JPH11301535A - Rubber crawler structure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the limit of use at a rubber lug portion easily visible by forming a rubber lug on an outer peripheral side of a rubber elastic body and providing a wear indicator on an inclined surface which makes up the rubber lug. SOLUTION: A steel cord 11 is disposed inside a rubber crawler base body 11, and a rubber lug 12 made of rubber having minute foaming structure is formed on an outer peripheral side of the steel cord 11. Further, a rubber projection 13 for driving is formed on an inner peripheral side. A 1 mm concave line 14 is formed in the inclined surface of the rubber lug 12 at a height of 5 mm from the outer peripheral surface of the rubber crawler. The concave line 13 serves as an indicator that indicates a wear limit, and indicates a signal that sufficient on-ice performance cannot be exerted when a further wear occurs.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure in which a rubber lug portion of a rubber crawler can be visually observed, and more particularly to a rubber crawler structure used on ice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, rubber rollers mounted on a driving shaft of a snowmobile or an automobile have been developed, and these rubber rollers have a larger contact area than conventional pneumatic tires, so that surface pressure is increased. Can be lowered, so that the running performance on snow is good. On the other hand, these rubber rollers have a low surface pressure when traveling on ice, so that their performance on ice tends to decrease.

[0003] Therefore, in order to improve the performance not only on snow but also on ice, these problems are solved by using rubber having a fine foamed structure or rubber having excellent low-temperature characteristics (flexibility) for the lug portion. I was

However, in the case of conventional rubber rollers, the degree of wear is used without being sufficiently grasped, and even if the rubber lugs are almost worn, the case is still used for traveling. was there.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a rubber crawler in which the limit of use in such a rubber lug portion can be easily viewed.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and the gist of the present invention is that a steel cord is embedded in a long rubber elastic body and is provided on the outer peripheral side. A rubber crawler having a rubber lug formed thereon, wherein the rubber crawler is provided with a wear indicator on an inclined surface constituting the rubber lug. It is a concave strip line.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the rubber crawler of the present invention, it is preferable that the rubber lug is formed of a special rubber composition in order to impart properties especially on ice. This is made of low-temperature flexible rubber or the like. If the height of the rubber lug is reduced by abrasion, the performance of the rubber crawler on ice will be lost.

Therefore, it is necessary to check how much the rubber lug has been worn, and it is preferable that the wear can be visually observed. For this reason, in the present invention, a wear indicator is provided on the inclined surface of the rubber lug so that the usage limit due to wear can be visually observed.

In order to improve the performance on ice, it is necessary to select the rubber in the rubber lug portion. For example, it is preferable to use a rubber having an independent foam structure.
Parts by weight, BR 30 to 80 parts by weight, carbon black 5
55 parts by weight and 5 to 55 parts by weight of silica are used, and an organic foaming agent (for example, a nitrososulfonylazo compound) that mainly generates ammonium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, and nitrogen is selected and blended.

In order to improve the performance on ice, other rubber components which are flexible at a low temperature are used. A rubber containing 5 parts by weight of a process oil and 5 to 30 parts by weight of a process oil may be used, but it is a matter of course that the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0011]

The present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to examples. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the rubber crawler of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an outer plan view of this rubber crawler.

Usually, a lower mold having a cavity defining an inner peripheral side of a rubber crawler is filled with unvulcanized rubber constituting a base of the rubber crawler, and then a steel cord is stretched. The rubber rug is filled with, for example, a foamable unvulcanized rubber composition, the upper mold having a cavity defining the outer peripheral side of the rubber crawler is aligned, and each unvulcanized rubber is vulcanized under pressure and heat. Sulfurizes to obtain rubber chlor.

Accordingly, in the obtained rubber crawler, a steel cord 11 is provided in a rubber crawler base 10, a rubber lug 12 having a fine foamed rubber is formed on the outer peripheral side, and furthermore, a rubber lug 12 is formed. A driving rubber projection 13 is formed on the peripheral side.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the upper mold 20, in which a single ridge 22 is formed in the horizontal direction on the side surface of the cavity 21 forming the rubber lug 12. This constitutes a wear indicator. That is, it is preferable that the protruding ridge 22 is disposed at a limit portion where the effect is exerted even when the rubber lug 12 is worn. A ridge 22 is provided so as to form a tar.

Accordingly, the rubber crawler obtained by using such a mold 20 has a rubber lug 12
The concave ridges 14 corresponding to the protruding ridges 22 are formed on the inclined surface, and this serves as an indicator indicating a wear limit. That is, 5 mm from the outer peripheral surface of the rubber crawler.
A 1 mm concave streak 14 having a height of 1 mm is formed on the inclined surface of the rubber lug, and indicates a signal that the performance on ice will not be exhibited when further abrasion occurs.

In the above-described example, the wear indicator is shown by the continuous concave streak 14, but this may be intermittent.
In some cases, it may be dot-shaped. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, it is needless to say that the cavity 21 may be provided with a concave portion 23 and a corresponding protrusion (not shown) may be formed on the rubber lug 12 to provide a wear indicator. .

In the figure, the indentations of the concave stripes 15 are also provided on the left and right side surfaces of the rubber projection 13 formed on the inner periphery of the rubber crawler.
This is an example in which a tar is formed, so that the wear of the rubber projection 13 used for driving can be visually observed.

[0018]

The present invention has been described above. Since the wear indicator is provided on the inclined surface of the rubber lug, the use limit thereof can be confirmed at a glance, and particularly, on the ice. The present invention can be applied to rubber rollers used for other purposes, but can be applied to rubber rollers for other purposes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an example of a rubber crawler according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an outer plan view of the rubber crawler.

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view of the upper mold.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view of another example of the upper mold.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 mm rubber crawler base, 11 mm steel cord, 12 mm rubber lug, 13 mm driving rubber projection, 14 mm groove (indicator), 15 mm groove formed on driving rubber projection (indicator) -Tar), 20 mm upper mold, 21 mm cavity forming rubber lug, 22 mm ridge, 23 mm recess.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rubber crawler having a long rubber elastic body in which a steel cord is embedded and a rubber lug is formed on an outer peripheral side, and a wear indicator is provided on an inclined surface constituting the rubber lug. A rubber crawler structure comprising: 2. The rubber roller structure according to claim 1, wherein the indicator is a concave line.