Puncture-proof tire having a core of elastomeric material

A vulcanized tire and wheel rim assembly capable of being run even with a punctured tire, comprising a wheel rim;

• a tire carcass having a substantially annular space mounted on said wheel rim;
• a core for said tire carcass, said core comprising a core cushion of elastomeric material in the shape of a toroid having a cross-sectional shape close to that of said annular space but with a cross-sectional area larger than the cross-sectional area of said space, said core cushion completely filling said annular space of said tire carcass and being compressed therein, said core cushion having formed therein a plurality of toroidal annulus-shaped gas tight cells distributed throughout said core in rows and columns, said rows extending perpendicular to an equatorial plane taken through the wheel rim axis and said columns extending parallel to said equatorial plane, said rows and columns being symmetrically arranged about said equatorial plane, each said cell being arranged in both one of said rows and one of said columns and containing a gas under pressure, wherein said cells are spaced substantially equidistantly from neighboring cells in said rows and columns, said spacing in each row being substantially equal to said spacing in each column.