GB2221660A

GB2221660A - Wheel brace support

Info

Publication number: GB2221660A
Application number: GB8819396A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Kevin Allan Wilton
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1988-08-12
Filing date: 1988-08-12
Publication date: 1990-02-14
Also published as: GB8819396D0

Abstract

The wheel brace support 1 comprises tubular legs 2a and 2b which converge in a common plane towards a head 8 having a base plate 9 with a concave configuration defining a trough 12 for supporting a wheel brace shank within an opening 11 enclosed by the plate 9 and angle plate 10. Pins (5a, Fig 2) cooperate with apertures 5 to enable securement of components 3a, 4a; 3b, 4b, of each leg to ensure a particular position of elevation of head 8. <IMAGE>

Description

Improvements in Wheel Nut Removal The invention relates to removal of wheel nuts from the wheels of vehicles using a brace and Is more specifically concerned with a wheel brace support for improving the efficiency and convenience of wheel nut removal.

The wheels of motor vehicles are secured to the wheel hubs of the vehicles concerned by means of wheel nuts, usually numbering at least four. The wheel nuts are secured very tightly to screw threaded studs originating at the wheel hub, it being necessary in practice, of course, that the nuts should be very secure in order to prevent the wheels being detached from the vehicle under the stresses of motion. Because the nuts are secured so tightly, however, their removal is often a difficult task. This is particularly the case where powered nuttightening tools are used to fit the wheel to the hub originally or to re-fit the wheel to the hub after removal, for example, to fit new tyres. It Is, of course, not particularly difficult to remove the wheel nuts by the same powered tools but in practice such means are seldom available to the drivers of vehicles on the road.Mobile vehicle repair units such as operated by the AA and RAC may be equipped with such powered tools but even this is not particularly convenient or efficacious since a mobile repair unit cannot easily In practice be provided with a source of the electric power which is normally needed.

As a practical matter therefore, wheel nuts are usually removed by the use of a wheel brace. To remove a nut using a wheel brace requires the application of considerable torque to the wheel brace. Application of the torque results in a downward component of force which has the tendency to urge the nut engaging head of the brace away from the nut. Of course, when the brace and the nut become detached, there is no turning moment applied to the nut and the user of the wheel brace suffers inconvenience and commonly will incur minor injuries such as bruising and grazing to the hand area.

When wheel nuts are particularly tightly fitted to the hub studs, it will often be necessary to apply a transient turning force of some magnitude to the wheel brace in order to dislodge the nut and on such occasions there is a particularly strong tendency for the wheel brace and the nut to detach from each other.

According to the invention, a wheel brace support for supporting a wheel brace to maintain the brace in wheel nut contact during application of torque having a downward component of force comprises one or more legs and means carried by a leg and defining a wheel brace bearing surface having a cross-section which is configured to discourage loss of contact between the brace and said bearing surface.

Preferably, the support has at least two legs which are divergent in a common plane In a direction extending away from the bearing surface.

The legs may each comprise a first portion and a second portion, the second portion terminating at one end In a ground-engaging surface and being telescopical ly received by its other end in or over the first portion.

Preferably, the second portion is received telescopically in the lowermost end of the first part. The second portion is provided with means enabling telescoping to be limited corresponding to any of a selection of desired predetermined leg lengths so that the distance above ground of the bearing surface in use may be varied. For example, the second portion may be formed with a plurality of openings therein at longitudinally spaced apart positions, a pin being provided for receipt in any selected one of said openings.

Conveniently, the bearing surface has a curved configuration so as to define a trough (eg a U-shaped trough) in which the wheel brace may in use be received for rotation upon said bearing surface.

In an embodiment of the Invention, the bearing surface is defined by means defining a brace-receiving opening, said opening including said bearing surface as a lowermost extremity and Including a further surface as an uppermost extremity. The further surface is conveniently configured to discourage loss of contact between said surface and said brace when the two are urged together.

The further surface is concave, for example.

A preferred wheel brace support according to the invent Ion comprises at least two legs convergent at their tops in a common plane and divergent at their bottoms in the same plane and a brace channel gulde provided at the Junction of the converging legs, the channel guide comprising a plate defining an upwardly facing concave bearing surface defining a trough whose axis is generally perpendicular to the plane of the legs, said bearing surface cooperating with a further plate to define a brace-receiving opening having an entrance and exit aligned with respect to the trough and the further plate defining a downwardly-facing concave surface within said opening, the arrangement being such that a wheel brace engaging a nut can have torque applied thereto such that a downward component of force derived from said torque causes the brace and concave bearing surface to bear against each other when the brace is received through said opening such that the brace is encouraged to reside at or near the base of the concavity of the bearing surface and such that removal of the brace from engagement with the wheel nut enables the support and brace to be relocated to the site of a further wheel nut by lifting the brace into engagement with the further plate and displacing the brace and support together as a single item.

The following specific description of a preferred embodiment Is intended to Illustrate the invention, by way of example only, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front view of a wheel brace support according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the wheel brace of Figure 1 shown viewed from the direction of the arrow I of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a view, partially in cross-section, of an alternative form of the invention; and Figure 4 is a bottom view, taken from the direction of the arrow IV in Figure 3, of the wheel brace support shown in Figure 3.

The wheel brace support shown in the drawings is designated generally by the reference numeral I. As will be seen best from Figure 1 of the drawings, the wheel brace support comprlses a pair of tubular steel legs 2a and 2b. Tubular steel legs 2a and 2b converge in a common plane toward Head 8. Leg 2A comprises an upper tubular section 3a of right circular cylindrical form having an internal diameter sized sufficiently large to accommodate telescopic lower leg section 4a. Tubular leg 2b is similarly constructed with upper and lower portions 3b and 4b. The lower extremity of each telescoping portion 4a, 4b has an open bottom forming a groundengaging foot, these being designated, respectively, by the reference numerals 7 and 8 in Figure 1.The lower telescoping leg portions 4a and 4b are provided with through-bores 5 for receivlng cllps 5a Figure 2). Upper leg portions 2a and 2b are similarly provided with through-bores 20 also sized to receive a ci p 5a.

The head 8 comprises a base plate 19 having a concave configuration so as to define a trough 12 within an opening 11 enclosed by the plate 9 and angle plate 10.

Angle plate 10 is secured to plate 9 by welding at the junction between plate 9 and the faces 13 and 14 of angle plate 10. Base plate 9 is secured by welding to each of the legs 2a and 2b.

In its non-use condition suitable for storage, the telescoping leg portions 4a, 4b are pushed to the maximum extent within the cavity of upper leg portions 3a, 3b.

The arrangement is such that at this point, one of the through-bores 5 in each of the telescoping leg portions 4a, 4b Is in register with a through-bore 20. A pin 5a of an R-clip received through both bores then secures the two leg portions together so that the wheel brace support as a whole occupies minimum space making It suitable for carriage in vehicles or Indeed storage in a workshop.

In order to put the wheel brace to use, the pin 5a is removed from each of the bores 20 whilst the feet 6 and 7 are disposed upon the ground. The body of the wheel brace is then raised to a height appropriate for dealing with a particular wheel nut on a vehicle wheel. At this point, a pin 5a Is introduced into whichever of the apertures 5 in the telescoping leg portions 4a, 4b is closest to the extremity of the upper leg portion 3a, 3b.

The upper leg portions 3a, 3b are then allowed to settle down on to the pins 5a.

The wheel brace support as a whole is then moved to a suitable position spaced from the wheel concerned and whilst being held manually a wheel brace is introduced through the opening 11 and its shank allowed to come to rest upon the concave surface 12 of the base plate 9.

The nut-engaging head of the wheel brace is then offered up to a nut to be removed and the nut and wheel brace head are engaged. With the wheel brace shank supported upon the surface 12, torque is applied to the wheel brace to loosen the nut. Upon initially dislodging the nut from its screw threaded securement to the wheel stud concerned, the wheel brace support could, of course, be removed from the location of the wheel but it will be found that the presence of the wheel brace support is not inconvenient nor an Impediment to effective removal of the nut.

Once the first nut has been removed in this manner, it may be necessary (depending upon whether the wheel is free of the ground and can be rotated) to raise the level from the ground of the base plate 9 by operations as already described.

When no further nuts are to be removed from any particular wheel, the wheel brace can simply be lifted from the ground until its shank locates in the angle 15 between the faces 13 and 14 of the angle plate 10.

Continued movement applied the wheel brace will allow the wheel brace support to be moved bodily to a position displaced from the area of work. Means (not shown) may be provided to enable the wheel brace support 1 to be lifted bodily from the ground without the telescoping leg portions 4a, 4b dislocating from the upper leg portions 3a and 3b.

Needless to say, of course, the wheel brace support can be used together with a wheel brace for tightening of nuts as well as loosening them.

The wheel brace support shown in Figures 3 and 4 is similar in most respects to that of Figures 1 and 2.

However, the lower extremity of each of upper tubular portions 3a and 3b is closed by a square punched steel washer 42 welded to the tubular portion. The rectangular apertures 41 each receive slideably therein a rectangular cross-sectioned telescopic lower leg portion of which one portion 40b only is shown in Figures 3 and 4 (the two, of course, replacing telescopic lower leg portions 4a and 4b of Figures 1 and 2). A pin 43 fixed through the telescopic lower leg portions prevents the latter from dislodgement from the cavities of upper leg portions 2a, 2b. The above-described lower leg portions are provided with through-bores (not shown) analogous to those shown in Figures 1 and 2 and designated by reference numeral 5 and having the same purpose.

The invention as described earlier without reference to the drawings may include any one of more features of the invention as described with reference to the drawings.

Claims

1. A wheel brace support for supporting a wheel brace to maintain the brace in wheel nut contact during application of torque having a downward component of force, the support comprising one or more legs and means carried by a leg and defining a wheel brace bearing surface having a cross-section which is configured to discourage loss of contact between the brace and said bearing surface.

2. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the support has at least two legs which are divergent In a common plane in a direction extending away from the bearing surface.

3. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein the legs each comprise a first portion and a second portion, the second portion terminating at one end in a ground-engaging surface and being telescopical ly received by its other end in or over the first portion.

4. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 3 wherein the second portion is provided with means enabling telescoping to be limited corresponding to any of a selection of desired predetermined leg lengths.

5. A wheel brace as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the second portion is formed with a plurality of openings therein at longitudinally spaced apart positions and wherein a pin is provided for receipt in any selected one of said openings.

6. A wheel brace support as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the bearing surface has a curved configuration so as to define a trough in which the wheel brace may in use be received for rotation upon said bearing surface.

7. A wheel brace support as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the bearing surface is defined by means defining a brace-receiving opening, said opening including said bearing surface as a lowermost extremity and including a further surface as an uppermost extremity.

8. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 7 wherein the further surface is configured to discourage loss of contact between said surface and said brace when the two are urged together.

9. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 8 wherein said further surface Is concave.

10. A wheel brace support as claimed in Claim 1 and comprising at least two legs convergent at their tops in a common plane and divergent at their bottoms in the same plane and a brace channel guide provided at the Junction of the converging legs, the channel guide comprising a plate defining an upwardly facing concave bearing surface defining a trough whose axis is generally perpendicular to the plane of the legs, said bearing surface cooperating with a further plate to define a bracereceiving opening having an entrance and exit common to the opening and the trough and said further plate defining a downwardly-facing concave surface within said opening, the arrangement being such that a wheel brace engaging a nut can have torque applied thereto such that a downward component of force derived from said torque causes the brace and concave bearing surface to bear against each other when the brace is received through said opening such that the brace is encouraged to reside at or near the base of the concavity of the bearing surface and such that removal of the brace from engagement with the wheel nut enables the support and brace to be relocated to the site of a further wheel nut by lifting the brace Into engagement with the further plate and displacing the brace and support together as a single item.

11. A wheel brace support substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.