GB2240953A - Tire protector - Google Patents

Abstract

A tire protector for preventing blowout of a tire by penetration of sharp objects in which a plurality of unit protecting pieces 10 each having a plurality of stair-like protecting barriers arranged lengthwise and breadthwise are adhered on one side surface of a supporting member 21 having liner form, and this supporting member is contained within a tire. <IMAGE>

Description

TIRE PROTECTOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tire protector which is contained within a vehicle tire so as to prevent the blowout of a tire and more particularly, to a tire protector which is structured in such a manner that a plurality of unit protecting pieces having a plurality of protecting barriers are arranged continuously in lengthwise and breadthwise on a surface of a supporting member having liner form and is contained within a tire of various sizes and forms so that it is made to completely prevent the blowing out of a tire from penetrating of various needle-like harmful material piercing into the interior of tire without deteriorating entirely the stability and running performance including shock absorbing function peculiar to a tire by flexibly applying against deformation of tire produced by shock or the like during running or load of vehicle.

As a result of continuous research and development which have been promoted after the air type tire was developed, nowadays tires of excellent capacity in all aspects are utilized, and particularly it is reached to satisfactory level in life time, i.e., durability of tire.

However, since it has not been followed as far as in conjunction with the stability of tire, effective coping device is not yet provided in spite of researching effort for preventing puncture of a tire, and according to this, that is, case of suffering injury of human life due to blowout of tire produced abruptly during running of vehicle is being rapidly increased.

A steel radial tire which has been widely used in recent years contains net type steel belt and the like within tire casing itself whereby planning to increase the stability against puncture, but in such a steel radial tire, since the steel belt is integrally formed between tread layer and carcass layer of the tire casing, not only it becomes to have shortcoming of car riding feeling being decreasing during running of vehicle, but steel belt layer as above also can not have complete protecting function against penetrating of metallic harmful material of sharp form as a nail, and further it is laid in almost defenseless state against penetration of sharp metallic harmful material piercing from side surface, i.e., side wall of tire casing.

Therefore, recently a tire is known which has a protecting ability from penetrating meterial such as a bullet by reinforcing with strong new material such as kevlar fiber, but not only this also has no protecting ability against sharp metallic harmful material such as nail penetrating during running of vehicle, but also large amount of manufacturing cost is required. Accordingly it is impossible to be aplied for general vehicle tire, and it is in a situation that it is used only for particularly restricted use.

On the other hand, tire protecting device in which a band type protecting device is interposed between an inner tube and an outer casing of the tire so that the inner tube can be protected from harmful material penetrating into the interior of tire, is disclosed in U.S. patent No.

1,371,097 and 3,982,577.

However, since these tire protecting devices utilize band-like member of U-shaped section which is made by simply forming rubber, fiber or synthetic resin and the like having flexibility as a sole body, in case when a sharp metallic material ad the like penetrates to the tire, said protecting device is easily pierced, therefore there has been a problem that not only the inner tube can not be sufficiently protected, but also it can not be suitably used for heavy load tire such as vehicle and the like.

And, in vehicle tube protecting devices as described in U.S. patent Nos. 1,460,794; 1,474,387; and 3,306,331, since protecting divice itself arranged between the tube and the tire casing is provided in thick whereby occupying large volume, a result is brought that amount of air which can be filled into tube is relatively decreased so that required elasticity and shock absorbing function of tire can not be appropriately maintained and there is shortcoming that weight of whole tire becomes heavier, As a result, there has been difficulty that it could not be suitably employed for relatively light load tire such as motorcycle, bicycle or small car.

In addition, "puncture preventing device of tire tube" in which a plurality of metal connecting pieces are sequentially connected and these are bent so as to accord with outer diameter of tube and then its exterior is covered with sheet-like material, is disclosed in Korean Utility model publication No. 82-1288.However, in case when such a puncture preventing device is used in a vehicle tire, not only assembling positions between metal connecting pieces are readily disassembled or worry about damage of connecting portion can not be excluded and re-assembling of separated connecting pieces is difficult, by any shock or vibration applied during running, but also particularly in case when a strong shock from exterior is applied, one end of the metal piece is deformed whereby it would rather become to damage the tube of its interior side, and flexibility for breadthwise direction among mutually assembled connecting pieces is reduced, thereby required shock absorbing ability and running performance as well as elasticity peculiar to tire are remarkably decreased, therefore there has been various disadvantages and problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a tire protector which is capable of excluding various disadvantages and problems encountered in the above-described conventional tire or tire protecting devices.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tire protector which is widely used irrespective of kind or size and form of tire such as not only for various vehicle tire as either tubeless tire or tube type tire but also motorcycle or bicycle tire, and which is capable of completely preventing the blowout of tire from sharp metallic harmful material penetrating into the interior through whole surface of tire casing, that is, tread portion as well as side wall portion.

Still other object of the present invention is to provide a tire protector which is contained within the tire and is made to be applied flexibly against the deformation of tire according to the running of vehicle, so that the shock absorbing ability or running performance peculiar to the tire are not entirely decreased.

According to the tire protector of the present invention, a plurality of unit protecting pieces made of rigid synthetic resin which is designed to have stair type triple protecting barriers and which is excellent in heatproof, cold proof and toughness as engineering plastic are adhered by arranging in lengthwise and breadthwise on one surface of a supporting member such as textile fiber or rubber liner and the like made from such material which is excellent in heatproof and coldproof and also can be flexibly deformed by contracting and expanding and thereby these respective unit protecting pieces are independently supported to said supporting member.

Each unit protecting piece arranged as above has triple protecting barriers in such form as it is made by way that three rectangular plate materials having a predetermined dimension are superposed in stair type along its diagonal direction, and at a state that one side protecting barrier of each unit protecting piece having such a stair type superposing structure is fixed by adhering at one side surface of said supporting member, stair type protecting barriers of each unit protecting pieces are arranged by superposing so as to engage each other with the stair type protecting barrier of neighboring unit protecting pieces, so that despite each of unit protecting pieces are separated so as to be deformed independently, it has suitable form and structure capable of completely blocking the penetration of sharp needle-like material through a slight gap between each of unit protecting pieces separated from each other.

In the tire protector according to the present invention, it can be widely employed to various vehicle tires such as tubeless tire or tube type tire, and also to motorcycle or bicycle tires, and sharp needle-like material penetrating through the gap between the interior of tire casing or each unit protecting piece is blocked by the stair type triple protecting barriers of each unit protecting piece so that worry about blowout of tire by various needle-like material penetrating into the interior of tire casing can be completely excluded, and since each unit protecting piece can be independently flexibly deformed or restored upon deforming of tire produced during running of vehicle, thereby, running performance of tire required upon running can be satisfied almost without effecting to shock absorbing ability or elasticity peculier to tire.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Above and other objects, features advantages of the present invention can be understood in more detail by reading following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a fragmentarily exploded perspective view showing partially the structure of a tire protector according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross sectional view showing the tire protector according to the present invention, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing entire structure of the tire protector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 4 is a partially cut out perspective view showing a state that the tire protector according to the embodiment of Fig. 3, is applied to a tubeless tire, Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view showing an application state and operation of the tire protector according to the embodiment of Fig. 3, Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view showing another embodiment in which the tire protector of the present invention is applied to a tubeless tire, Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view partially showing the structure of the tire protector according to still another embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 8 is a cross sectional view showing a state that the tire protector according to the embodiment of Fig. 7 is applied to a tube type tire, and Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view showing further embodiment in which the tire protector according to the embodiment of Fig. 7 is applied to a tubeless tire.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the puncture tire protector of the preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the tire protector P according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises a plurality of unit protecting pieces 10 manufactured so as to have a plurality of stair type protecting barriers 11, 12 and 13, by utilizing rigid and antiabrasive engineering plastic material such as nylon, and a supporting member 20 of heatproof, coldproof and antiabrasive material adhered by arranging in lengthwise and breadthwise with one side surface of said each unit protecting piece 10.

The unit protecting piece 10 has protecting barriers, that is, first, second and third protecting barriers 11, 12 and 13, of such a form as it is made in such a manner that a plurality (shown as three in the drawing) of rectangular plate materials are superposed in stair type along the diagonal direction of each plate material, and one side surface of each unit protecting piece 10, that is, exterior surface of the third protecting barrier 13 is fixed by adhering to one side surface of said supporting member 20, so that lengthwisely and breadthwisely continuously arranged each unit protecting piece 10 is independently supported respectively to the supporting member 20 and at the same time they are arranged by superposing in the form that the stair type protecting barriers 11, 12 and 13 of said each unit protecting piece 10 are engaged each other with the stair type protecting barriers 11, 12 and 13 of adjoining unit protecting piece 10 located at its front and rear and right and left. Therefore, even if each unit protecting piece 10 arranged as this is penetrated with a sharp needle-like harmful material through a slight gap formed between the adjoining unit protecting pieces 10, it becomes to have a structure capable of blocking in triple the penetration of said needle-like harmful material by mutually engaged respective stair type protecting barriers 11, 12and 13.

On the other hand, the supporting member 20 arranged with said respective unit protecting pieces 10 is used with plate-like material capable of deforming the form as liner or textile fabric cover manufactured so as to be flexibly bent by utilizing elastic rubber and the like reinforced by rubber or nylon or kevlar fiber and the like, and material and size as well as shape of the supporting member 20 can be carried into effect by deforming so as to have various material and size as well as shape such as rubber made inner liner or fiber made cover and the like in accordance with the kind or size of tire or portion of tire to be protected.

According to the tire protector P of the present invention having such a configuration, since the respective unit protecting pieces 10 arranged continuously in lengthwise and breadthwise are supported respectively independent state to said supporting member 20, in case when the tire protector P of the present invention is provided within the interior of a tire casing, whole of said protector P can be flexibly deformed, and in case when any shock or external force is applied to the tire provided with such a tire protector P, since the shock transferred to the tire protector P is limited only to corresponding unit protecting piece, the shock absorbing function and elasticity peculiar to tire are made to be maintained sufficiently without deteriorating the elasticity of tire itself, thereby deteriorating factor of running performance and riding feeling according to the running of vehicle can be completely excluded.

Hereinafter, practically applied example of the tire protector of the present invention and its operational effect will be described with reference to the kind of tire.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are respectively a perspective view, of a tire protector which is structured in the form that the tire protector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention can protect whole surface of tubeless tire and a partly cut out fragmentary perspective view for showing application state of said tire protector.The tire protector PI according-to this embodiment is arranged to whole of external surface of inner liner type rubber made supporting member 21 having the form that said respective unit protecting pieces 10 can be arranged over whole area of internal circumferential surface of tire casing 31 for tubeless tire 30, that is, explaining in more detail, whole of external circumferential surface except both end adhering portions 21a of external circumferential surface of supporting member 21 having approximately U-shaped cross section, and the adhering portions 21a of said supporting member 21 which is not adhered with protecting pieces 10 are fixed by adhering to internal surface of both side bead portion 31b formed at edge portion of side wall 31a of tire casing 31, and thereby relation between external surface of supporting member 21 except said adhering portions 21a, that is, external circumferential surface of the tire protector P1 provided with protecting pieces 10 and internal circumferential surface of tire casing 31 is separated from each other as shown in Fig. 5.

Therefore, according to the tire protector P1 of the present invention applied to such a tubeless tire 30, since small sized unit protecting pieces 10 made from rigit synthetic resin which is excellent in toughness and nonelasticity as nylon is supported respectively and independently to supporting member 21 having function and meterial as well as form as normal inner liner, and the stair type protecting barriers 11,-12 and 13 formed to said respective separating type unit protecting pieces 10 are structured by arranging in mutually superposed state, the weight of whole tire protector P1 is extremely light and its thickness is also thin and rate that the tire protector P1 occupies against the whole volume of tire interior is no more than 2 - 3%, thereby not only elasticity and shock absorbing ability peculiar to tire can be sufficiently maintained, but also respective unit protecting pieces 10 are flexibly deformed by contracting and expanding upon deforming of tire whereby no effect is exerted to grounding force of tire, and therefore riding feeling during running and braking capacity upon brake operating are not to be deteriorated and at the same time resistance during running is not induced, and worry about damage of tire casing 31 according to the direct contact of tire casing 31 and respective unit protecting pieces 10 can be excluded.

On the other hand, in the tire protector P1 of the present invention as above, since said respective unit protecting pieces 10 are arranged over whole area of internal circumferential surface of tire casing 31, that is, explaining again, of course over tread portion 31c of tire casing 31 and both side wall portions 31a, in case when a sharp needle-like harmful material such as a nail is stuck to grounding portion or side wall portion of the tire during running of vehicle, as shown in Fig. 5, at the moment that front tip end portion of needle-like harmful material H penetrated into the interior through the tread portion 31c or side wall portion 31a of tire casing 31 is contacted to the external surface of unit protecting pieces 10 of the tire protector P1, that is, first protecting barrier 11, the unit protecting piece 10 corresponding to directly contacted portion of said harmful material H and few unit protecting pieces 10 arranged in adjoining with it only become to be pushed and concaved toward inner side and said unit protecting piece 10 is not directly pierced, therefore worry about puncture of tire can be excluded from penetration of various needle-like harmful material H pierced into the interior of tire casing 31 irrespective of penetrated portion of the harmful material H.And, even in case when the front tip end portion of the harmful material H pierced through as above penetrates through a gap between respective unit protecting pieces 10, since second and third protecting barriers 12 and 13 of respective unit protecting piece 10 are arranged by superposing in mutually engaged form at inner side of said gap, penetration of the harmful material H through the gap between respective unit protecting pieces 10 can also be completely blocked, and in case when such a sharp metallic harmful material H is excluded, the tire protector P1 portion deformed by air pressure operated to the interior of the protector P1 is immediately restored to original position.

In the above embodiment, although it is shown and explained as an example which is applied as an object that the tire protector P1 of the present invention employed to the tubeless tire 30 protects the tire from harmful material E penetrating through the tread portion 31c and side wall portion 31a of said tire casing 31, in emboding the present invention, respective unit protecting pieces 10 to be arranged on the supporting member 21 of said tire protector P1 are arranged only to middle portion of external surface of the inner liner type supporting member 21 according to the requirement as shown in Fig. 6, so that the puncture of tire can be prevented from the harmful material H penetrating only through the tread portion 31c of tire casing 31.

On the other hand, Fig. 7 is a partially cut out fragmentary perspective view of developed state for showing structure that the tire protector according to the present invention can be appropriately used for tube type tire, and Fig. 8 shows an embodiment that the tire protector is applied to the tube type tire, and according to the tire protector P2 in accordance with these embodiments, the tire protector P as shown in Fig. 1, that is, external surfaces of respective unit protecting pieces 10 with are arranged and adhered integrally on the side surface of the supporting member 20 are covered by cover 22 made from rubber or textile fabric material same as its supporting member 20 and thereby it is constructed as a separate article independent of a tire casing 41.

Therefore, in applying the tire protector constructed as this to a tube type tire 40, said tire protector P2 is inserted into the interior of tire casing 41 separated from an inner tube 50, and external surface of the cover 22 of tire protector P2 is fixed by adhering on the internal circumferential surface of the tire casing 41 so as to make said tire protector P2 to be arranged over whole area of internal circumferential surface of the tire casing 41, and thereafter inner tube 50 is inserted to the inner side of said puncture preventing device P2 and then compressed air is blown in and thereby being simply made to a state as shown in Fig. 8 and accompanying operation and effect are similar as in the case of tubeless tire shown in Fig. 5.

That is, according to the tire protector P2 provided as above description, in case of penetration of the needlelike harmful material H penetrated into the interior of the tire casing 41 from tread portion 41c or the side wall portion 41a of the tire casing 41, since the unit protecting piece 10 portion of the tire protector to be contacted thereto is pushed whereby entering to inner side and becoming to deform the inner tube 50 of its interior together with it, worry about the inner tube 50 according to the penetration of the needle-like harmful material H can be excluded, and in case when said harmful material H is excluded, compressed and deformed portion is pushed out toward outside of the tire protector by restoring elasticity included by inner tube 50 to thereby become rapidly restored to the state before deformation.

Fig. 9 shows another embodiment that said tire protector P2 for tube type tire is arranged for the purpose of protecting the tire from harmful material H penetrating through the tread portion 41c of said tire casing 41, and accompanying operation and effect are similar as the tire protector for tubeless tire shown in Fig. 6.

In the above embodiment, although it is shown and explained as an example that the tire protector P according to the present invention is applied to a tubeless tire 30 or a tube type tire 40'for vehicle, in carrying out the present invention, it can be variously applied to the tire of various sizes and kinds such as of course the tires for various vehicles as well as tire for motorcycle or bicycle and the like.

According to the present invention as described above, in constructing the tire protector which is provided into the interior of various tires to prevent the puncture of tire from harmful material penetrating into the interior of its tire casing, the tire protector is constructed in such a manner that a plurality of synthetic resin made unit protecting pieces having stair type protecting barriers are adhereby by continuously arranging on one side of supporting member having flexibility and thereby respective unit protecting pieces arranged lengthwisely and breadthwisely are respectively made to be supported independently against supporting member, so that respective unit protecting pieces are made to be able to be deformed flexibly by shock or external force applied to said tire protector, and at the same time the stair type protecting barriers of respective unit protecting pieces are made to be arranged by superposing in the form of mutually engaging with the stair type protecting barriers of adjoining unit protecting pieces and thereby being made to be able to completely block the sharp needle-like. harmful material penetrating through the gap between the respective unit protecting pieces, therefore it is widely employed of course to vehicle tire such as tubeless tire or tube type tire as well as to various tires such as motorcycle or bicycle tire and the like, and thereby there is effect that tire can be completely protected from penetrating of various harmful materials piercing through whole area of exterior of tire without deforming basic form of tire or almost without deteriorating required characteristic peculiar to tire and running performance of vehicle and the like.

Claims (7)

What is claimed is:

1. A tire protector, comprising: a plurality of rigid synthetic resin made unit protecting pieces having a plurality of stair type protecting barriers; a supporting member made from flexible material such as rubber, textile fiber or the like on one side surface of which said unit protecting pieces are adhered by arranging in lengthwise and breadth wise so as to be respectively and independently supported, whereby the stair type protecting barriers of said respective unit protecting pieces are to be superposed each other with the stair type protecting pieces.

2. The tire protector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protector has a form suitable to a tubeless tire and said supporting member has an inner liner form capable of covering whole area of internal circumferential surface of tire casing of tubeless tire and has adhering portions adhered to inner sides of bead portions of tire casing at both end circumferential edge portions, and said unit protecting pieces are arranged to whole area of external circumferential surface except adhering portions of said supporting member so as to prevent puncture through the tread portion and both side wall portions of the tire casing.

3. The tire protector as claimed in claim, 1, wherein the protector has a form suitable to a tubeless tire and said supporting member has an inner liner form capable of covering whole area of internal circumferential surface of tire casing of tubeless tire and has adhering portions adhered to inner sides of tread pqrtion of tire casing at both end circumferential edge portions, and said unit protecting pieces are arranged to middle portion of external circumferential surface of said supporting member so as to prevent puncture through tread portion of the tire casing.

4. The tire protector as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protector has a form suitable to a tube type tire in which said supporting member has a cover to be adhered to an internal circumferential surface of tire casing of tube type tire, and respective unit protecting pieces adhered by arranging to said supporting member are structured so as to be surrounded by said supporting member and cover, and thereby being provided between an inner tube and a tire casing of tube type tire.

5. The tire protector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the protector has a form suitable to a tube type tire and said respective unit protecting pieces are adhered by arranging on the supporting member having the magnitude of covering whole area of internal circumferential surface of tire casing, thereby the inner tube can be protected from harmful material penetrating through tread portion and both side wall portions of tire casing.

6. The tire protector as claimed in claim 4, wherein the protector has a form suitable to a tube type tire and said respective unit protecting pieces are adhered by arranging on the supporting member having the magnitude of covering the middle portion of internal circumferential surface of tire casing, thereby the inner tube can be protected from harmful material penetrating through tread portion of tire casing.

7. A tire protector substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.