GB2046185A

GB2046185A - Locking Hub Covers to Vehicle Wheels

Info

Publication number: GB2046185A
Application number: GB7913121A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Shalts E R
Current assignee: Shalts E R
Priority date: 1979-04-12
Filing date: 1979-04-12
Publication date: 1980-11-12

Abstract

A motor vehicle wheel assembly comprises a wheel (4), a wheel hub cover (6), and means (7) for locking the hub cover to the wheel consisting of a lock plug (8) carried by the hub cover and a receiving member (9) for the lock plug fixed to the wheel. The lock plug has retractable laterally projecting detents (16) which engage with respective cooperating grooves (18) on the inner surface (19) of the receiving member to prevent withdrawal of the lock plug from the receiving member. The detents are retracted by means of a key which is inserted into the lock plug at 35, whereafter the lock plug is withdrawable without rotation of the lock plug or key. The receiving member (9) is carried by brackets (10) which are adjustable relative to each other and to the wheel, and the longitudinal and lateral position of the receiving member is adjustable relative to the brackets. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Motor Vehicle Wheel Assembly This invention relates to a motor vehicle wheel assembly, particularly to such an assembly which includes a wheel and a hub cover which can be locked to the wheel to prevent unauthorised access to the wheel nuts which lock the wheel on the vehicle.

Motor vehicle wheel assemblies in which a hub cover can be locked to the wheel have been proposed in U.K. Patent Specifications Nos.

1,172,809, 1,245,832 and 1,250,502, in each of which it is proposed to provide a known lock assembly on the hub cover, which when released by means of a suitable key permits rotation of a catch member from a position in which it is positioned behind an engaging member on the wheel to lock the cover to the wheel, to a position in which it is withdrawable from the engaging member to enable separation of the cover and lock assembly from the wheel.

There are several problems with such proposals, particularly in the provision of relatively movable parts which have a tendency to seize when they are not adjusted over extended periods as is often the case in the present field of interest.

Furthermore, invariably the catch member is provided on the end of the lock assembly and projects forwardly therefrom to permit it to be located behind the engaging member on the wheel. The lock assembly tends therefore to be of substantial length which will prevent its use on many wheel assemblies, particularly where a vehicle owner desires to make his vehicle more secure by fitting the lock assembly. Still further, where rotating parts are involved, the wheel assemblies are complicated by the necessity to prevent rotation of the locked hub cover relative to the wheel, since, if such rotation would also rotate the lock assembly, there is a likelihood of the catch and engaging members becoming disengaged.

It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior proposals and there is accordingly provided a motor vehicle wheel assembly comprising a wheel and a wheel hub cover, and hub coverlocking means comprising a lock plug which is engageable with the wheel hub cover and has one or more retractable detents that project laterally from the plug, the or each detent being retracted into the plug when corresponding key means is inserted into the lock plug, and the locking means further comprising a lock plug receiving means which is fixed in use relative to the wheel and into which the lock plug is insertable when the or each detent is retracted, the receiving means having means for co-operating with the or each projecting detent when the lock plug is located in the receiving means to inhibit withdrawal of the plug therefrom and hence to lock the hub cover to the wheel.

By the present invention it is possible to use a short lock plug, for example the portion that is insertable into the receiving means may have a length in the order of 1 Omm, and with no catch member projecting longitudinally therefrom, the locking means may be more suitable for use with a greater number of known wheel and hub cover arrangements. Furthermore, there need be no rotation between the lock plug and receiving means to lock and unlock the locking means, so that the risk of failure is minimised, although if the or each detent engages an annular surface of the co-operating means on the receiving means to prevent withdrawal of the lock plug from the receiving means, rotation of the hub cover and/or a cylindrical lock plug will not adversely affect the locking function.It will be appreciated, however, that while lock plugs are commonly of circular cross-section, this is not essential as rotation of the plug is not a prerequisite of the locking means.

The lock plug will pass through an aperture, usually a central aperture, in the hub cover and may have a surface that extends laterally around the aperture and engages the outer face of the hub cover, that is the face remote from the wheel, to prevent the hub cover being removed from the wheel without the lock plug. In such an arrangement the lock plug need not be fixed to the hub cover although to prevent loss of the lock plug it may be preferred to rigidly couple the plug and hub cover together. It will be recognised that there are many ways of doing this.

The or each detent is preferably biased to project laterally from the plug, for example by means of a spring, and may be such that it is automatically retracted into the plug upon engagement with the receiving means as the plug is inserted into the receiving means. This may be advantageous as it will remove the need to insert the key means into the plug each time it is required to introduce the plug into the receiving means.

The receiving means is fixed in use relative to the wheel and may comprise a member having an opening of suitable shape to receive the lock plug and having one or more slots forming the cooperating means which receive respective projecting detents. Where the plug is of circular cross-section, the opening may be a corresponding bore in a tubular member and the or each slot may be in the form of an annular groove in the internal wall of the tubular member.

The member may be fixed directly, such as by welding, to the wheel or to any other suitable part of the vehicle, for example the wheel hub, provided that engagement of the plug therewith locks the hub cover to the wheel. Preferably however the member is supported by bracket means of the receiving means, itself carried by the wheel. The member may be longitudinally adjustable relative to the bracket means or may be an integral part thereof. The bracket means may be clamped between the wheel and the wheel hub, by means of the wheel nuts, and have a part carrying the member projecting through the central opening in the wheel so that the member is engageable by the lock plug.Alternatively, the bracket means may be integral with the wheel, for example it may be welded to the wheel, or it may be located over the wheel studs supporting the wheel on the hub and clamped thereon by the wheel nuts. In the latter embodiment the bracket means may be formed in one part, but preferably it is formed in two or more parts, each of which is locatable on a respective wheel stud and has an opening, preferably elongate, the opening in all the bracket parts being alignable to receive the member, or possibly to receive the lock plug direct.

One embodiment of a motor vehicle wheel assembly in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the motor vehicle wheel assembly mounted on a wheel hub; Figure 2 illustrates a mounting bracket, similar to those shown in Figure 1, for supporting the lock plug receiving means relative to the wheel, and Figure 3 is a section on the line Ill-Ill of Figure 1.

Figure 1 illustrates schematically a motor vehicle wheel assembly 1 in accordance with the present invention, mounted on a wheel hub 2 of a motor vehicle. The hub 2 has a plurality of screw threaded wheel studs 3 (only two shown) over which the road wheel 4 (only partly shown) of the assembly 1 is located. The wheel 4 is locked on the hub 2 by means of nuts 5 which screw threadedly engage with respective studs 3 and which are tightened to clamp the wheel 4 against the hub 2. A hub cover 6 (only partly shown) is located over the outer face 1 7 of the wheel and is locked relative thereto by hub cover-locking means 7, to prevent unauthorised access to the wheel nuts 5. The hub cover 6 will generally engage the outer face 1 7 of the road wheel 4 at a position radially outwardly of the portion thereof illustrated in Figure 1.

The hub cover-locking means 7 comprises a lock plug 8 which is cylindrical and which is hereinafter therefore referred to as the lock cylinder. The lock cylinder 8 is carried by the hub cover 6 and is adapted to be lockably inserted into a corresponding tubular receiving cylinder 9 which is rigidly supported relative to the wheel 4 by two brackets 10. The receiving cylinder 9 and the brackets 10 together form lock cylinder receiving means.

There are substantial advantages in using two brackets 10 (or more) rather than one in that the plurality of brackets can be more easily adjusted for different road wheel and/or wheel hubs, i.e. for different spacings of wheel studs 3, and use of the locking means 7 is enabled on road wheels in which the locating studs 3 are not diametrically opposite each other i.e. where there is an odd number of wheel studs 3.

A bracket 10 similar to those shown in Figure 1 is illustrated in Figure 2, from which it may be more clearly seen that the tubular cylinder 9 is received in an elongate slot 11 which permits accurate alignment of the tubular cylinder 9 to receive the lock cylinder 8. The tubular cylinder 9 has an external screw-thread 12 and is locked in the aligned elongate slots 11 of the brackets 10 by opposed nuts 1 3 which are tightened in opposite directions to clamp the brackets 10 therebetween. At the opposite end to the elongate slots 1 the brackets 10 have an aperture 14 whereby the brackets are received on respective wheel studs 3 to be clamped between the wheel 4 and the wheel nuts 5.By adjusting the locking nuts 13, the tubular cylinder 9 may be axially adjusted relative to the elongate slots 11 in brackets 10 to account for different lock cylinders 8 or, more likely, for different axial spacings between the hub cover 6 and the wheel 4. The tubular cylinder 9 is accordingly preferably externally screw-threaded along substantially its full length.

Usually the hub cover 6 will be located centrally on the wheel 4 and the locking means 7 will be located centrally of the hub cover 6, so that the brackets 10 must be aligned to receive the tubular cylinder 9 at the centre of an imaginary circle defined by all the wheel studs 3.

The brackets 10 may be hot- or cold-formed in a suitable metal or alloy or may be moulded in a suitable engineering plastics material, and may be shaped to be closely received between the wheel 4 and nuts 5. Alternatively, one or more brackets (not shown and identical or otherwise to the brackets 10) may be clamped between the wheel 4 and the wheel hub 2, without necessarily engaging the wheel studs 3, and project through the aperture 15 in the centre of the wheel to receive the tubular cylinder 9. Still further, the lock cylinder 8 may be received directly in the aperture (slot 11) in the or each bracket.

The lock cylinder 8 has at least one retractable detent 1 6 (four shown in Figure 1) and the tubular cylinder 9 has a corresponding number of annular grooves 1 8 formed in its internal surface 1 9 to receive the projecting detents in order to secure the lock cylinder 8 in the tubular cylinder 9. The grooves 1 8 may be machined in the surface 19, or if the tubular cylinder is moulded or cast, the grooves 1 8 may be moulded or cast therewith.

The tubular cylinder 9 may be formed in a suitable metal, alloy or engineering plastics material.

Since rotation of the hub cover 6 is not required during its location on or removal from the wheel 4, it is not essential that the detent co-operating means be in the form of the annular grooves 18- thus they may be in the form of short slots and this is preferred where rotation of the hub cover is positively not desired. However, one advantage of the annular grooves 18 is that the hub cover 6 may be located and fixed on the wheel 4 in any desired radial aspect. It is believed that relative rotation between the wheel and the locked cover will not occur because of the frictional engagement between the wheel and cover and/or between the lock cylinder 8 and the receiving means.

The lock cylinder 8 is received in an aperture 20 in the hub cover 6 and has an integral flange 21 which engages the hub cover around the aperture 20 to prevent the lock cylinder 8 being pulled through the aperture 20. The hub cover 6 is usually formed in relatively thin sheet material and it may be advantageous to provide a reinforcing washer (not shown), between the flange 21 and hub cover 6, of greater diameter than the flange. In the embodiment shown, the lock cylinder 8 has a short screw-threaded portion 22 adjacent the-flange 21, which receives a nut 23 on the side of the hub cover 6 remote from the flange 21, to lock the hub cover 6 and lock cylinder 8 together. Other known fixing methods are clearly possible, or the lock cylinder 8 may be a loose fit in (i.e. removable from) the hub cover 6.

The lock cylinder has four detents 1 6 each of which is outwardly biased by a spring 24 (Figure 3) to project laterally into the corresponding groove 1 8 when the lock cylinder 8 is correctly inserted into the tubular cylinder 9 and thereby prevent withdrawal of the lock cylinder 8 from the tubular cylinder 9. Each detent 16 has a flat cross-section in the axial direction (of the cylinder 8) and is slideably located in a narrow slot 25 in the lock cylinder 8. The spring 24 is located in a blind bore 26 at one side of the slot 25 and an abutment member 27 of the detent 1 6 projects into the bore 26. The spring 24 is positioned between the end face 28 of the blind bore and the abutment member 27 to bias the detent outwardly of the slot 25 laterally of the lock cylinder 8.At its opposite side 29 to the blind bore 26, the slot 25 has a shallow recess 30 which receives a projecting portion 31 of the detent, the dimensions of the recess 30 and portion 31 being such that frictional engagement between the projecting portion and the end 32 of the recess 30 is sufficient to prevent the bias of spring 24 from causing ejection of the detent 1 6 from the slot 25, while total withdrawal of the detent ispossible with a suitable tool. Each detent 1 6 has an elongate aperture 33 therein which is adapted to receive a key (not shown), the position of the aperture 33 relative to the detent being such that when the correct key is correctly inserted in the aperture 33, the detent will be withdrawn into the cylinder 8 against the bias of the spring 24.

The lock cylinder 8 has an axially extending slot 34, with which the aperture 33 in each detent 1 6 is approximately aligned (Figure 3), to receive the key in the direction indicated in Figure 1 by arrow 35. A ward 36 is provided in the slot 34 to permit only certain types of keys to be inserted into the slot. The key must be essentially unique to the particular arrangement and order of apertures 33 in the detents 1 6 whereby when the key is correctly inserted all of the detent 1 6 are withdrawn into the lock cylinder 8 to permit withdrawal of the lock cylinder from the tubular cylinder 9.If the wrong key is fully insertable into the slot 34 withdrawal of the lock cylinder 8 will be prevented because one or more of the detents 1 6 will project from one end or the other of the respective.narrow slot 25.

In the embodiment illustrated, the key must be correctly located in the lot 34 to permit the lock cylinder 8 to be introduced into the tubular cylinder 9, but clearly the detents 16 may be made retractable on engagement between the detents and the lock cylinder 8 (only where the lock cylinder is being introduced into the tubular cylinder) by suitably angling the leading edges 37 of the detents and/or the corresponding surfaces of the lock cylinder.

Clearly the hub-cover locking means 7 may take other forms from that specifically described above without departing from the present invention, that is the lock plug or cylinder should have a retractable detent that projects laterally from the plug or cylinder to engage co-operating means on the receiving means into which the plug or cylinder is inserted in order to have the advantages of the invention. In one alternative the lock plug has retractable detents on substantially opposed sides thereof, so that the detents project laterally from the plug in generally opposed directions.

Clearly, it will be appreciated that while the hub-cover locking means may form the sole means of retaining the hub cover on the wheel, it will generally be used in conjunction with other means which act to retain, but not lock, the hub cover on the wheel. Such other retaining means are well known, and include, for example, a peripheral skirt which extends around the hub cover and a continuous or discontinuous projection on the wheel, behind which the skirt is received.

Claims

1. A motor vehicle wheel assembly comprising a wheel and a wheel hub cover, and hub-cover locking means comprising a lock plug which is engageable with the wheel hub cover and has one or more retractable detents that project laterally from the plug, and the locking means further comprising a lock plug receiving means which is fixed in use relative to the wheel and into which the lock plug is insertable when the or each detent is retracted, the receiving means having means for co-operating with the or each projecting detent when the lock plug is located in the receiving means to inhibit withdrawal of the plug therefrom and hence to lock the hub cover to the wheel.

2. An assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the receiving means comprises bracket means capable of being supported by the wheel and having an aperture therein to receive the lock plug.

3. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 in which the wheel is of generally annular shape and the bracket means is adapted to be clamped between the wheel and the wheel hub on which the wheel is mounted with the portion thereof having the lock plug-receiving aperture projecting through the annular wheel to receive the lock plug.

4. An assembly as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 in which the bracket means is adapted to be received on screw-threaded wheel studs by which the wheel is mounted on the wheel hub, and to be locked on the studs by means of correspondingly screw-threaded nuts.

5. An assembly as claimed in claim 4 in which the bracket means comprises two or more brackets each of which is adapted to be locked on a respective wheel stud with the apertured portions in superposed manner whereby the apertures overlie one another to receive the lock plug.

6. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the lock plug receiving means comprises a member having an opening of suitable shape to receive the lock plug and having one or more slots forming the co-operating means which receive respective projecting detents.

7. An assembly as claimed in claim 6 when dependent from any one of claims 2 to 5 in which the member is adjustably supported by the bracket means.

8. An assembly as claimed in claim 7 in which the lock plug-receivins aperture in the bracket means or in each bracket of the bracket means is elongate to permit lateral adjustment of the member in the aperture.

9. An assembly as claimed in claim 7 or claim 8 in which the external lateral surface of the member is screw-threaded to permit longitudinal adjustment of the member in the aperture.

10. An assembly as claimed in claim 9 in which the member is supported in the aperture by two correspondingly screw-threaded nuts between which the bracket means is clamped.

11. An assembly as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10 in which the lock plug is cylindrical and the or each slot in the lock plugreceiving member is annular.

12. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the lock plug is secured to the hub cover.

13. An assembly as claimed in any one of the preceding claims in which the or each detent is biased to project laterally from the lock plug and is adapted to be automatically retracted into the plug upon engagement with receiving means as the plug is inserted into the receiving means.

14. A motor vehicle wheel assembly substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.