Cast vehicle wheel rim
AssigneeGeorge Fischer Ltd.
InventorJakob Rohr
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vehicle wheel rim has a tire-engaging rim portion with two conical portions, one of which lies radially outwardly of a support ring having a conical surface for mounting the rim on a spider or the like. The outer ends of the conical portions terminate at tips and a drop center lies between the conical portions. A radial crosspiece extends from the support ring to about the center of the conical portion outside the support ring. The rim is cast in a mold having two mold halves and an annular core member defining the outer rim surface.
Claims11
A unitary, cast vehicle wheel rim, particularly for use with a tubeless tire, comprising:
- a rim profile portion formed with a radially outwardly facing surface having a first outer tip, a first conical portion, a drop center, a shoulder, a second conical portion and a second outer tip in sequence axially, said first conical portion partially overlying and spaced radially relative to said drop center;
- a support ring axially offset adjacent said first conical portion and formed as an axial extension of said drop center, said support ring having a conical surface for mounting the rim on a support device, such as a spider;
- and
- a generally radially extending annular crosspiece interconnecting said support ring with the center of said first conical portion, and thereby, with the remainder of the rim.
A process for manufacturing a unitary vehicle wheel rim of the type having a rim profile portion and a support ring formed with a conical surface for mounting the rim on a support device such as a spider, wherein the rim profile includes means defining a radially outwardly facing surface with first and second conical portions terminating at first and second outer tips, a shoulder and a drop center, the support ring being an axial extension of the drop center and being axially offset adjacent the first conical portion, and a generally radially extending annular crosspiece interconnecting the support ring with the center of the first conical portion and thereby with the remainder of the rim, comprising the steps of:
- providing a casting mold having first and second axially facing mold halves of compacted sand and only a single annular casting core shaped to define the radially outwardly facing surface of the rim, and
- casting the wheel rim in one piece in said casting mold.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.