Spoked wheel and method of making same
OwnerThomas O. Chalkinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A spoked wheel and method of making same including a peripheral rim, a central hub and a plurality of spokes interconnecting the hub and rim in which the hub is provided with spaced flanges interconnected by a tubular spindle and the spokes are in the form of wire members extending between the rim and the respective flanges. The wire spokes are of fixed, non-adjustable length and are tensioned simultaneously and equally by expanding the distance between the hub flanges with the spindle being inserted therebetween in order to maintain the flanges spaced apart. Airfoil blades may be mounted on the outer portion of certain of the spokes to enable utility of the wheel as a wind turbine, fan, propeller on a hovercraft or the like.
Claims2
A spoked wheel comprising an annular rim of rigid construction, a central hub assembly, and a plurality of radially extending spokes interconnecting the rim and hub assembly, said spokes being of fixed, non-adjustable length, said hub assembly including spaced end flanges having a spindle extending therebetween, said spokes being wire members with a plurality of wire members extending from each of the flanges to the rim and being equally tensioned by expanding the distance between the flanges when positioning the spindle therebetween, each of said spokes being of generally U-shaped configuration with parallel wire members interconnected by an outer end wire portion of relatively short length with the two wire members being inserted radially inwardly through spaced holes in the rim, the two wire members having inner free ends connected to a flanges of the hub assembly, and a blade mounted on each pair of wire members extending from the rim to one of the flanges, each blade being in the form of an airfoil and disposed only toward the outer portion of the spokes, each blade being hollow and in the form of an envelope with the wire members being disposed in the leading and trailing edges thereof, and an inner rim at the inboard tips of the blades and disposed between the wire members defining each spoke to enable variation in pitch of the blades from their outboard tips to their inboard tips.
The method of making a spoked wheel comprising the step of forming an annular rim of circular configuration, connecting a plurality of radially disposed spokes to the rim, connecting the end portions of alternate spokes to central flanges and spreading the flanges apart and placing a spacing device therebetween thereby equally tensioning all of said spokes, each spoke being constructed of wire and the step of connecting the spokes to the rim includes the step of passing the two ends of a wire through adjacent holes in the rim from the outer surface to the inner surface so that the central portion of the wire engages the outer periphery of the rim, the end portions of the wire extending radially inwardly with the free ends thereof connected to a flange, and mounting an airfoil blade on each spoke extending from the rim to one of the flanges by enclosing the portions of the wire inwardly of the rim to a point spaced from the flange, and varying the pitch of the blades from the outboard tip to the inboard tip by inserting an inner rim between the portions of the wire at the inboard tips of the blades.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.