Roller clamp type wheel examining apparatus

A rotating wheel examining apparatus for examining a wheel of a vehicle while keeping it in rotation, comprising:

• supporting means for rotatably supporting a bottom of a wheel of a vehicle;
• clamping means for clamping opposite sides of said wheel to thereby locate a geometrical center of said wheel at a predetermined center of said apparatus, said clamping means clamping said wheel such that said wheel is rotatable around its own axis and wherein said clamping means is supported to be rotatable around a vertical axis;
• and
• detecting means for detecting a rotation of said clamping means around said vertical axis.

A wheel examining system of a 4-wheel vehicle, comprising:

• first and second pairs of wheel examining apparatuses for front and rear wheels of a 4-wheel vehicle, each of said wheel examining apparatuses including supporting means for rotatably supporting a corresponding one of the four wheels of said 4-wheel vehicle at a bottom thereof, positioning means for positioning said corresponding wheel by clamping said wheel from both sides thereof and detecting means for detecting an inclination of said wheel with respect to a predetermined reference line;
• first interconnecting means for interconnecting said supporting means of each of said first and second pairs of wheel examining apparatuses such that said supporting means of each of said first and second pairs of wheel examining apparatuses are located symmetrical with respect to a longitudinal center line of said system;
• and
• second interconnecting means for interconnecting said positioning means of each of said first and second pairs of wheel examining apparatuses such that said positioning means of each of said first and second pairs of wheel examining apparatuses are located symmetrical with respect to said longitudinal center line of said system.

The roller lock apparatus for locking and unlocking a pair of rollers, which are rotatably supported and spaced apart from each other over a predetermined distance, simultaneously, comprising:

• a pair of first and second gears, each integrally provided to a corresponding one of said pair of rollers;
• a rotatable supported intermediate gear which is in mesh with both of said pair of first and second gears;
• a lock gear movable between a first position where said lock gear meshes with both of said intermediate gear and one of said first and second gears and a second position where said lock gear is separated away from at least one of said intermediate gear and said one of said first and second gears;
• position controlling means for controlling the position of said lock gear between said first and second positions;
• and
• wherein said pair of rollers is provided in a wheel examining apparatus for examining a wheel of a vehicle and is capable of supporting thereon said wheel such that said wheel may be rotated around its own rotating axis.

A rotating object thrust absorbing apparatus, comprising:

• a frame supported to be movable in a plane;
• at least two rollers rotatably supported by said frame for rotatably supporting thereon a rotating object;
• first engaging means provided at one end of said frame;
• second engaging means provided temporarily fixed in space and engageable with said first engaging means;
• and
• rotating means for rotating said rotating object supported on said at least two rollers;
• whereby said frame moves around said second engaging means when said first and second engaging means are in engagement to thereby absorb a thrust occurring between said rotating object and said at least two rollers.

A wheel examining apparatus for examining a wheel of a vehicle, comprising:

• supporting means for rotatably supporting a wheel of a vehicle to be examined;
• driving means for driving said supporting means to rotate in a predetermined direction to thereby cause said wheel supported on said supporting means to rotate around its own rotating axis;
• clamping means for clamping both sides of said wheel to thereby locate a geometrical center of said wheel at a predetermined center of said apparatus, said clamping means clamping said wheel such that said wheel remains rotatable around its own rotating axis, said clamping means being supported to be rotatable around a vertical axis;
• detecting means for detecting a predetermined performance of said wheel supported on said supporting means;
• wherein said supporting means includes a pair of rotatably supported support rollers which are arranged in parallel as spaced apart from each other over a predetermined distance and said wheel to be examined is supported on said pair of support rollers;
• wherein said driving means includes a motor which is operatively coupled to at least one of said support rollers to have it driven to rotate in a predetermined direction;
• and
• wherein said motor is built in the interior of at least one of said pair of support rollers, said motor including a coil fixedly attached to the inner peripheral surface of said support roller and an armature which is disposed fixed in position and inside of said coil as spaced part therefrom.

A wheel examining apparatus for examining a wheel of a vehicle, comprising:

• supporting means for rotatably supporting a wheel of a vehicle to be examined;
• driving means for driving said supporting means to rotate in a predetermined direction to thereby cause said wheel supported on said supporting means to rotate around its own rotating axis;
• clamping means for clamping both sides of said wheel to thereby locate a geometrical center of said wheel at a predetermined center of said apparatus, said clamping means clamping said wheel such that said wheel remains rotatable around its own rotating axis;
• detecting means for detecting a predetermined performance of said wheel supported on said supporting means;
• wherein said clamping means includes a first contact roller which is movable into a rolling contact with a first side surface of said wheel and a second contact roller which is movable into a rolling contact with an opposite side surface of said wheel;
• and
• further comprising means for bringing said contact rollers together into contact with said wheel and for retracting said contact rollers together from contact with said wheel.