Ball for use in a tire assembly

Abstract

A tire assembly includes a safety rim, defining recesses on its inner surface, a tire including left and right edges, which are received in said recesses, and a plurality of inflated balls lying between the tire and the rim.

Description

[0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 215,256, filed Jun. 30, 2000. The present invention relates to tires, and, in particular, to a pneumatic tire which is mounted on a safety rim and which is inflated by a plurality of individual balls.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] For off-road vehicles, it is desirable to have low tire pressure in order to have better traction and higher speeds. However, if the tire pressure is reduced enough to obtain the desired traction, there is a severe risk of rim and tube damage when the tire hits a bump or other irregularity. Failure of the rim or a flat tire will prevent the competitor from finishing the event. Flat tires are a common cause of poor competitive performance by an otherwise capable competitor. In recent years, the more financially able competitors have adopted the use of foam tire inserts to replace conventional “inner” tubes. While these inserts solve the problem of flat tire failure, th...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention introduces the use of balls in a modern tire assembly using a safety rim. The balls used in the invention have different characteristics from early tire balls, as they rely on the internal pressure in a thin-walled ball. By mounting the tire on a safety rim, with inflated balls inside, the invention achieves the benefits of modern tires plus many additional benefits. The design reduces the risk of damage to the tire and rim, and also protects against flat tires. The balls can be inflated to a lower pressure without increasing the risk of damage to the tire and rim, and are very durable. A rim lock can be used to hold the tire bead onto the rim and prevent shifting of the balls during operation of the tire.

Problems solved by technology

However, this new combination achieves benefits that were not available either to the early 20th century ball-type tires, or to the late 20th century pneumatic tires mounted on a safety rim.

When a portion of the tire hits a surface, the force tends to deform the ball supporting that portion of the tire, which increases the internal pressure in that particular ball.

This is true even under extreme temperature conditions, where inserts fail.

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