GB1372357A - Vehicle road wheels - Google Patents

Abstract

1372357 Moulding wheels DUNLOP HOLDING Ltd 3 Nov 1971 [17 Nov 1970 23 July 1971] 54521/70 and 34553/71 Heading B5A [Also in Division B7] A vehicle road wheel comprises a body 1 and rim 2 formed from a cellular rigid plastics core 4 enveloped in a skin 5 of plastics material. A reinforcing element, e.g. a steel disc 3, may be embedded at least partly, in the body 1, the element being secured to the core 4 by mechanical locking (e.g. by the provision of holes 8 forming a key for the core material) or by bonding, or being bonded on one surface to the skin 5. A hub cover 9 and radial reinforcing ribs 7 may be formed on the wheel and holes 6 may be provided for mounting the wheel. The core 4 may be made of injection mouldable material (e.g. an ABS copolymer, a polyurethane, a nylon, a polyethylene, or polypropylene), or castable material (e.g. a polyurethane, an unsaturated polyester or an epoxy resin). The skin 5 may be made of injection mouldable material, (e.g. an acetal polyamide, a polyphenylene oxide, a polycarbonate, a polysulphone, a polyurethane, or polypropylene), which may be fibre reinforced, or may be formed from a material suitable for skin production using lay-up techniques, e.g. a fibre reinforced polyester or epoxy resin, the fibres in the skin material being glass, carbon, boron, asbestos or metal. The wheel may be made by an injection moulding process in which the core material is injected into a first mould defining the core and allowed to set; the core is removed from the first mould and supported in a second mould which defines the shape and dimensions of the skin; and finally the skin material is injected and allowed to set. Alternatively the wheel may be made by casting or injecting the core material into a first mould; removing the core when set and placing it in a second mould which has had a layer of skin material applied to its bottom by lay-up or spray techniques; applying a further layer of skin material to cover the remainder of the core; and finally moulding the whole assemblyunder pressure until the skin has cured. In both of the above processes the reinforcing element, if required, is placed in the first mould prior to casting or injection of the core material. The wheel may be made in one piece as shown by Fig. 2, or may be made in two annular halves which are subsequently joined together. Several specific examples of the second of the abovedescribed processes, as applied to the production of wheel halves, are given in the Specification.