GB2078181A

GB2078181A - Apparatus to restrict spray from vehicle wheels

Info

Publication number: GB2078181A
Application number: GB8113478A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Boydell & Jacks Ltd
Current assignee: Boydell & Jacks Ltd
Priority date: 1980-06-18
Filing date: 1981-05-01
Publication date: 1982-01-06

Abstract

A mud-flap M has a rear wall 4 of stiffish but flexible material for example a conventional mud-flap for attachment using holes 18 to a vehicle mudguard. Expanded metal mesh 6 on the front of wall 4 forms therewith two chambers 2 divided by support 12 and open at their tops and bottoms. Spray thrown rearwards by a wheel towards mesh 6 can pass therethrough to the chambers where it tends to be contained to stream down wall 4 and leave as drops D deposited behind the wheel. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Apparatus to restrict spray from vehicle wheels.

This invention concerns apparatus intended to restrict water spray from the wheels of vehicles.

The invention may be applied to mud-flaps but is not necessarily restricted thereto.

In wet weather conditions considerable amounts of water spray are thrown up rearwardly by the wheels of motor vehicles particularly from the large wheels of commercial vehicles. To counteract this it is known to provide vehicles with mud-flaps. But the spray can re-bound from the mud-flaps in a mist of droplets tending to obscure the vision of other road users' and coat their vehicles with a film of dirty water.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus intended to reduce this drawback.

According to a first aspect of the invention an apparatus to restrict spray from a wheel of a vehicle comprises a chamber or tube for location to the rear of a vehicle wheel for water spray from said wheel to impinge on a front wall of said chamber or tube, said wall being perforate to allow impinging spray to enter the chamber or tube, and an opening leading from a lower part of the chamber or tube for water to leave said chamber or tube through the opening.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a vehicle with at least one road wheel comprises the apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention, said apparatus being mounted adjacent to a rear of the wheel for spray from the wheel to impinge on the front wall.

At least some of the spray from the wheel enters the chamber or tube through the front wall, and there may be some re-bounding of the spray in the chamber or tube. However having entered the chamber or tube at least some of that spray is stopped from leaving by chamber or tube walls, and is retained in the chamber or tube until the successfdlly retained water reaches the opening.

Thus at least some of the spray generated by the wheel is brought under control by the apparatus and does not fly about to disadvantage other road users, and falls as a stream to the ground behind the wheel after leaving the opening.

In one embodiment of the apparatus the chamber or tube of somewhat flattened crosssection shape is mounted adjacent and to the rear of a road wheel of a vehicle with a front wall of the chamber facing the rear of the wheel. This front wall may be gauze or mesh material or otherwise formed with a plurality of perforations leading into the chamber interior. A rear wall of the chamber may be substantially continuous, i.e. having no or few through holes. One or more openings which may be generally downwardly facing, lead from a lower part of the chamber. Spray thrown rearwards by the. wheel impinges on the front wall, passes into the chamber through the mesh apertures or perforations, and then streams down one or more inner surfaces of the chamber interior, for example a face of the rear wall, to leave through the opening(s) to fall on the ground behind the wheel.

The front wall may be of metal gauze or mesh.

This mesh may be expanded metal, for example galvanised steel. The gauze or mesh apertures may occupy 30% to 70% of the surface of the gauze or mesh.

Alternatively the front wall may be a perforated sheet. To increase the chance of the spray entering the chamber, the perforations may be formed in the bases of recesses in the front wall.

The perforated sheet may be flexible and may be of plastics material, for example high density polyethylene to which we believe mud will have difficulty sticking.

Means may be provided to create an increased flow of air downwardly through the chamber to propel the water therefrom through the opening(s) leading from the lower part. This means may comprise one or more forwardly facing openings or slots leading through the front wall preferably to an upper part to the chamber interior so that as the apparatus is moved through the air by travel of the vehicle some air is diverted through the forwardly facing opening(s), which can be in addition to air diverted through an open top of the chamber.

The rear wall of the chamber can have an inner face provided with projections corresponding to perforations in the front wall to clean those perforations in the event of air pressure acting on the front wall moving the latter towards the rear wall.

The apparatus can be formed by providing a planar front member with the mesh apertures or perforations therein, and having turned over side parts for securement to side edges of the rear wall of the chamber.

The apparatus may be arranged and/or mounted so as to be substantially stiff or rigid in use. To this end, the rear wall may be provided with stiffening elements, for example side flanges bent or formed at substantially a right-angle to the plane of the wall. If desired a scoop formation may be provided at the upper end of the chamber to direct air downwardly through the chamber.

The apparatus can also take the form of a mudflap which may flex at least about its upper end in a manner analogous to a conventional mud-flap.

In this case the upper end of the mud-flap may be mounted from a trailing lower end of the mudguard, or from an appropriate support on the vehicle if no mudguard is present for the wheel.

The rear wall may be formed by a conventional mud-flap of a rubber or flexible plastics material, or the rear wall may be of similar size and material to a conventional mud-flap but provided additionally with the aforesaid projections.

If desired one embodiment of the apparatus in a substantially stiff or rigid attitude can be used with another embodiment in the form of a mud-flap suspended therefrom.

The invention will now be further described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of apparatus formed according to the invention in the form of a mud-flap; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on line 11II in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section on line Ill-Ill in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig. 3 but of a modification of the mud-flap in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 shows the mud-flap in Fig. 1 on a mudguard around a road wheel of a vehicle; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another embodiment of apparatus formed according to the invention in the form of a mud-flap; Fig. 7 is a fragmentary section of a modification of the mud-flap in Fig. 6;; Fig. 8 is a fragmentary side view of a tractor vehicle without a mudguard, but provided with a mud-flap formed according to the invention; Fig. 9 is a fragmentary side view of a tractor vehicle without a mudguard, provided with an apparatus formed according to the invention; Fig. 10 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale of the apparatus in Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a substantially stiff or rigid apparatus formed according to the invention; and Fig. 12 is a side view of the apparatus in Fig. 11 in combination with the mud-flap shown in Figs. 1 to 4 or Fig. 6.

In the drawings like references refer to comparable parts.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, an embodiment of the invention in the form of a mud-flap M has two tubes or chambers 2 open top and bottom with a rear wall 4 which is formed by a conventional mud-flap of a rubber or flexible plastics material.

Substantially planar front wall 6 and side walls 8 and 10 of the chambers 2 are provided by a onepiece member formed by a gauze or mesh of expanded metal attached, for example by riveting, to the rear wall 4. The mesh apertures can occupy 30% to 70% of the surface area of the mesh material. A channel shaped support 12 holds the wall 6 away from the wall 4. Top and bottom edges of the mesh are enclosed within strips 14 and 1 6 of U-shaped section in which the mesh material is located. The expanded metal may be galvanised steel.

Each tube or chamber 2 has a somewhat flattened or squashed cross-sectional shape in that the width of each chamber between support 12 and a side wall 8 is considerably greater than the breadth of the chamber between the front wall 6 and rear wall 4 so that these walls are relatively close together. Thus the overall thickness of the mud-flap M from its front to its rear is not excessive.

The upper part 4a of the wall 4 has voids 1 8 to enable bolts (not shown) to secure the mud-flap to a trailing edge of a mudguard m (Fig. 5) about a road wheel W of a vehicle.

When the mud-flap is in use, water spray drops thrown backwards by the vehicle wheel pass through the mesh openings in the wall 6 to enter the chambers 2 in which they tend to be retained and stream down the wall 4 as drops D to emerge from the open lower ends of the chambers.

Air entering the chambers 2 through their open upper ends due to forward movement of the vehicle assists in streaming the drops D downwards.

In the modification in Fig. 4, the support 12 is- obviated and replaced by a channel shaped formation 1 2a of the mesh material formed in the front wall 6.

In the embodiment in Fig. 6, the open topped chambers or tubes 2 have front walls 6 and side walls 8, 10 and 20 provided by a one piece member of plastics material, for example high density polyethylene, with a central groove 1 2b and edge formations 24 secured to the vertical edges of wall 4. The walls 6 have through perforations 26 in the bases of recesses 28 shown in more detail in the enlarged fragment in Fig. 7.

The perforations are disposed substantially uniformly over the surface of the walls 6.

The lower part of each wall 6 curves downwardly towards the wall 4 and is formed with openings 30 to allow exit of water drops D indicated by arrows A.

A forwardly facing opening 32 is formed through the upper part of each wall 6 for the inflow of air in the direction of arrows B into each chamber 2.

In Fig. 7, a modified rear wall 4b is shown provided with projections 34 corresponding with the perforations 26. In the event of air pressure on the wall 6 causing the latter to flex towards the wall 4b, the projections 34 enter the apertures 26 which are thereby cleaned by the projections poking out dirt which may be covering the apertures.

In Fig. 8, the vehicle is a tractor unit T having the mud-flap M suspended behind the wheel W from a horizontal angle iron 40 on the tractor unit.

In Fig. 9, apparatus M' behind the wheel W of tractor unit T can be constructed similarly to the aforedescribed mud-flap M except that the apparatus M' is preferably stiff or rigid in that rear wall 4' is stiff or rigid and is mounted on a rigid, cranked strut 42 extending transversely of the body of the tractor unit. As shown in Fig. 10 the stiffening of the rear wall 4' can be accomplished or augmented by side flanges 44 bent at rightangles to the plane of rear wall 4'. Over the upper ends of the tubes or chambers 2 the rear 4' wall is extended by an overlying scoop formation 4c which diverts air down the chambers 2.

In the rigidly backed apparatus M' in Fig. 11, the flanges 44 are of generally triangular shape and extend with the rear wall 4' above the top of front wall 6. This apparatus may be mounted as shown in Fig. 12 on an underside of a trailer unitst behind a wheel W and a mud-flap M suspended.

from a lower end of apparatus M'.

Claims

1. An apparatus to restrict spray from a wheel of a vehicle comprising a chamber or tube for location to the rear of a vehicle wheel for water spray from said wheel to impinge on a front wall of said chamber or tube, said wall being perforate to allow impinging spray to enter the chamber or tube, and an opening leading from a lower part of the chamber or tube for water to leave said chamber or tube through the opening.

2. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which the chamber or tube has a substantially continuous or non-perforate rear wall on which the front wall of perforate material is mounted.

3. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the perforate front wall is formed of metal gauze.

4. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 3, in which the gauze is expanded metal.

5. An apparatus as claimed in any one preceding claim, in which the perforations occupy 30% to 70% of a surface area of the perforate material forming the front wall.

6. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 1, in which the perforate material forming the front wall is an apertured sheet.

7. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6, in which the apertures are in recesses in the front wall.

8. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 6 or Claim 7, in which the rear wall carries projections inside the chamber or tube, and the projections are opposite the apertures in the front wall.

9. An apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 6 to 8, in which the sheet is formed of plastics material.

10. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 9, in which the plastics material is high density polyethylene.

11. An apparatus as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10, in which a slot opening into the chamber or tube is formed in the sheet adjacent to an upper end of the chamber or tube.

12. An apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 11, in which the chamber or tube has an opening at an upper end of said chamber or tube.

13. An apparatus as claimed in Claim 12, in which a forwardly facing air scoop is disposed over the opening at the upper end of the chamber or tube to divert air down the chamber or tube when the apparatus is in use.

14. A vehicle with at least one road wheel, said vehicle comprising an apparatus as claimed in any one preceding claim, said apparatus being mounted adjacent to a rear of the wheel for spray from the wheel to impinge on the front wall.

1 5. A vehicle with at least one road wheel, said vehicle comprising a mudguard for the wheel and an apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 12, said apparatus being mounted on said mudguard and disposed adjacent to a rear of the wheel for spray from the wheel to impinge on the front wall.

1 6. A vehicle with at least one road wheel, said vehicle comprising a first apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 1 3 and a second apparatus as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 12 mounted on the first apparatus, and each apparatus being disposed adjacent to a rear of the wheel for spray from the wheel to impinge on the front wall of each apparatus.

1 7. An apparatus to restrict spray from a wheel of a vehicle, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4, or to Fig.

6, or to Figs. 6 and 7, or to Figs. 9 and 10, or to Fig. 11 of the accompanying drawings.

1 8. A vehicle with at least one road wheel in combination with apparatus to restrict spray from the wheel, said combination being substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5, or to Figs. 5 and 6, or to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, or to Fig. 8, or to Figs. 9 and 10, or to Figs. 1 and 12 of the accompanying drawings.