GB2227985A - Tyre guards - Google Patents

Abstract

A tyre guard comprises a housing 4 adapted to cover the top, front and rear portions of a tyred wheel 1, 2, the internal surface of the housing being provided with bristle elements which in use make contact with the tyre to substantially enclose the top, front and rear portions of the wheel to eliminate water being sprayed into the air by turbulence created by the moving vehicle or strong winds. The housing may include a series of flaps 6 which can be fitted with hinges to facilitate the removal of the wheel. The flaps of a front steerable wheel can be hinged with self returnable hinges to facilitate steering. <IMAGE>

Description

TYRE GUARDS It is well known that the spray from water flung out from the wheels of heavy road vehicles under wet conditions can seriously impair visibility for other road users, particularly on motorways and other high speed roads.

This invention aims to provide an effective solution to this problem.

The present invention proposes a tyre guard comprising a housing adapted to cover the top, front ?;d rear portions of a tyred wheel, the interior surface f the housing being provided with bristle elements which in use make contact with the tyre so that the guard substantially encloses the top, front and rear portions of the wheel.

The housing preferably includes flaps that cover the side porti.ons of the tyre, the flaps being resiliently mounted for outward movement.

The tyre guard may be provided as a proprietary item for addition to an existing wheel or it may be made by modification of an existing guard.

The invention will now be exemplified in the following descripti.on to be read in conjuncti.on with the accompanying drawi.ngs in whi.ch: Figure 1 is a side view of a wheel provided with a tyre guard in accordance with the invention, Figure 2 is a simi.lar view to Fi.g. 1 but showing the flaps of the guard in thei.r open positions, and Figure 3 is a rear view of the guard.

The drawings show the front wheel 1 of a motor vehicle provided with a pneumatic tyre 2. The wheel is mounted on an axle 3 (Fig. 3) and is provided wi.th a guard which includes a housing 4 of generally i.nverted-U shape as viewed from the side of the vehicle (Fi.g.s 1 and 2). The housing has a fixed portion 5 (Fi.g. 3) whi.ch extends over the top, inside, front and rear portions of the tyre to substantially cover the tread of the tyre save for that on the under-surface whi.ch contacts the road. The housing also has a number of circumferentially spaced flaps 6 which extend radially inwards from both side edges of the fixed portion 5 on the outer side of the wheel. These flaps are of part annular form except for the four lowermost flaps which are L-shaped, as shown.

The flaps 6 are secured to the fixed porti.on 5 of the housing by sprung hinges 7 (Fi.g. 3) whi.ch bi.as the flaps inwardly towards the outer side wall of the tyre 2, which they substantially cover. This enables the flaps to pivot outwardly as shown in Fig. 2 to permi.t wheel changi.ng and, in the case of a steerable wheel, to permit steeri.ng movements of the wheel to take place. Particularly in the case of a steered wheel, such flaps may be provided on the inner side of the wheel in addition to the outer side. The front and rear flaps may be held by a bar connected to each flap to stop the flaps from being forced open by the air movement as the vehicle travels along.In addition, the rear flaps are provided with an i.ntegral strengthening rod to hold them relati.vely ri.gid and prevent them from bending in the back draught. The meeting edges 8 of adjacent flaps may be interlocki.ng as shown i.n Fi.g. 1.

The entire inner surface of the housing (i..e. of the fi.xed portion 5 and the flaps 6) is covered with soft but hardwearing bristles 9 that contact the tread and the i.nner and outer side walls of the tyre. The bristles that contact the side walls of the tyre play an important role in confining water within the housing. The bristles in contact with the tread serve to confine any water picked up in the tread of the tyre so that the water is carri.ed round closely wi.th the tyre instead of being flung outwards. The bristles may be arranged in rows. Rows of soft bristles may be interspersed with rows of harder but shorter bristles that do not make contact with the tyre.The main function of these harder bristles is to support the softer bristles and thus ensure that they maintain their contact with the tyre. The bristles that contact the rear of the tyre are preferably more densely packed than those at the front and top of the tyre.

The lower peripheral edges of the fi.xed portion 5 of the housing and of the lowermost flaps 6 are provided with a substantially continuous row of dependi.ng relatively stiff bristles 10 which contact the road.

These serve to disperse the water picked up by the tyre as it is deposited on the ground. These bri.stles may be on a spring loaded verti.cally movable carrier so that they can move up and down as the vehicle i,s loaded and unloaded, maintaining the bri.stles in contact wi.th the road surface.

An internal trough may be formed around the peripheral edges of the housi.ng 4 to collect water from the bristles and channel the water down towards the road surface.

Such a guard would be fitted to each wheel of a multi- wheeled vehicle or trailer. Under wet road conditions the guard contains the water pi.cked up by the tyre and directs it back to the road surface. The water thus deposited is dispersed over the road surface by the hard bristles 10 i.nstead of bei.ng flung into the back draught of the vehicle. The guard also helps to prevent dirt, chippings or other debris from being thrown up from the road surface as the vehi.cle travels along. Apart from reducing the i.nstances of paint chi.ps and broken headlamps or wi.ndscreens the guards also tend to keep vehicles cleaner.

Claims (3)

1. A series of flaps fastened to an existing mdgard to contain the water picked up off the road by the tyre during wet weather or when there is water on the road or if the road is damp The flaps consist of
2. 2 U shaped flaps and two or three +laps as per drawings according to the size of the wheel ,The U shaped flaps have no bristle insert's inside the flap ,The U shaped flap has bristles or Rubber strips from the bottom of the flap to the road level, The other straight flaps have bristles inside the flap touching the tyre wall , These Bristles are held to the wall of the tyre by a rubber insert which also acts as a catchment trough and drain away of the water running along the bristles from the tyre ,The water is thus returned to the road.
3. 3 The flaps as in three can be hinged to facilitate the removal of the wheel They also can be rigid of a thin manouverable rubber 4 The front steering wheel has hinged flaps so that when the vehicle turns the flaps are forced open by the wheel , The hinge is spring loaded self returnable which bring the flaps back to the straight position when the wheel is straight 5 The advantage of these flaps is they stop the water picked up by the tyre mizzling with the air turbulence created by the vehicle and the strong winds thus eliminating spray A further advantage is the tyre does not throw the dirt up the the road onto following vehicles , Road chippings are also trapped and objects laying on the road such as stones Bricks etc are trapped and can not be catapulted back onto following vehicles 6 The fitment can be one complete unit or a series of flaps fastened to existing units The U flaps are held by a bar from the front to the rear flap to stop the turbulence blowing the flaps away from the tyre