Connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub

The present invention relates to a connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub.

In general, connection devices of a well known kind are interposed between an internal mounting border of a rim and a support body integral with the wheel hub, and comprise a peripheral connecting outline which is of a cylindrical shape and which is obtained around the support body, and a complementary connecting outline, which is circumferentially obtained along the mounting border of the rim, and which also presents a cylindrical shape in order to be coupled with the peripheral connecting outline.

The growing need to use tires of ever greater dimensions has led to the use of bigger and bigger rims, a phenomenon which renders the above-described connection devices substantially inadequate both in terms of supporting new, greater loads, as well as in terms of ensuring a rapid and precise mounting of the rims themselves.

The aim of the present invention is to produce a connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub, which will permit the use of rims of any dimensions whatsoever, and which will also permit the mounting of the rims themselves in a simple and cost-effective fashion.

According to the present invention, a connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub will be produced, presenting a support body which is co-axial to a rotation axis, the connection device comprising a peripheral connecting outline, which is integral with the support body, and a complementary connecting outline, which is circumferentially obtained along a mounting border of the rim, and which presents a shape which is complementary to the peripheral connecting outline; the connection device being characterised by the fact that the peripheral connecting outline and the complementary connecting outline both present a radius of angularly variable dimensions with continuity on a plane which is transverse to the rotation axis, and both comprise at least one respective convex portion in relation to the axis in order to render the rim and the wheel hub angularly integral in relation to each other.

The present invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting form of embodiment of the present invention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an axial section view of a first preferred form of embodiment of a connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a section, on an enlarged scale, of the line II-II which is shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 3 is an axial section view of a second preferred form of embodiment of the connection device which is shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 4 is a section, on an enlarged scale, along the line IV-IV which is shown in FIG. 1 ;

FIG. 5 is an axial section view of a third preferred form of embodiment of the connection device which is shown in FIG. 1 ; and

FIG. 6 is a section, on an enlarged scale, along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5 .

With reference to FIG. 1 , the number 10 indicates in its entirety a connection device for connecting a rim 20 to a wheel hub 30 .

The rim 20 presents a rotation axis A, and is provided with a shaped disk 21 which is arranged transverse to the axis A, and a cup-shaped body 22 , which defines a central part of the disk 21 , and which is crossed by a passing hole 23 . In particular, the body 22 comprises a base wall 24 which is transverse to the axis A and which is axially undercut in relation to the disk 21 , and a peripheral border 25 , which is part of the wall 24 and which radially delimits towards the outside the hole 23 .

The wheel hub 30 comprises a support body 31 which is co-axial to the axis A and which is inserted inside the hole 23 , and a flange 32 which is transverse to the axis A, and which is arranged in such a way as to come into contact with the base wall 24 of the disk 21 .

The connection device 10 comprises a peripheral connecting outline 11 , which is obtained on the outside of the body 31 of the wheel hub 30 , and a complementary connecting outline 12 , which is obtained inside the border 25 of the rim 20 , and which presents a shape which is complementary to the peripheral outline 11 .

In particular, according to the illustration which is shown in FIG. 2 , the peripheral outline 11 and the complementary outline 12 are conformed, in relation to the axis A, according to a truncated cone shape which tapers opposite the flange 32 , and present a radius R of angularly variable dimensions with continuity on a plane which is transverse to the axis A.

The peripheral outline 11 and the complementary outline 12 both comprise a number N 1 of convex portions 13 , 14 in relation to the axis A itself, and a number N 2 of concave portions 15 , 16 in relation to the axis A. The values of the numbers N 1 and N 2 depend on the necessary construction and planning characteristics, and they can be equal to each other, as in cases of this kind, or different from each other. In particular, in FIG. 2 , a case is illustrated in which both the number N 1 and the number N 2 have a value which is equal to three and the portions 13 , 14 and 15 , 16 are alternated with each other around the axis A. Alternatively, and in a way which is easily understandable from the foregoing description, the outlines 11 and 12 may each be provided with only one of the relative convex portions 13 , 14 arranged between two relative concave portions 15 , 16 contiguous in relation to each other.

The truncated cone shape of the peripheral outline 11 and the complementary outline 12 permits the immediate centering of the rim 20 on the wheel hub 30 , while their outlined shape permits the rim 20 and the wheel hub 30 to be rendered angularly integral in relation to each other thus improving the capacity of the whole unit to support loads as well as to reduce to zero any vibrating phenomena which might arise due to any possible relative movements between the two elements.

The form of embodiment which is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 relates to a device 10 ′ which is similar to the device 10 , from which the device 10 ′ differs due to the fact that it comprises a distance piece body 17 which is interposed between the rim 20 and the wheel hub 30 , or rather is provided with a flange 18 which is transverse to the axis A and which is arranged in such a way as to abut the flange 32 as well as the wall 24 , and with a neck 19 of a cylindrical shape which is mounted on the body 31 inside the hole 23 .

In addition, the device 10 ′ comprises a further peripheral connecting outline 11 ′, which radially delimits towards the inside the neck 19 and presents a shape which is complementary to the complementary outline 12 in order to be engaged with the complementary outline 12 itself, and an additional complementary connecting outline 12 ′, which radially delimits towards the outside the neck 19 , and which presents a shape which is complementary to the peripheral connecting outline 11 , in order to be engaged with the peripheral outline 11 itself.

In the form of embodiment which is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 , each pair 11 - 12 ′, 11 ′- 12 of outlines, in addition to presenting a truncated cone shape which tapers opposite the flange 32 , presents a radius R, R′ of angularly variable dimensions with continuity on a plane which is transverse to the axis A. Although each pair 11 - 12 ′, 11 ′- 12 of outlines follows, in FIG. 4 , the same law of variation of the radius R, R′ as the other pair 11 ′- 12 , 11 - 12 ′, it is also possible to produce each pair of outlines 11 - 12 ′, 11 ′- 12 with a value for the numbers N 1 and N 2 which may be equal to or different from the value of the numbers N 1 ′ and N 2 ′ of the other pair 11 ′- 12 , 11 - 12 ′, as it is also possible to produce each pair of outlines 11 - 12 ′, 11 ′- 12 with a tapering cone shape in relation to the axis A which might be equal to or different from the tapering cone shape of the other pair of outlines.

According to an alterative form of embodiment of the device 10 ′ which is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 , and which is also easily understandable from what has just been described, the neck 19 , which is still radially delimited towards the inside by. the peripheral connecting outline 11 ′ as described above, may, however, be radially delimited towards the outside by a cylindrical surface 11 ″ which is suitable for mounting the rim 20 and which presents an inner passing hole 23 which is also of a cylindrical shape.

This latter kind of solution has the advantage that the rims 20 can still be produced in the traditional manner and can be put on the market with the distance piece 17 configured to be reciprocally precoupled to the rims 20 with any solution whatsoever which is suitable for ensuring conditions of axial alignment and torque transmission between the parts, in order to obtain the advantages of the solution which is illustrated in FIG. 1 , without however having to subject the rims 20 to any mechanical working.

It is intended that the present invention should not be limited to the forms of embodiment which are herein described and illustrated, which are to considered as examples of forms of embodiment of the connection device for connecting a rim to a wheel hub, and which may instead be subject to further modifications in terms of the shape and disposition of its parts, as well as to details pertaining to construction and assembly.