The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 31, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 26, 1997
Louis Parenzuela, St. Charles, MO (US);
Graham-Field, Inc., Bay Shore, NY (US);
Abstract
A unitary wheel and tire assembly for a wheelchair having an axle that includes a wheel portion and a tire portion. The wheel portion is molded from a first material and has a hub for rotative mounting to the axle of the wheelchair, a plurality of spokes extending at their innermost ends radially outwardly from the hub, and a circumferential rim connecting the plurality of spokes at their outermost ends. The circumferential rim has a radially outwardly opening annular channel extending completely therearound with a plurality of spaced-apart tabs extending radially outwardly therefrom with throughbores therethrough. The tire portion is molded from a second material onto the circumferential rim of the wheel portion, and when the second material is molten, it enters and completely fills and engages the radially outwardly opening annular channel in the circumferential rim and enters and completely fills and engages the throughbores in the plurality of spaced-apart tabs in the radially outwardly opening annular channel in the circumferential rim and completely engages and encases the plurality of spaced-apart tabs in the radially outwardly opening annular channel in the circumferential rim, and when the second material has hardened, the tire portion becomes unitary and inseparable from the wheel portion without wheel structure destruction.