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US 7,140,949 B2Granted
Tool and process for chrome plating a vehicle wheel surface
AssigneeHayes Lemmerz International, Inc.
InventorsGeoffrey L. Gatton, Richard T. Guernsey
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cutting tool having a crystalline tip is pressed with a uniform pressure against the outboard surface of a vehicle wheel as the wheel is rotated. The smoothed wheel surface is then chrome plated to provide a cosmetic finish to the wheel face.
Claims25
A cutting tool for smoothing a wheel surface comprising:
- a body;
- and
- a non-symmetrical cutting tip formed upon one end of the body portion, said cutting tip having adjoining arcuate leading and trailing edges, said leading edge having a convex share with a leading edge radius and said trailing edge also having a convex shape with a trailing edge radius, said leading edge radius being greater than said trailing edge radius, said cutting tip also having a zero degree land formed thereabout whereby a cutting edge of the tool is maintained tangent to a surface of the wheel.
A process for forming a decorative surface upon a wheel surface, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a cutting tool for smoothing at least a portion of the wheel surface that includes a body having a mounting aperture formed therethrough and a cutting tip formed upon one end of the body portion, the cutting tip having arcuate leading and trailing edges, the cutting tip also having a zero degree land formed thereabout whereby the cutting edge of the tool is maintained tangent to the wheel surface.
- (b) mounting a machined vehicle wheel upon a lathe;
- (c) rotating the wheel;
- and
- (d) urging the cutting tool provided in step (a) with a uniform pressure against a surface of the wheel and traversing the cutting tool across the surface of the wheel to smooth at least a portion of the wheel surface such that the smoothed portion of the wheel surface has a polished appearance.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.