GB2317149A

GB2317149A - Non-rotating display wheel trim for a vehicle wheel

Info

Publication number: GB2317149A
Application number: GB9616450A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Nigel Mark Henry Nield; Graham Murray Thomson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1996-08-05
Filing date: 1996-08-05
Publication date: 1998-03-18
Also published as: GB9616450D0

Abstract

A wheel disc or trim 3 for mounting onto the wheel 1 of a vehicle comprises a rotatably mounted central portion 3a which carries an insignia or design for display. A fixed weight 9 at the periphery of the central portion 3a ensures that the orientation of the insignia remains upright under gravity, even when the wheel 1 rotates. Any oscillation of the central portion 3a is damped by a movable counter-weight in the form of a metal ball 7 which runs along an arcuate track 8 to counteract any movement of the fixed weight away from its predetermined position.

Description

VEHICLE WHEELS The present invention relates to vehicle wheels and more particularly the construction of the visible central portion of such a wheel.

As well as their purely functional roles vehicle road wheels, particularly those for private cars, have for some years been regarded by many cars purchasers and users as a key and integral part of the overall aesthetic appearance of the vehicle. A facet of this phenomenon is the significant increase in the manufacture and sales of cast alloy wheels which although they provide a weight reduction are also capable of being manufactured in an almost infinite variety of aesthetic styles. In the case of the more traditional pressed steel wheel there has grown up a significant market, particularly in the so-called after-market for individually styled wheel trims. These usually take the form of moulded plastic disks having a characteristic styling appearance and which are designed to cover the whole or substantially the whole of the outer face of the wheel immediately radially inwardly of the tyre carried by the wheel.

The present invention is concerned with providing a construction of wheel disk suitable to fill either the whole of the wheel in the case of a pressed steel wheel, or only the central portion in the case of a cast alloy wheel, which will provide a novel appearance to the wheel when the wheel is in use.

Whilst the above mentioned variety of alloy wheel styles and wheel disks are capable of presenting a distinctive appearance when the car is stationary. when the car is moving at any speed they are perceived simply as a blur and lose any distinctiveness.

According to the present invention a device for mounting on a vehicle road wheel comprises a central display member which has means for securing it either directly to the centre of a road wheel or to a wheel disk for fitting to the outer face of the road wheel, the device being rotatably mounted with respect to either the road wheel or the wheel disk respectively and being provided with means to maintain the device in a fixed desired pre-determined rotary orientation with respect to the body of the vehicle as the road wheel rotates so that in use any insignia or design carried on or formed in the outer surface of the device will appear substantially stationary to an observer of the vehicle at least as far as any rotary movement is concerned.

According to a first aspect of the present invention the device includes a weighting means which is designed and positioned to tend to maintain the said device in the fixed rotary orientation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention the said orientation means also includes means for damping any relative oscillatory movement of the device about the said pre-determined rotary position.

According to a third aspect of the present invention the damping means comprises a ball movable freely in a track under the effect of the acceleration or deceleration of the wheel..

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention the device comprises a fixed counter-weight carried by or formed as an integral part of an arcuate track upon which a ball is constrained to roll under the effect of the acceleration or deceleration of the wheel in order to counter any forces tending to cause the weight to oscillate about the desired fixed rotary orientation.

How the invention may be carried out will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a front diagrammatic view of a vehicle road wheel assembly incorporating the present invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of a vehicle road wheel assembly incorporating the present invention; and Figure 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the rotary control mechanism incorporated in the device of the present invention Figure 1 illustrates the visual effect of the present invention.

A pressed steel vehicle road wheel 1 having a rubber tyre 2 is fitted with a styled plastic wheel disk or trim 3 in the known manner by means of metal spring clips 4 carried by the inside outer periphery of the disk, which engage the rim la of the wheel 1.

The wheel disk or trim 3 has a central portion 3a which usually carries some kind of insignia or design such as the vehicle manufacturer's name or logo.

The central portion of disk 3a is rotatably mounted by means of a bearing arrangement 5 (which could take various forms) with respect to the outer annular main part 3b of the wheel trim and is provided with a weighting arrangement designed to ensure that whatever the rotary orientation of the wheel, and therefore the main annular portion 3b of the wheel trim, the rotary orientation of the central disk 3a remains substantially the same.

Thus ensures that any insignia or design carried on its outer face remains, as it were, upright. Thus, for example, the vehicle manufacturer's name would be readable even when the vehicle is being driven.

The rotary orientation controlling arrangement will now be described in more detail with respect to Figures 2 and 3.

The central display disk 3a is provided with a fixed reference weighting member 9 carried on or formed as part of the disk's periphery 6 so that under the effect of gravity the disk will automatically tend to adopt a rotary orientation in which the weight 9 is at '6 o' clock'. Any insignia etc., which it is required to display on the exposed face of the disk 3a (typically the vehicle manufacturer's name or logo) will be placed so that it is in its normal upright position when the reference weight is at 46 o' clock'.

When the vehicle is stationary each of the vehicle's wheels which carries wheel trim according to the present invention will have the associated display disk resting in its optimum display orientation with respect to the insignia carried on it. thus ensuring. tbr example that the car manufacturer's name is horizontal on each wheel.

However, when the vehicle is driven there is a tendency for the disk 3a to oscillate about the desired optimum display orientation under the effect of acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle and thus its wheels. This tends to occur particularly under heavy braking and other driving conditions such as turning.

In order to deal with this situation a moveable counter-weight is provided which in this embodiment takes the form of a metal ball 7 which is constrained to run freely in an arcuate track 8 so that it will automatically counteract any movement of the fixed weight 9 away from the ideal pre-determined rotary position or orientation. The counter-weight 7 could possibly take other forms.

Claims

1) A device for mounting on a vehicle road wheel comprises a central display member which has means for securing it either directly to the centre of a road wheel or to a wheel disk for fitting to the outer face of the road wheel, the device being rotatably mounted with respect to either the road wheel or wheel disk respectively and being provided with means to maintain the device in a fixed pre-determined rotary orientation with respect to the body of the vehicle to which the wheel is fitted so that in use the insignia or design carried by or formed in the outer surface of the device will appear substantially stationary to an observer of the vehicle at least as far as any relative rotary movement is concerned.

2) A device as claimed in Claim 1 which includes a weighting means which is designed and positioned to tend to maintain the said device in the fixed rotary orientation.

3) A device as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the said orientation means also includes a means for damping any relative oscillatory movement of the device about the said pre-determined rotary position.

4) A device as claimed in any previous claim in which the damping means comprises a ball movable to run freely in a track under the effect of the acceleration or deceleration of the wheel.

5) A device as claimed in Claim 4 in which the fixed counter-weight is carried by or formed as an integral part of the track upon which the said ball is adapted to roll.

6) A vehicle wheel trim substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.