Shear bonded molded wheel assembly
OwnerDouglas E. Dempseyinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A molded wheel design may incorporate identical halves and a shear bond to allow efficient manufacturing and assembly. The wheel design which may be applied in a host of different applications including a bicycle wheel where demanding loads exist in normal use. Integral bearings, foam tire adaptations, symmetrically opposite designs, and compression bonding techniques are described. A host of bonding techniques including the use of electromagnetically active material are accommodated by the designs. Spacers in the vicinity of the hub portion and semicircular boundaries so as to define a valve stem hole after assembly can be included.
Claims22
A molded wheel assembly having a central axis perpendicular to a central plane comprising:
- a. a first molded portion comprising a solid first rim portion wherein said first rim portion comprises:
- i. an upper flange;
- ii. a middle recess below said upper flange;
- and
- iii. a lower flange below said middle recess
- wherein said upper flange and said middle recess and said lower flange form a solid first rim portion;
- b. a second molded portion comprising a solid second rim portion wherein said second rim portion comprises:
- i. an upper flanidng offset recess face;
- ii. a middle flange below said upper offset recess face;
- and
- iii. a lower flanking offset recess face below said middle flange
- wherein said upper flanking offset recess face and said middle flange and said lower flanking offset recess face form a solid second rim portion and wherein said upper flanking offset recess face is offset with respect to a central plane from said lower flanking offset recess face by a distance;
- c. at least one perpendicular shear bond having a bond width substantially perpendicular to said central plane which joins said first and second portions together to form wherein said shear bond is substantially perpendicular to said central plane said shear bond comprising:
- i. an airtight rim shear bond integral to said first and second rim portions of said first and second molded portions;
- and
- ii. an engaged area formed by said middle recess of said first molded section engaged with some portion of said middle flange of said second molded portion between said upper and lower flanking offset recess faces
- wherein said airtight rim shear bond and said engaged area form a solid bonded rim portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.