Illinois Tool Works Inc.

Micro-poise Measurement Systems LLC

Barry Cargould

Richard Matuszny

James Wollbrinck

James C Beebe

Keith A Neiferd

Bradley Mularcik

Peter Williams

Richard Krieger

Joseph A Wnek

Richard R Matuszny

An apparatus for changing rim sets at a testing station of a tire uniformity testing system that includes a storage unit for storing a plurality of rim set assemblies. A transfer arm is reciprocally movable and includes a gripper mechanism for gripping a rim set assembly and moving it from a storage position to a position at which rims forming part of the rim set assembly are aligned with opposed spindles at the testing station. The rim set assembly includes a bracket having structure engageable by the transfer arm and at least one of the rims forming part of the assembly includes a locking member rotatable between a first position and a second position. The bracket includes a structure for immobilizing the rim to inhibit relative rotation between the rim and the bracket and further includes a lever mechanism for moving the locking member from its first position to its second position in order to engage retaining members forming part of the bracket. The lever mechanism moves the locking member from its second position to its first position when the rim is aligned with an associated spindle in order to engage other retaining members forming part of the spindle. The rim is released from the bracket as the locking member moves to engage the other retaining members. After release, the bracket moves to a remote position spaced from the testing station. To remove the rim sets, the steps for attaching rims to the spindles are reversed in order to release the rims from the spindles while simultaneously engaging the bracket. The resulting rim set assembly is moved to a remote position defined by a storage unit that stores a plurality of rim set assemblies. The disclosed locking member and associated rim can be used to facilitate the manual installation of a test rim to a spindle.

Tire uniformity testing system having a testing station for changing rim sets

An adjustable width chuck assembly for a tire testing machine including upper and lower relatively movable rims by which a tire is clamped and held during a testing cycle. A pilot or nose cone forming part of one of the rims is gas pressure biased towards engagement with complementally formed structure on the other rim. The gas pressure bias is provided by a gas spring which can be replaced with gas springs of differing pressures in order to adjust the biasing force or, alternately, the gas spring can be removed from the chuck assembly and re-pressurized to a different level in order to change its biasing force. The use of a gas spring for providing the necessary biasing force expands the range of motion for the nose cone, thus allowing a given chuck assembly to accommodate tires having a wide range of bead widths.

Tire testing apparatus having adjustable bead width

A method and apparatus for chucking tires to be tested in a tire testing apparatus. A lower chuck assembly or spindle includes a lower rim that is engageable with a bead region of the tire to be tested. An upper chuck assembly includes an upper rim that is engageable with an upper bead region of the tire to be tested. The upper rim is reciprocally movable towards and away from the lower rim. A plurality of sensors associated with the movable rim monitors the closing distance between the upper rim and the side wall of the tire that is being chucked, during the chucking process. A controller controls the movement of the upper rim in response to the distance data obtained from the sensors. If the data obtained indicates that the tire is mispositioned on the lower rim, the controller will slow the rate of downward movement of the upper rim and reinitiate a chucking cycle if the upper rim reaches a predetermined lower position and the data from the distance sensors still indicates that the tire is not properly positioned. The sensors are mounted to an adjustable stripping mechanism that forms part of the upper chuck assembly. The positions of the sensors are adjusted as the tire strippers are adjusted.

Tire positioning sensor

A method and apparatus for testing tires in a repeatable manner. Testing steps are performed in a manner that minimizes impact on the tire characteristics being measured. In one aspect, tire rotation reversal is performed at a zero crossing of a first harmonic of radial load variation exerted on a load carriage by the tire. In another aspect, load carriage retraction is performed so that the tire is unloaded when the tire stops rotating.

Tire uniformity testing

Growing community of inventors

Hudson, OH, United States of America

Barry Cargould