US 5,942,068 AGranted

Method for making a non-metallic fiber reinforced wheel

AssigneeTiodize Company, Inc.

InventorsThomas R. Adams, Gary R. Wittman

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Abstract

A method for making a non-metallic, fiber reinforced wheel for an in-line skate and similar rolling articles. Resin impregnated carbon fibers are compression molded to form a high strength and very stiff (i.e. rigid) annular hub having a central channel extending longitudinally therethrough to accommodate an axle. Bearing cavities are formed at opposite ends of the central channel in which to receive and retain respective axle bearings. A hollow air pocket is established so as to extend around and through the interior of the hub in order to occupy a majority of the volume of the hut) and thereby reduce the overall weight of the wheel. A scalloped wheel retaining rim is formed around the circumference of the hub to which an outer urethane tire is bonded to enable the wheel to roll along a flat surface.

A method for making a rigid, lightweight wheel for a rolling article, said method comprising the steps of:

molding a pair of opposing circular hub portions such that each of said pair of hub portions has an outer edge, a bearing housing spaced inwardly from said outer edge in a radial direction, and a hollow air pocket extending in a circumferential direction between said outer edge and said cylindrical bearing housing, where the outer edge of one hub portion of said pair of hub portions has a lip and the outer edge of the other hub portion of said pair of hub portions has a groove sized to receive said lip, and the bearing housing of one hub portion of said pair of hub portions is cylindrical and has an end forming an abutment, and the bearing housing of the other hub portion of said pair of hub portions has overlapping and adjoining cylindrical portions, one of said overlapping and adjoining cylindrical portions having an end forming another abutment and the other of said overlapping and adjoining cylindrical portions having a bearing stop formed at each end thereof;
mating said pair of opposing hub portions together to form an annular hub such that the hollow air pockets that extend in the circumferential direction around said pair of hub portions occupy a majority of the volume of said hub, with the cylindrical bearing housing of one hub portion of said pair of hub portions disposed inwardly of and lying against the one of the overlapping and adjoining cylindrical portions of the bearing housing of the other hub portion of said pair of hub portions having a bearing stop formed at each end thereof to establish a central channel through said hub in a longitudinal direction within which to receive an axle, with a cylindrical bearing cavity at each end of the central channel having one of the bearing stops, wherein the abutment at the end of the bearing housing of the one hub portion of said pair of hub portions engages said another abutment, and the lip at the outer edge of the said one hub portion of said pair of hub portions is received in the groove at the outer edge of the said other hub portion of said pair of hub portions and
bonding a tire to the outer edges of said pair of hub portions of said annular hub to enable said wheel to roll along a flat surface.

Facts

Application

08/920,949Filed 29 Aug 1997

Granted

24 Aug 1999

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification19 codes

B29C 66/54
Joining tubular articles, profiled elements or bars; Joining single elements to tubular articles, hollow articles or bars; Joining several…:…
B29C 65/00
Joining or sealing of preformed parts
B29C 65/561
Using mechanical means or mechanical connections, e.g. form-fits: using screw-threads being integral at least to one of the parts to be joined
B29C 66/1222
Joint cross-sections combining only two joint-segments, i.e. one of the parts to be joined comprising only two joint-segments in the joint…:…

Abstract

Claims10