AU2004201029B1

AU2004201029B1 - A Wheel Hub

Info

Publication number: AU2004201029B1
Application number: AU2004201029A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Neville Bannah
Original assignee: Lynam Paul James
Current assignee: Lynam Paul James
Priority date: 2004-03-12
Filing date: 2004-03-12
Publication date: 2005-03-03
Anticipated expiration: 2024-03-12
Also published as: WO2005087513A1

Description

A WHEEL HUB Field of the Invention This invention is directed to a wheel hub and is particularly directed to a go-kart wheel hub of special design to enable wheel changes to occur more quickly.

Background Art In the sport of karting, it is often necessary to change the wheels of the vehicle during an event. Obviously, the quicker the wheel change can occur, the quicker the vehicle can resume racing. The number of wheel changes is related to the type of tire and the type of event but can be anywhere between 10 to 50 times per event. The wheels which require the most changes are the rear wheels (the non steering) wheels as these wheels suffer from the greatest degree of wear and tear as the rear wheels are the driven wheels. Obviously, there would be a great advantage if it were possible to provide a hub which enables wheel changes to occur very easily, and also which would facilitate axle changes, sprocket changes and other work which requires removal of the wheel.

Figure 1 shows a typical conventional vehicle and these vehicles typically have a rear mounted engine which couple to and drive the rear wheels. The front wheels are steering wheels. Figure 2 shows a typical conventional hub. The hub consists of a hub body, and one face of the hub body is provided with threaded studs.

A wheel is fitted over the threaded studs and nuts are then tightened to attach the wheel to the hub. A disadvantage with this arrangement is the need to loosen and tighten multiple nuts. Another disadvantage with this arrangement is that it is easy to misalign the wheel onto the hub especially under race conditions. Another disadvantage with this hub is that there is a possibility of the studs snapping and if the nuts are over tightened (for instance using a pneumatic tool) there is a possibility that the studs can be pulled out of the hub. Further, because the wheel can be quite wide, the hub can often sit substantially within the wheel providing limited accessibility to fit the quite fiddly nuts.

Figure 3 illustrates a typical go-kart wheel and it can be seen that the 3 0 wheel is quite wide and therefore if the wheel is attached over the hub illustrated in figure 2, the threaded studs and the attaching nuts can be quite fiddly.

Figure 4 illustrates a known assembly and particularly illustrates a drive sprocket attached to a shaft, and the shaft extending into a known hub to rotate the hub upon rotation of the shaft.

There would be an advantage if it were possible to provide a hub design that would enable wheel changes to occur more quickly and particularly to provide a hub design suitable to replace the conventional hub on a rear wheel of a gokart.

It will be clearly understood that, if a prior art publication is referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms part of the common general knowledge in the art in Australia or in any other country.

Object of the Invention It is an object of the invention to provide a wheel hub which may overcome at least some of the above-mentioned disadvantages or provide the public with a useful or commercial choice.

In one form the invention resides in a wheel hub assembly, the wheel hub comprising a main hub body, the hub body being at least partially hollow and having an inner end and an outer end, the inner end being opened and adapted to receive a drive shaft such that rotation of the drive shaft rotates the hub, the outer end being provided with at least one locating pin adapted to engage in a recess on a wheel to align the wheel onto the hub, the outer end further being provided with a central threaded extension, the assembly further comprising a single retaining nut adapted to be threadingly engaged onto the threaded extension.

Thus, the wheel hub assembly basically comprises two components being the wheel hub and the retaining nut. The wheel hub attaches onto a drive shaft and contains at least one and preferably a plurality of pins to fit a wheel, and the wheel hub suitably contains a single rather large threaded extending collar portion to which the retaining nut is attached to attach the wheel to the hub. To remove the wheel, it is only necessary to remove the single retaining nut.

Suitably, a third component is provided this component being a locking collar that sits about the threaded extension and between the retaining nut and the wheel hub.

The wheel hub can be made of any suitable material and the suitable material may comprise metal such as steel or aluminium, but may also include alloys and other composite materials.

The wheel hub is typically substantially hollow. The interior of the wheel hub may be profiled to enable the hub to be attached to a drive shaft in a nonrotating manner. This can be done in a conventional way which is to provide a slot in the hub which engages with a projection on the drive shaft to lock the hub against rotation relative to the drive shaft. However, other means to attach the hub to a drive shaft are envisaged including the use of locking nuts, having the inside of the hub profiled in a particular manner to engage with a profile on the shaft (for instance, the end of the shaft may be square and the inside of the hub may be square).

Also, the wheel hub according to the invention need not be limited to use only on a drive shaft and may therefore also be fitted to a fixed shaft (for instance the front wheels). In this arrangement, the fixed shaft and/or the wheel hub will contain bearings to enable the wheel hub to be rotatably mounted relative to the shaft.

Again, different arrangements are also envisaged.

The wheel hub may have a length which can vary to suit the type of vehicle to which the hub is attached. For karting, the wheel hub may have a length of between 5-20 centimetres, and may have a diameter of between 5-20 centimetres.

However, rio particular limitation is meant thereby.

The wheel hub contains at least one locating pin. Suitably, a plurality of pins is provided and typically between 2-6 pins are provided. These pins may extend equally about the outer end of the wheel hub. Each pin may be made of metal such as steel although other materials may also be used providing that the materials are strong enough to withstand the forces placed on the pin. Each pin may have a length between 10-50 millimetres and may have a diameter of between 5-20 millimetres although this can vary to suit.

The hub contains a threaded extension. Suitably, the threaded extension comprises a central tubular collar which extends outwardly from the outer end of the hub. The tubular collar may have a length of between 20-200 millimetres and may have a diameter of between 10-50 millimetres. The tubular collar is typically formed integrally with the remainder of the hub. The threaded extension is typically threaded along at least one quarter of its length and is typically threaded along about one half of 3 0 its length with the threaded is beginning adjacent the free end of the tubular collar.

The assembly contains a retaining nut. To facilitate fast removal and attachment of a wheel to the hub, a single retaining nut is preferred. However, there may be circumstances where two or more nuts can be fitted to the threaded extension for instance if an improved locking is required. However, it is preferred that a single retaining nut is used. The retaining nut may have one open end containing a threaded passageway that can engage with the threaded extension on the hub. The other end of the retaining nut may be profiled to facilitate attachment and removal of the nut to the threaded extension. Therefore, the other end of the nut may be angled to enable a "socket" tool to engage with the nut. Suitably, the other end of the nut is closed.

A locking collar may be provided. The locking collar may comprise a ring adapted to sit about the threaded extension and between the nut and the outer end of the hub. The locking collar may have one end which is tapered to fit within all partially within the nut.

In use, when the hub is fitted to a shaft, the nut is removed with the locking collar and a wheel is attached to the hub and is kept in alignment by the at least one locating pin. The locking collar and the nut can then be threaded onto the extension to lock the wheel in place. The nut does not engage with the locating pins and therefore there is little or no likelihood of the locating pins snapping or being pulled out of the hub.

The design of the thread on the threaded extension and the nut is preferably such that upon rotation of the wheel and hub, the nut is "self tightening".

Brief Description of the Drawings An embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the following drawings in which: Figure 1. Illustrates generally a conventional vehicle.

Figure 2. Illustrates a known wheel hub containing a plurality of threaded studs.

Figure 3. Illustrates a known wheel for a go-kart.

Figure 4. Illustrates a known attachment of a wheel hub to a drive shaft in a gokart.

Figure 5. Illustrates an exploded view of a wheel hub assembly according to an embodiment of the invention.

SFigure 6. Illustrates a top view of the wheel hub according to an embodiment of 3 0 the invention.

Figure 7. Illustrates a bottom view of the wheel hub according to an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 8. Illustrates an assembled view of the wheel hub.

Figure 9. Is an end view of the wheel of figure 3 and attached to a hub.

Best Mode Referring initially to figures 1-4 there is illustrated the known parts and accessories for a wheel and wheel hub. Referring initially to figure 2, there is illustrated a known wheel hub 10 which comprises a substantially hollow hub body and has an inner end 11 and an outer end 12. A drive shaft 13 (see figure 4) passes into inner end 11. The inside of wheel hub 10 contains a longitudinal slot 14, and the outside of drive shaft 13 contains a longitudinal extension that fits within slot 14 such that hub 10 rotates upon rotation of shaft 13. Hub 10 can be further clamped to shaft 13 using a lock bolt 15 this being quite conventional. A disadvantage with the hub illustrated in figure 2 is that the wheel is fitted over a plurality (in this case three) threaded studs 16. A lock nut 17 is attached to each threaded stud 16. When a wheel is attached to hub 10, it is necessary to remove each lock nut 17, attach the wheel and then attach each lock nut 17 to the corresponding stud 16. This is time-consuming.

Moreover, over tightening of lock nut 17 can cause the corresponding stud to be damaged or to be pulled out of hub 10. Also, it is relatively time-consuming to loosen and tightening three lock nuts and as the wheel 18 can sometimes extend substantially over hub 10, there is not much room to do so.

Referring to figures 5-7, there is illustrated a wheel hub according to an embodiment of the invention. The wheel hub comprises a hub body 20 having an inner end 21 and an outer end 22. Hub body 20 is hollow and the inside of this part of hub body 20 is quite conventional in design and again has an elongate recess (not illustrated) which engages with an elongate projection on a drive shaft when the drive shaft passes through inner end 21 to mount the hub onto the drive shaft. Again, a locking bolt 15 can be provided.

The outer end 22 of hub body 20 contains three locating studs 23-25.

Each stud has a length of about 10 millimetres and a diameter of about five millimetres. Each stud 16 is on an enlarged portion 26 on hub body 20 to provide strength to this part of the hub. In the middle of the three studs is a threaded extension 27. Threaded extension 27 has a length of about 50 millimetres and a diameter of about 30 millimetres and is substantially hollow. Threaded extension 27 has an outer end 28 that is threaded and an inner end 29 that is smooth.

A retaining nut 30 forms the other main part of the wheel hub assembly. Retaining nut 30 has an internal threaded bore which is threadingly engageable to threaded extension 27. The outer body of retaining nut 30 contains a profiled section 31 which is hexagonal to enable a socket tool to quickly attach and remove retaining nut 30 from the wheel hub.

A locking collar 32 is provided. Locking collar 32 sits about threaded extension 27. The outer edge of locking collar 32 is beveled 33 and engages with the end of locking nut A wheel (not illustrated) can be fitted to the hub and is initially located via the locating pins 23-25. Once in position, the locking collar 32 and the locking nut 30 positioned and rotated to lock the wheel to the hub.

The hub according to an embodiment of the invention provides easy alignment of wheel and particularly the rear driven wheels. The locating pins reduce misalignment. There is improved accessibility due to having a single large retaining nut 30. As there are no small threaded studs (only non threaded locating pins), there will be no more broken studs and stripping of threaded studs. The design of the threads on the threaded extension and the locking nut can be such to provide a self tightening.

Throughout the specification and the claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to apply the inclusion of the stated integer or group of integers but not the exclusion of any other integer or group of integers.

Throughout the specification and claims (if present), unless the context requires otherwise, the term "substantially" or "about" will be understood to not be limited to the value for the range qualified by the terms.

It should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications can be made to any embodiment described without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

3. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of pins is provided.
4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein the pins are spaced equally about the outer end of the wheel hub. The assembly of claim 3 or claim 4, wherein each pin has an unthreaded portion.
6. The assembly of claim 3, 4 or 5 wherein each pin has a length between
10-50 millimetres and has a diameter of between 5-20 millimetres. 7. The assembly of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the threaded extension comprises a central tubular collar which extends outwardly from the outer end of the hub. 8. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the tubular collar has a length of between 20-200 millimetres and a diameter of between 10-50 millimetres. 9. The assembly of claiml, wherein the nut has a hexagonal profile to facilitate attachment and removal of the nut to the threaded extension. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the locking collar is a ring adapted to sit about the threaded extension and between the nut and the outer end of the hub.
11. The assembly of claim 10, wherein the locking collar has one end which is tapered to fit within or partially within the nut.
12. An assembly substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to figures 5-7. 8 O DATED this 15 th day of December 2004 o Neville BANNAH and Paul James LYNAM C) By their Patent Attorneys n CULLEN CO. 0 0i