GB2515373A - Temporary tyre-replacement strips - Google Patents

Abstract

A temporary tyre-replacement strip comprising a number of elongate blocks which are held together by one or more straps; the strip being of sufficient length to cover the circumference of a wheel rim; said blocks being a parallelepiped with cut-outs at their extremities in order to fit across a wheel rim; wherein an excess of said flexible strap is provided between at least one pair of said blocks; whereby said strap is taut between neighbouring blocks other than for said at least one pair of said blocks prior to assembly onto a wheel rim.

Description

IC

Temporpry tyreteptacement flrips ntion The invention r&ates to temporary tyrerepLacement strips.

Fielnveitiai order to transport large vehctes costeffectweLy rn hrnrted size contarners a has been found to be advantageous to remove the vehicl&s tyre and to replace these temporar.y with minimS height wheek suffident to withstand the so catted "roll on roll oW process.

Relatively low cost materials have been selected for this task since the replacement tyres are destined solely for this one use. Prior art sacrifidat whS have been sold by the applicant for a number of years and take the form of a succession of wooden blocks held together by plastics straps which are held firmly onto the circumference of a wheel rim, Due to the simplicfty ol the materials used and the relatively challenging albeit temporary function of the replacement strips, there has been a need to improve the methods of manufacture of these strips in order to facilitate accurate and rapid assembly of these.

There has also been a need to improve the strips themselves to allow these to be more reliably secured onto the wheel rims, Summayofthtju.y.' In its broadest independent aspect, the invention provides a temporary tyr&replacement strip comprking a number of elongate blocks which are held together by one or more straps; the strip being of sufficient length to cover the circumference of a wheel rim; said blocks being a parallelepiped with cutouts at their extremities in order to fit across a wheel rim; wherein an excess of said flexible strap is provided heeen at least one pair of said blocks; whereby said strap Es taut between neighbouring blocks other than for said at least one pair of sa ci blocks pncr to assembly onto a wheel rim This configuration is particularly advantageous in roping with varations in the nherent flexibility of the mateital of the strap.

Preterauly said temporary tyre-replacement strip incorporates a support block positioned between at least one pair of said elongate blocks, and between said pieces of flexible materiaL This provides a vehicle with a sacrificial wheel which will facilitate movement up an incline, Preferably said flexible material is a webbed or woven textile material This provides the sacnfIcial wheel with a robust but flexible material which may adjust to the diffenng circumferences of wheel rims whilst withstanding the force applied to the sacrificial wheeL Preferably said elongate blocks have a length wider than the width of a wheel rim on which the strip is to be placed. This provides the advantage of effectively protecting the edge of the rim as the elongate blocks extend over the end of the rim and are therefore the only part of the wheel and rim assembly that is in contact with the ground.

Preferably said flexible material is fixed to said elongate blocks using nails, This provides the advantage of securely fastening, with the use of a nail gun, the flexible material to the elongate members in a timeefficient manner, Preferably, the tightness of said strap between adjacent blocks is increased by increasing the depth to which the head of a securing nail is inserted into a block of said strip.

Preferably at Least two nails are used to attach said flexible material to said eton gate members, with more than two nails used at each end piece of the strip. This provides the advantage of effectively securing the flexible material to the elongate members.

Preferably, more than two nails are used to attached said flexible material to the elongate.

blocks at either end of said strip. flivc

The description provides a method of producing a temporary tyr&reptacement strip comprising the steps of: cutting wood into a number of equally shaped elongate blocks; cutting a recess into the upper section of each end of said blocks; spacing a succession of said blocks from one another by placing said blocks in discrete block receiving stations; said block receiving stations being formed between fixed transverse blocks of a supporting frame; and attaching one or more straps of flexible material across a succession of blocks, This method is particularly advantageous since it allows the strips to be produced with incitased velocity and repeatability.

In a subsdiary descnptwe aspect, whilst n snd supporhng frame, said strap Is substantatly taut between neighbouring blocks other than for at least one pair of blocks where an excess amount of strap material is provided. This allows the operator to overcome the fluctuations in the inherent flexibility of the straps in order to ensure that when the strip is assembled onto the rim it is retained onto the rim wfthout the risk of slackening off which would then render the task of rotting ON and OFF a container or a ship very challenging if not impossible.

In a further subsidiary descripUve aspect, the method comprises the steps of releasing one or more of said transverse blocks in order to vary the spacing between at least two neighbouring blocks of said strip. Contrary to conventional thinking, the spacing between the various blocks may advantageously be varied in order to improve the fit of a particular selection of strap and Mock onto a wheel rim.

In a further subsidiary descriptive aspect, the method further comprises the steps of placing the Mocks into a platform for hMding a succession of blocks side by side; clamping said blocks togethen and routing said recess. This provides for an accurate succession of s cuts in order to facilitate eventual accurate fitting of the strip on the wheel rim.

In a further subsidiary descriptive aspect, the method further comprises the steps of placing sd strip around the circumference of a wheel rim and drawing said strip tightly against said rim by employing a sash clamp. This is particu[arly advantageous in order to aLlow the operator to gauge the tightness of the attachment of the strip onto the wheel rim, In a further subsidiary descriptive aspect, during the supporting frame step, the method further comprises the step of increasing the tightness of the strap between adjacent blocks is by increasing the depth to which the head of a securing nail. is inserted into a block of said strip.

In a further subsidiary descriptive aspect, the method further comprises the step of adding more nails in the first and last block of the strip than used for securing the strap to other blocks. This configuration is particularly advantageous in terms of selectively strengthening the attachment of the blocks to the straps for the blocks against which the sash clamp ii a further sLbsldlary descnptwe acpect, a sar clamp s used to b'ing the two end peces 28 of the sngle stnp together before nung This ensurec that tne sacnfcial wheel is placed around the wheel rim of a vehcle in a tight manner before it is fixed fDescritionftUieFitLires so Figure 1 shows in perspective view the table which is employed to hold the blocks of wood for the routing process.

Figure 2 shows in perspective view the step of cutting a squared recess into the upper section of each end of said elongate blocks.

Figure 3 shows in perspective view the step of attaching a number of pieces of fiSbie mater across each elongate block to form a stripS a Figure 4 shows a sde perspective view of the dip of excess flexible material between a pair of elongate Mocks.

Figure 5 shows a perspective view of a number of dips of excess flexible material between a number of pairs of elongate blocks, Figure 6 shows a strip before it is fixed onto the wheel rim.

Fgure 7 shows a slop once a has been fxed onto the wheel nm is giiedDrlpSiQoithe FIgwts.

Figure 1 shows a number of elongate parallelepiped blocks such as block 1, preferably made of soft wood, that. are cut to equal size. Each member is rectangu ar in crosssection with preferably a h&ght of 88 mm (approx, 33 inches) and a width of 50 mm (approx. 2 inches). The height is advantageously selected within the range of 80 and 90 mm. A tyr& replacement strip is preferably constructed using 21 eLongate blocks that are preferably 320mm in length. However, a different number of elongate blocks may be used for smafler or Larger wheel rims, as well as varying lengths. Other than soft wood, a number of different matericis may be used, however those materials used must be strong enough to withstand the load of the vehicle but soft enough in order to temporarily dampen the load when used for driving a vehicle onto and off from a container and/or a ship. The soft wood also allows a tight grip of the strip onto the wheel rim without any significant scratching or damage to the wheel rim arising in use.

jo The elongate blocks, such as are then positioned in order for a squared recess, such as 2, to be cut into the upper section of each end of each elongate block 1, shown in Figure 2.

Prererably, each recess is cut 25mm into the elongate block Ths a tows [he uppe section of the dongate members to fit within the outermost edges of the wheel rim, Whilst each recess is cut, the elongate blocks 1 sit in a supporting tabLe 3 in order to make sure that each elongate block 1 is of the same size and shape. The supoorting table incorporates lateral guides against which the extremities of 19 and 20 of the blocks abut, Furthermore, the blocks are held tightLy between a front jaw 22 and a rear abutment 21 in order to ensure that the blocks are positioned and secured in the same plane. A guide plate is then a secured over the upper portions of the block. At least two channels are provided n the guide plate along which a router may be used in order to cutout the squared recesses 2, Once both of the recess channels 2 have been cut, each elongate block I is transferred to a second supporting table 4 where they are placed with the recesses facing downwards. The w elongate h ocks are placed apart n thscrete block recevng statons proided between transverse spacing blocks 23. Transverse spacing blocks 23 may be provided between adjacent blocks 12 and 13 as shown in figure 4 in order to space the blocks at regular ntevaLs The transverse spanng blocks are secured to one or more long tudma beams 24 of the table 4. The transverse spacing blocks may he releasably secured in order to allow the spacing to be varied between adjacent blocks, Releasable fasteners such as screws may he provided between the transverse spadng blocks and the table.

A number of pieces of webbed or woven textile material, preferably two such as 5 and 6, are then placed parallel to each other along the top of the elongate blocks 1 as shown Figure 3. Webbed or woven textile material is used as it provides a strong but flexible means of attaching the elongate blocks together. The flexibility of this material allows the temporay tyre-replacement strip to be tightly fixed to wheel rims. The material of these strips is also sufficiently strong to withstand the stresses and strains undergone when driving the vehicle on and off a container for example.

The webbed or woven textile material, 5 and 6, extends across each of the elongate members I with additional portions, land 6, extending further than the last elongate member 9.

Figure 4 shows a preferred embodiment where an excess of each of the pieces of webbed or woven textile material, 10 and 11, is formed between two of the elongate blocks such as 12 and 13. This excess forms a dip" of material between these members. The excess material provide.s a means for taking into account the inherent flexibihty of material The "dip" of webbed or woven textile material allows for an improved fit of the temporary tyre-replacernent strip. These "dips" of excess webbed or woven textile material are present between at least one pair of elongate blocks, However, if more flexibility is required, more of these "dip? may be formed.

a Once the oieces of weDbed or woven textLe matenal, S and 6, have been placed parallel to one another along the elongate blocks 1, and "dip? 10 and 11 of the material have been formed where necessary, the webbed or woven textile material S and 6 is fixed to the elongate members using naiLc, such as 14. Shown in Figure 5, this creates a single temporary tyre-replacement strip 15 which may then he placed around a wheel rim in order to create a sacrificial wheel In one preferred embodiment, the nails, such as 14, used to fix the webbed or woven textile material S and 6 to the elongate members have a depth of 32mm. However, this depth may be altered m order to acheve -arymg flexththty of a sacnhca wheel is AIternativey, the number of nails used may also be altered to the same effect, However, at least two nails are used to secure the webbed or woven textile material S and 6 to each elongate member, such as 1 In a preferred embodiment, more than two nails. typically four or six, are used for the elongate blocks such as 1 on each end of the strip 15.

Shown in Figure 6, extra portions 7 and 8 of the webbed or woven textile material extend beyond the last elongate member 9. These extra portions 7 and B are used to fix the two ends of the stnp, Q and 16, the elongate blocks have created once the stnp 15 has been placed around a wheeL rim.

26 Once the elongate blocks have been connected to form strip 15, this unit is placed around a wheel rim and the two ends of the strip, 9 and 16, are brought together and clamped.

This is preferably done using a sash clamp. Once the ends have been damped together, the extra potions of the webbed or woven textile material 7 and 8 can be fixed to the elongate block(s) 16 at the other end of the strip 15, thereby fixing the strip 15 to the wheel rim; in order to form a sacrificial wheel Figure 7 shows the strip 15 fixed to the wheel rim, forming a sacrificial wheel, The peces of webbed or woven textile material, 5 and 6, are parallel to one another on the outside surface of the elongate blocks 1, Preferab'y the sacrftkia whee' has 21 ekrngate Wocks or members sufficient to fit a whee' rim with a 520mm circumference, This preferable configuration allows a standard sacrificia' wheeL to be produced for vehicles wfth a whe& rim circumference of 520mm.