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:
May. 16, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 13, 2001
Katsumi Tashiro, Fuchu, JP;
Hirohumi Kikuchi, Kawasaki, JP;
Katsumi Tashiro, Fuchu, JP;
Hirohumi Kikuchi, Kawasaki, JP;
Bridgestone Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Topy Industries, Limited, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An elastic wheel includes a disk () secured to an axle hub, a rim () for mounting a tire, and an elastic member () arranged between the inner peripheral surface of the rim () and the outer peripheral surface of the disk (). The elastic wheel is separable either between an outer peripheral surface portion () and a radial disk portion () of the disk (), or between the inner peripheral surface of the rim () and the elastic member (), or at both locations. This construction ensures long-lasting passenger comfort, anti-vibration performance and noise-suppression performance of the elastic wheel and allows optimization of these characteristics depending on applications of the wheel even during its use. The elastic wheel facilitates rim assembly as well as core mounting. Also, in cases where rubber is used to serve as the elastic member in the elastic wheel, vulcanization can be carried out without using an integrated rim unit, thereby making it possible to reduce the size of vulcanization apparatus.