, M has a value of at least 80 mm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.