Semi-pneumatic tire
First Claim
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1. A semi-pneumatic tire body for assembly to the rim of a wheel, comprising:
- an annular, ground-engaging tire tread portion;
an annular, rim-engaging tire root portion spaced apart from said tread portion in generally radial alignment therewith;
laterally spaced sidewalls connecting said tread portion and said root portion to define annular, closed cavity means therebetween; and
an annular, load-bearing rib confluent with one of said tire tread portion and said tire root portion and extending radially toward the other of said tire portions and into said cavity means to divide said cavity means into lateral chambers, said rib having a base element and a narrower tip element connected to said base element, detached from said other tire portion and normally spaced apart from the inner wall of said other tire portion in the unloaded state to establish substantially continuous communication between said lateral chambers for free gaseous interchange and said rib having a height substantially equal to the radial extent of said sidewalls whereby to support said other tire portion in the loaded state.
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Abstract
A semi-pneumatic tire body for assembly to the rim of a wheel comprises spaced tread and root portions interconnected with spaced sidewalls to define an annular cavity. An annular load-bearing rib is connected to the root portion and extends radially toward the tread portion to be normally spaced apart from the tread portion in the unloaded state in order to establish communication between the internal chambers of the tire for free gaseous interchange and for free response of the tire to load forces.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A semi-pneumatic tire body for assembly to the rim of a wheel, comprising:
- an annular, ground-engaging tire tread portion;
an annular, rim-engaging tire root portion spaced apart from said tread portion in generally radial alignment therewith;
laterally spaced sidewalls connecting said tread portion and said root portion to define annular, closed cavity means therebetween; and
an annular, load-bearing rib confluent with one of said tire tread portion and said tire root portion and extending radially toward the other of said tire portions and into said cavity means to divide said cavity means into lateral chambers, said rib having a base element and a narrower tip element connected to said base element, detached from said other tire portion and normally spaced apart from the inner wall of said other tire portion in the unloaded state to establish substantially continuous communication between said lateral chambers for free gaseous interchange and said rib having a height substantially equal to the radial extent of said sidewalls whereby to support said other tire portion in the loaded state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
- an annular, ground-engaging tire tread portion;
Specification