GB2398765A

GB2398765A - Anti-kerbing flap

Info

Publication number: GB2398765A
Application number: GB0304221A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Stuart Allan Goldenberg
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2003-02-25
Filing date: 2003-02-25
Publication date: 2004-09-01
Also published as: GB0304221D0

Abstract

The flap is a circle of impact resistant material carried a wheel or its tyre to cover or form a flap over the outer rim of the wheel. The material can be rubber, silicone or polypropylene. The flap could form a part of the tyre itself by being made as part and parcel of the process of manufacturing the tyre in which case it would be a flexible flap which can be lifted to expose the wheel rim. Alternatively, the flap can be cemented or otherwise fixed to the tyre at its outer periphery or to the wheel at its inner periphery.

Description

ANTI-KERBING FLAP

This invention relates to wheels, especially although not exclusively, to those of motor vehicles.

A common problem experienced by motorists is damaging the rim of their car wheels by striking or scrapping them against a hard surface, especially herbs. This typically occurs at very low speed when manoeuvring into a parking place.

It has become known as "kerning" the wheel.

The part of the wheel most susceptible to damage is the outemmost rim, which is just beyond the tyre, and which, as the wheel rotates, is the part of the wheel which is always closest to the ground.

This problem has become more acute in recent years for two main reasons: 1. The advent and use of low profile tyres on modem cars. These tyres have lower sidewalls than traditional tyres, which reduces the height of the outer rubber wall and the wheels therefore sit closer to the ground.

2. The fashion for decorative alloy wheels. These wheels also often protrude beyond the wall of the low profile Are.

In earlier years, when most vehicles used non low profile types and steel wheels with hub caps, the wheels sat higher off the ground and the main protrusion was the hub cap, which itself sat only in the centre of the wheel. For vehicles nunning on that set up, the only likely damage if the kerb was stnuck would be to dent or loose a hub cap, which could be replaced easily and relatively inexpensively.

However he damage occasioned in this way to modem wheels is unsightly and both difficult and expensive to repair, not least because the wheels must be removed from the vehicle and the tyres must be removed from the wheels, before repairs can be started.

Therefore the value of a car with "kerned' wheels is also diminished.

This invention protects the most vulnerable part of the wheel by providing a barrier between the wheel and the hard surface which it may come in contact with.

Diagram 1 shows a modem wheel and tyre. The outemmost rim of the wheel is labelled (wheel rim') and a representation of a kerb is shown, illustrating how the wheel rim is exposed to damage when the height of the kerb is greater than the height of the sidewall of the tyre.

Diagram 2 shows the same modem wheel and tyre as in diagram 1, with the invention in place.

The invention would probably be made of rubber, although a variety of other materials are also possible, for example plastic, silicone or polypropylene.

It should be noted that the invention may be of a flexible material and secured at its outer perimeter if attached the tyre, or at its inner perimeter if attached to the wheel, enabling it to flap out to reveal the wheel rim.

As an after-market appliance the invention could tie attached either to the wheel or the tyre, or both. For example it could be cemented to the tyre in such a way as to overlap (or 'flap' over) the outer rim of the wheel.

Altematively it could be manufactured as a part of the tyre itself. For example it could be made within the moulding process, or as a flap which is cemented in place on the tyre by the tyre manufacturer. l

Claims

1. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier providing protection to a wheel from damage caused by striking a hard surface.

2. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier as claimed in Claim 1 which may be attached to an existing wheel

3. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier as claimed in Claim 1 which may be attached to an existing tyre

4. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier as claimed in Claim 1 which may form part of the tyre itself

5. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier as claimed in Claim 1 which may form part of the wheel itself

6. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier as claimed in Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, Claim 4 and/or Claim 5, which is designed to mask existing damage to a wheel.

7. A flap, buffer, shield or barrier substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying diagrams.