Winch powered tire bead breaker
OwnerMark GALLUPinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A winch powered tire bead breaker has a static support arm for temporarily mounting the bead breaker to a vehicle mountable winch and bracing there against. The bead breaker further has a moveable arm that is pivotally connected to the static support arm which is moveable relative to the static support arm. A working end of the winch can be releasably secured to the moveable arm and the winch actuated for moving the moveable arm from an open position to its closed position. The sidewalls of a wheel mounted tire, positioned between the moveable and static support arms, are squeezed as the moveable arm is actuated into its closed position for breaking a tire bead.
Claims19
A tire bead breaker for breaking a tire bead of a tire from a wheel, the vehicle having a winch having a working end, the bead breaker comprising:
- a pair of arms having:
- a static support arm having a first grip pad at its distal end;
- a moveable arm having a second grip pad at its distal end, the moveable arm pivotally connected to the static support arm at respective first and second proximal ends, the movable arm movable relative to the static support arm between an open position and a closed position, wherein the first grip pad and the second grip pad are generally juxtaposed from one another;
- a mount disposed intermediate along an inside edge of the static support arm, opposite the moveable arm, the mount having a vehicle-engaging edge for bracing the static support arm against the vehicle at about the winch;
- and
- a load point intermediate along the movable arm and generally opposing the mount, the loading point being releaseably securable to the working end of the winch,
- wherein, in the open position, the tire can be positioned between the first and second pads and when the working end of the winch is releaseably secured to the loading point, the winch is actuatable for moving the moveable arm towards the static support arm and towards its closed position for squeezing the tire between the juxtaposed grip pads and breaking the tire bead from the wheel.
A method of breaking a tire bead of a tire mounted to a wheel using a winch mounted to a vehicle comprising:
- providing a winch powered tire bead breaker having a moveable arm pivotally connected to a static support arm and forming a tire-receiving opening therebetween, the moveable arm operable between an open position and closed position relative to the static support arm;
- bracing the static support arm against the vehicle;
- positioning the moveable arm into its open position;
- releaseably securing a working end of the winch with the moveable arm;
- positioning the tire in the tire-receiving opening;
- and
- actuating the winch for moving the moveable arm towards the winch from its open position towards its closed position for engaging a first sidewall of the tire facing away from the winch and breaking the tire bead between the wheel and the first sidewall of the tire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.