U.S. patent application number 09/793591 was filed with the patent office on 2001-09-27 for wheel cover.
This patent application is currently assigned to KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOKAI RIKA DENKI SEISAKUSHO. Invention is credited to Ichikawa, Takashi, Mizutani, Toshinobu.
Application Number | 20010024061 09/793591 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 18600376 |
Filed Date | 2001-09-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20010024061 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Ichikawa, Takashi ; et
al. |
September 27, 2001 |
Wheel cover
Abstract
A plurality of elastic, deformable fixing pieces (22) the front
end (22a) of each of which is engaged with a second curved concave
part (16) of a rim (14), are disposed on the reverse side (21a) of
a cover body (21) made of synthetic resin, and a plurality of
engagement convex parts (23) that are engaged with engagement holes
(26) of the fixing piece (22), respectively, and maintain a state
in which the fixing pieces (22) are curved are disposed on the
reverse side (21a) thereof. Each fixing piece (22) and each
engagement convex part (23) that are the fixing means of the wheel
cover (20) are formed integrally with the cover body (21) made of
synthetic resin, and all the wheel cover (20) is made of synthetic
resin, and therefore recyclability can be improved. Additionally,
since other members, such as wire rings, are not needed, weight
saving can be achieved.
Inventors: |
Ichikawa, Takashi; (Aichi,
JP) ; Mizutani, Toshinobu; (Aichi, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS
1800 M STREET NW
WASHINGTON
DC
20036-5869
US
|
Assignee: |
KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOKAI RIKA DENKI
SEISAKUSHO
|
Family ID: |
18600376 |
Appl. No.: |
09/793591 |
Filed: |
February 27, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
301/37.36 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60B 7/02 20130101; B60B
7/008 20130101; B60B 7/063 20130101; B60B 7/08 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
301/37.36 |
International
Class: |
B60B 007/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 24, 2000 |
JP |
P.2000-083806 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A wheel cover comprising: a cover body made of synthetic resin
disposed on a disk wheel of an vehicle to cover a side face of the
disk wheel; a plurality of elastic deformable fixing pieces formed
integrally with the cover body engaged with a rim of the disk
wheel; a plurality of engagement portions provided with the
plurality of fixing pieces, respectively; and a plurality of
engagement parts formed integrally with the cover body for keeping
the plurality of fixing pieces bent by engagement with the
plurality of engagement portions.
2. The wheel cover according to claim 1, wherein the engagement
portion forms an engagement hole, the engagement part forms an
engagement convex part to be inserted into the engagement hole.
3. The wheel cover according to claim 2, wherein a large diameter
part having a diameter larger than a diameter of the engagement
hole is formed at an end of the engagement convex part.
4. The wheel cover according to claim 1, wherein the engagement
portion is formed at an intermediate part of the fixing piece.
5. The wheel cover according to claim 1, wherein an intermediate
part of the fixing piece is formed thinner than the other part of
the fixing piece.
6. The wheel cover according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of
fixing pieces and the plurality of engagement parts are formed on a
face of the cover body opposed to the side face of the disk wheel.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Technical field
[0002] The present invention relates to a wheel cover in which a
fixing mechanism of fixing the wheel cover to a disk wheel of an
automobile is formed integrally with a wheel cover body.
[0003] 2. Related Art
[0004] Generally, a structure shown in FIG. 6 is known as a related
structure for mounting a wheel cover onto a disk wheel of an
automobile. In more detail, the wheel cover 1 is made of synthetic
resin. Engagement claws 3 (in the figure, only one claw is shown)
formed integrally with a cover body 2 of the wheel cover 1 are
disposed at plural positions in the circumferential direction at
the outer periphery of the back side of the cover body 2. Metallic
wire rings 4 are disposed at the radially inner side of the
engagement claws 3 in order to prevent the engagement claws 3 from
being deformed inwardly in the radial direction. An engagement
convex part 3a of the engagement claw 3 is engaged with a concave
part 6a of a rim 6 of the disk wheel 5.
[0005] However, the related structure is at a disadvantage in that,
since the structure is composed of the synthetic resinous wheel
cover 1 and the metallic wire rings 4, and they need to be sorted
out from each other when recycled, the related structure is
inferior in recyclability, and, since the metallic wire ring 4 is a
necessary component, weight saving is difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the
foregoing, and an object of the present invention is to provide a
wheel cover capable of improving recyclability and, in addition,
realizing weight saving.
[0007] In order to achieve the object, the wheel cover
comprising:
[0008] a cover body made of synthetic resin disposed on a disk
wheel of an vehicle to cover a side face of the disk wheel;
[0009] a plurality of elastic deformable fixing pieces formed
integrally with the cover body engaged with a rim of the disk
wheel;
[0010] a plurality of engagement portions provided with the
plurality of fixing pieces, respectively; and
[0011] a plurality of engagement parts formed integrally with the
cover body for keeping the plurality of fixing pieces bent by
engagement with the plurality of engagement portions.
[0012] In the above construction, preferably, the engagement
portion forms an engagement hole, the engagement part forms an
engagement convex part to be inserted into the engagement hole. A
large diameter part having a diameter larger than a diameter of the
engagement hole is formed at an end of the engagement convex part.
The engagement portion is formed at an intermediate part of the
fixing piece. An intermediate part of the fixing piece is formed
thinner than the other part of the fixing piece. The plurality of
fixing pieces and the plurality of engagement parts are formed on a
face of the cover body opposed to the side face of the disk
wheel.
[0013] In the above-mentioned structure, when the wheel cover is
mounted onto the disk wheel, each front end of the fixing pieces is
first engaged with the rim of the disk wheel in such a way as to
allow the cover body to cover the side face of the disk wheel.
Thereafter, the cover body is pressed against the disk wheel, so
that each engagement part of the cover body is engaged with the
corresponding engagement portion of the fixing piece. This
engagement enables the fixing piece to be kept bent. At this time,
the front end of each fixing piece presses against the rim because
of the elastic force of the fixing piece. The pressing force allows
the disk wheel to hold the wheel cover. In this case, since each
fixing piece is kept bent because of the engagement with the
engagement part, the wheel cover can maintain the state of being
fixed to the disk wheel without using other members such as wire
rings.
[0014] Additionally, since each fixing piece and each engagement
part that are the fixing mechanism of the wheel cover are formed
integrally with the cover body made of synthetic resin, and all of
the wheel cover is made of synthetic resin, recyclability can be
improved. Additionally, since other members, such as wire rings,
are not needed, weight saving can be realized.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0015] FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a main part of a wheel cover
fixed to a disk wheel, showing an embodiment of the present
invention.
[0016] FIG. 2 is a sectional view in which the disk wheel and the
wheel cover are separated.
[0017] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the wheel cover.
[0018] FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part of
the wheel cover.
[0019] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the main part of the wheel
cover that has not completely been fixed to the disk wheel yet.
[0020] FIG. 6 shows a related art, corresponding to FIG. 1.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0021] An embodiment of the present invention will be described
hereinafter with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 2, a disk wheel 11 has a structure in which
a metallic disk 12 to be attached to a vehicle and a metallic rim
14 on which a tire 13 is fixedly mounted are formed integrally with
each other.
[0023] The rim 14 has first and second curved concave parts 15, 16
and a curved convex part 17 along the whole periphery thereof. The
first and second curved concave parts 15, 16 are formed so that the
side of an inner surface 14b opposite to the side of an outer
surface 14a onto which the tire 13 is mounted is concave. The
curved convex part 17 is located between the first and second
curved concave parts 15, 16 and whose inner surface 14b is
convex.
[0024] As shown in FIG. 3, the wheel cover 20 is made of synthetic
resin and comprise: a cover body 21 shaped like a disk; a plurality
of fixing pieces 22 (six fixing pieces in this example) spaced out
evenly in the circumferential direction at the outer periphery of
the back side 21a of the cover body 21; and six engagement convex
parts 23 that are engagement parts disposed on the back side 21a of
the cover body 21 in correspondence with the respective fixing
pieces 22. The cover body 21, the fixing pieces 22, and the
engagement convex parts 23 are formed by integral molding.
[0025] The cover body 21 is shaped like a disk slightly larger than
the outline of the front end of the rim 14, and has a sufficient
size to cover the side face of the disk wheel 11. The cover body 21
has a plurality of openings 24. A so-called self-hinge 25 is formed
at the base of each fixing piece 22 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Each
fixing piece 22 is bent so that the front end 22a of the fixing
piece 22 is directed outwardly in the radial direction with the
self hinge 25 as a fulcrum. The front end 22a of the fixing piece
22 is curved so as to fit the second curved concave part 16 of the
end side of the rim 14 thereto. In the fixing piece 22, an
intermediate part 22b in the extending direction is formed to be
slightly thinner than the other part of the fixing piece 22 so as
to easily bend. The intermediate part 22b has a circular engagement
hole 26 that is the part to be engaged.
[0026] The engagement convex part 23 is designed to be disposed at
a position corresponding to the engagement hole 26 and be engaged
with the engagement hole 26 when the corresponding fixing piece 22
is bent as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 5. A large diameter part 23a
for preventing the convex part 23 from sliding out of the
engagement hole 26 is formed at the tip of the engagement convex
part 23.
[0027] In the above-mentioned structure, the wheel cover 20 is
mounted onto the disk wheel 11 as follows.
[0028] First, the wheel cover 20 is placed on the disk wheel 11
whose side face is directed upward. At this time, the front end 22a
of each fixing piece 22 of the wheel cover 20 is brought into
contact with the second curved concave part 16 of the rim 14 and is
engaged therewith (see FIG. 5). Thereafter, after confirming that
the front ends 22a of all the fixing pieces 22 are evenly engaged
with the second curved concave parts 16 of the rim 14, the cover
body 21 is pressed against the disk wheel 11 (see arrow A of FIG.
5). As a result, the front end 22a of the fixing piece 22 is
pressed against the inner surface of the second curved concave part
16 of the rim 14 (see arrow B of FIG. 1), and, accordingly, the
intermediate part 22b of the fixing piece 22 is elastically bent so
as to project toward the cover body 21, and the engagement convex
part 23 is inserted into the engagement hole 26 and is engaged
therewith (see FIG. 1). This engagement allows the fixing piece 22
to maintain the state of being curved.
[0029] At this time, the front end 22a of the fixing piece 22 is in
a state of pressing against the inner surface 14a of the rim 14
because of the elastic force of each fixing piece 22, and the wheel
cover 20 is held by the disk wheel 11 because of this pressing
force of each fixing piece 22. In this case, since each fixing
piece 22 can maintain the state of being curved by the engagement
between the engagement convex part 23 and the engagement hole 26,
the wheel cover 20 can maintain the state of being fixed to the
disk wheel 11 without using other members such as wire rings.
[0030] Since the fixing piece 22 and the engagement convex part 23
that are the fixing means of the wheel cover 20 are formed
integrally with the cover body 21 made of synthetic resin,
respectively, and all the wheel cover 20 is made of synthetic
resin, recyclability can be improved. Additionally, since other
members, such as wire rings, are not needed, and weight saving can
be achieved.
[0031] As described above, according to the present invention,
since each fixing piece serving as a fixing means of the wheel
cover presses against the rim while being curved, and maintains the
curved state by the engagement with the engagement convex part, the
wheel cover can maintain the state of being fixed to the disk wheel
without using other members such as wire rings. Additionally, since
the fixing piece and the engagement part each serving as a fixing
means of the wheel cover are formed integrally with the cover body
made of synthetic resin, and all the wheel cover is made of
synthetic resin, recyclability can be improved. Additionally, since
other members, such as wire rings, are not needed, weight saving
can be achieved.
* * * * *