GB2259891A

GB2259891A - Insert for automotive wheel

Info

Publication number: GB2259891A
Application number: GB9120355A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nobuo Nishida
Original assignee: CRIMSON Co Ltd
Current assignee: CRIMSON Co Ltd
Priority date: 1991-09-18
Filing date: 1991-09-24
Publication date: 1993-03-31
Anticipated expiration: 2011-09-24
Also published as: GB2259891B; AU8458191A; GB9120355D0; AU642300B2

Abstract

A body 1, 1' is fitted in each of a plurality of through-holes 13 in the wheel disk 12 with screws or other releasable fixing means. The bodies may be separate (Fig. 1) or may be constituted by protrusions on a circular plate 21 (Fig. 10) attached to the rear side of the wheel disc. <IMAGE>

Description

Ornament for Automotive Wheel The present invention relates to an ornament for use as fitted in each of the through-holes formed in the disk of an automotive wheel to esthetically improve the appearance of the wheel.

The currently available automotive wheels include a one-piece or two-piece wheel made of a light alloy such as aluminum alloy or the like and a wheel made of any other metal. These wheels have appropriately-shaped through-holes formed radially in the disk thereof, and the shape of the through-holes imparts an esthetic feature to the wheels.

The conventional wheels are esthetically featured only by the shape of the through-holes formed in the disk thereof.

Since the wheels are mass-produced, the through-holes are inevitably designed as standardized. Thus, the design of such through-hole is esthetically monotonous, so it is not accepted by all the users. Also, when the brake is applied while the car is running, metal dust coming from the brake pad through the through-holes adheres to, contaminates or scratches the outer surface of the wheel.

It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide ornaments for automotive wheels which can overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional techniques.

In one aspect the present invention provides an ornament for automotive wheel, comprising, according to the present invention, a body shaped in the form of a short cylinder fittable in each of a plurality of through-holes formed in the disk of the wheel, the body being adapted to be removably fixed in the through-hole with screws or the like.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the ornament for automotive wheel comprises a body provided with a circumferential wall having a shape fitting the through-hole in the wheel disk and which has an outwardly projecting flange formed integrally therewith at the upper edge thereof.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the ornament for automotive wheel comprises a body shaped in the form of a short cylinder open at both the upper and lower ends thereof.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the ornament for automotive wheel comprises a body shaped in the form of a short cylinder open at the upper end thereof and having a bottom formed integrally therewith and which closes the lower opening the body.

According to still yet another aspect of the present invention, the ornament for automotive wheel comprises a body made of a circular plate having formed thereon ornamental protrusions fittable in a plurality of through-holes, respectively, formed in the disk of the wheel, the body being adapted to be removably fixed to the rear side of the wheel disk with screws or the like.

Because of the above-mentioned structure of the ornament according to the present invention, the ornament can be securely fixed in each of the through-holes formed in the wheel disk by fitting it into the through-hole and fixing it there with screws or the like. With a shape, color, material and the like selected for the ornament from various kinds as desired, the wheel disk can be given a desired appearance.

With the ornament provided on the body thereof a bottom closing the through-hole according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the adherence, to the outer surface of the wheel disk, of the metal dust produced when the brake is applied while the car is running, thereby preventing the disk surface from being contaminated or scratched by such dust.

The drawings show embodiments of the ornament for an automotive wheel, according to the present invention, in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the automotive wheel and ornaments disassembled from the wheel; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the wheel to which the ornaments are fixed; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the wheel and an ornament having a bottom formed integrally therewith, the ornament being disassembled from the wheel; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the wheel to which the ornament shown in Fig. 3 is fixed; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the ornament fixed in place; Fig. 6 is a plan view, enlarged in scale, of the engagement ring shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the fixation of the ornament having projections formed at the lower end of the circumferential wall thereof;; Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the ornament having a projecting vane formed integrally outside the bottom thereof; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the fixation of the circular plate having ornamental protrusions formed thereon; and Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the wheel disk to which the circular disk is fixed.

The present invention will be better understood from the ensuing description made by way of example of the embodiments of the ornament for automotive wheel according to the present invention with reference to the drawings.

An ornament body 1 in the form of a non-circular cylinder whose height is smaller than its minimum transverse dimension is fittable in each of through-holes 13 formed in the disk 12 of an automotive wheel 11. The ornament body 1 has approximately the same form as the through-hole 13. The ornament body 1 has an outwardly projecting flange lb of a desired shape formed integrally therewith at the upper edge of a circumferential wall la having a form fitting the circumferential wall face 14 of the through-hole 13.

The ornament body 1 may be made of a same material as that of the wheel 11 or any other one. In the latter case, an material may be selected from among, for example, plastics molding, wood and the like and it should desirably be colored appropriately. Further, appropriate pattern, characters or the like should desirably be printed or engraved on the circumferential wall la and flange lb.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the ornament body 1 may be opened at both the upper and lower ends thereof, namely, it may be shaped in the form of a short cylinder which can communicate with both the front and rear sides of the disk 12 like the through-hole 13. Also, as shown in Figs. 3 to 5, the ornament body 1 may be opened at the upper end thereof and have formed integrally therewith a bottom lc closing the lower end thereof. In the latter case, the bottom Ic closes the through-hole 12, thereby preventing dust or the like from passing through the hole 12.

Furthermore, the bottom lc may have formed integrally on the outer surface thereof a projecting vane 2 appropriately slanted as shown in Fig. 8. As the vane 2 rotates when the car is running, an air flow takes place at the rear side opposite to the brake drum, thereby cooling the brake drum.

For removably fixing the ornament of the structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in the through-hole 13, a plurality of threaded holes 3 is formed in the bottom of the circumferential wall la of the ornament body 1 and a rectangular metallic fixing plate 8 long enough to extend between the neighboring through-holes 13 is used which has a screw insertion hole 9 formed in each of the four corners thereof. When installing the ornament, the fixing plate 8 is applied to the rear side of the disk 12 and the opposite ends thereof are set to the bottoms of the circumferential wall la of the ornament bodies 1 fitted in the neighboring through-holes 13.Thereafter, screws 6 are tightened into the threaded holes 3 through the screw insertion holes 9, respectively, thereby coupling and fixing the ornament bodies 1 to each other by means of the fixing plates 8 to fix the ornament bodies 1 in all the through-holes 13.

Also for this fixation with screws, screw insertion holes (not shown) may be formed at appropriate positions in the circumferential wall la of the ornament body 1 and threaded holes 3 be formed in the circumferential wall face 14 of the through-hole 13. In this case, the ornament body 1 is fitted into the through-hole 13 and then fixed with screws.

As shown in Fig. 5, the height of the circumferential wall la of the ornament body 1 may be somewhat greater than its dimension of insertion into the through-hole 13 and an engagement recess 4 is formed on the outer circumference at the lower end of the circumferential wall la. In addition, an engagement ring 5 (Fig. 6) is adopted which has formed at some portions thereof bendings 5a protruding inwardly, and a circumferential step 16 is formed on the rear side of the wheel disk 12 at the circumference of the lower open end of the through-hole 13 in the disk 12. When fixing the ornament in the through-hole 13 in the wheel disk 12 in this case, the inwardly protruding bendings 5a of the engagement ring 5 are engaged in the engagement recess 4 and the engagement ring 5 is engaged on the circumferential step 16 as shown in Fig. 5.

Also, the ornament body 1 may have formed at the lower end of the circumferential wall la thereof a plurality of projecting metallic pieces 7 each bendable outwardly as shown in Fig. 7. When fixing the ornament in the through-hole 13 in the wheel disk 12 in this case, the ornament is fitted into the through-hole 13 and then the projecting pieces 7 are engaged, as bent outwardly, on the rear side of the disk 12 at the lower open end of the through-hole 13.

The ornament body 1 can be easily fixed to the wheel 11 by the above-mentioned means either before or after the wheel 11 is installed on the axle.

The wheel 11 is made of a light metal such as aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy or the like or any other material. As well known, the disk 12 of the wheel 11 has a hub hole 17 formed in the center thereof and the disk 12 has a rim 18 provided integrally on the outer circumference thereof. In the aforementioned embodiments of the present invention, each of the plurality of through-holes 13 formed through the disk 12 and around the hub hole 17 as regularly spaced circumferentially is shaped in the form of a triangle of which the corners are round, and the circumferential wall face 14 of the through-hole 13 is slanted outwardly from the rear side of the disk 12 toward the front side. However, the shape and dimensions of the through-hole 13 may be arbitrarily selected.

Fig. 4 shows the wheel 11 installed to the axle. In this Figure, the reference numeral 19 indicates a brake pad and 20 a disk brake.

In the aforementioned embodiments, the ornament bodies 1 are removably fixed individually in the plurality of through-holes 13 formed in the disk 12 of the wheel 11. For a wheel 11 comprising a disk of mesh type or fin type (spdke type) and having many such through-holes 13 formed as regularly spaced in the entire disk 12, however, the ornament is made of a circular plate 21 fitting the rear side of the disk 12 of the wheel 11 and having formed thereon ornamental protrusions 1' laid in a same array as the plurality of through-holes 13 formed in the disk 12 of the wheel 11 and each having a shape fittable in each through-hole 13, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10. This ornament is applied to the rear side of the disk 12 with the ornamental protrusions 1' fitted into the through-holes 13, respectively.

For fixing the ornament of this structure to the wheel 11, for example, a plurality of fixing holes 22 is formed around a central hole 25 (co-incident in size and form with the hub hole 17) in the circular plate 21. The ornament can be fixed to the wheel 11 by tightening screws 24 in threaded holes 23 formed in the rear side of of the disk through the fixing holes 22.

As having been described in the foregoing, the present invention provides an ornament for automotive wheel of which the body is shaped in the form of a short cylinder fittable into each of the through-holes formed in the wheel disk and which can be removably fixed in the through-hole with screws or the like. With the shape, color, material and the like factor appropriately selected, a desired appearance can be imparted to the ornament as well as to the disk itself.

Furthermore, the wheel appearance can be much more improved with an appropriate pattern or characters marked, by any means, on the ornament.

The ornament is formed separately from the wheel and removably fixed in the through-hole. Various kinds of ornaments can be formed of which the exposed portion at the front side of the disk is different in shape and pattern from one ornament to another. Any one can be used as selected from among such variety of ornaments as desired. Thus a same wheel used with a car can be arbitrarily changed in appearance with various kinds of ornaments.

Further, the bottom provided on the ornament prevents the adherence, to the wheel disk surface, of metallic dust or the like produced from the brake pad and coming through the through-holes when the brake is applied while the car is running, thereby permitting to prevent the disk surface from being contaminated or scratched by the dust and thus to keep the disk surface always clean.

Moreover, the ornamental protrusions formed on the circular plate removably fixed to the rear side of the wheel disk and each fittable in the through-hole can be fitted into all the corresponding through-holes at a time. This ornament is optimally usable with a wheel having small through-holes or many through-holes.

Claims

Claims:

1. An ornament for an automotive wheel having a wheel disk with a plurality of through-holes, the ornament comprising a body shaped in the form of a short cylinder fittable in each through-hole, the body being adapted to be removably fixed in the through-hole with screws or other fixing means.

2. An ornament as claimed in claim 1, in which the circumferential wall of the body, which is to fit the circumferential surface of the through-hole, has a front edge integrally formed with a flange.

3. An ornament as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the body is open at both ends.

14. An ornament as claimed in claim 1 or 2, in which the body has a front end which is open and a rear end which is closed by an integral bottom.

5. An ornament as claimed in claim 4, in which there is a projecting vane on the rear surface of the bottom.

6. An ornament as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, in which screw insertion holes are formed in the circumferential wall of the body, for receiving screws what are to engage threaded holes in the circumferential surface of the through-hole.

7. An ornament as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, in which, in use, the circumferential wall of the body extends behind the through-hole, the body having an engagement recess in the outer circumference of the rear end portion of its circumferential wall.

8. An ornament as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the rear end of the circumferential wall of the body is provided with a plurality of projecting metallic pieces each bendable outwardly.

9. An ornament for an automotive wheel having a wheel disk with a plurality of through-holes, the ornament comprising a body made of a circular plate having formed thereon ornamental protrusions fittable in the respective through-holes, the body being adapted to be removably fixed to the rear side of the wheel disk with screws or other fixing means.

10. An ornament as claimed in claim 9, in which the circular plate has a central hole which is to coincide with a hub hole, and has fixing holes around the central hole.

11. An ornament for an automotive wheel, substantially as described with reference to any of the embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

12. An automobile wheel provided with an ornament according to any preceding claim.