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US 6,244,668 B1Granted
Cold formed light alloy automotive wheel rim
AssigneeSpecialty Blanks, Inc.
InventorsArthur D. Hale, Jr., Michael J. Beyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A spun light alloy rim that substantially duplicates the strength and light weight of a cold forged alloy rim and incorporates through its method of manufacture appearance features and the relatively low cost of a cast alloy wheel.
Claims10
A formed metal wheel rim comprising:
- an annular rim body formed with an annular drop well and configured on the inboard side with an inboard bead seat and on the outboard side with a wheel center barrel having at its outboard extent an annular protrusion, said rim body further including outboard of said wheel center barrel an annular rolled flange, said flange being rolled radially outwardly to form a radially outwardly curving flare and then turned axially inboard and then radially inwardly to form an annular bearing ring having a bearing surface facing inboard and spaced from said annular protrusion to cooperate therewith in forming an outboard bead seat,
- wherein said rim body is formed such that said bearing ring projects radially inwardly to define an annular edge contacting the radial outside surface of said wheel center barrel, and
- wherein the annular edge is tapered radially and axially inwardly to engage with an axially inward facing wall of the flare for restraining axial outward movement of said bearing ring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.