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US 6,318,446 B1Granted
One piece cast vehicle wheel having a circumferential lightener pocket
AssigneeHayes Lemmerz International, Inc.
InventorsJohn J. Nichols, Romulo A. Prieto, John D. Nitz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A one piece cast wheel having a lightener recess formed in the wheel disc which extends axially beneath the wheel outboard tire bead seat. A method of casting such a one piece wheel which utilizes a multi-piece wheel mold having side members which include a plurality of components. A core for forming the lightener cavity is formed integrally with the side member components. The side member components are sequentially moved relative to each other to release the core from the lightener cavity.
Claims9
A method for forming a one piece vehicle wheel comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a multi-piece mold for a one piece wheel, the mold including a base member which supports a plurality of upper side members and a plurality of lower side members and a top core, the members and top core defining a wheel cavity having a rim cavity joining a disc to define a sidewall cavity, the mold having an axis and further including an annular lightener recess core which extends axially into the sidewall cavity, the lightener recess core including a plurality of segments integrally formed as a portion of the lower side members;
- (b) charging the mold cavity with molten metal to form a one piece wheel;
- (c) cooling the mold to solidify the molten metal into a one piece wheel casting, the annular core forming a lightener recess in the sidewall of the wheel casting;
- and
- (d) sequentially withdrawing the upper and lower side members to extract the lightener core segments from the wheel casting while opening the mold to release a wheel casting having an annular lightener recess formed in the sidewall.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.