A wheel assembly may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle, and an outer rim surrounding the inner rim. The wheel assembly may also include gas springs operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim and permitting relative movement therebetween. The wheel assembly may also include a rigid inboard cover ring coupled to an inboard side of the outer rim and extending radially inward toward the inner rim. A flexible inboard seal may be coupled between the rigid inboard cover ring and the inner rim.

A wheel assembly to be coupled to a hub of a vehicle may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle and an outer rim surrounding the hub. The wheel assembly may also include gas springs operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim to provide a gas suspension for relative movement between the inner rim and the outer rim. The wheel assembly may also include a disk coupled to the inner rim. The wheel assembly may also include inboard lateral stops carried by an inboard interior surface of the outer rim, and outboard lateral stops carried by an outboard interior surface of the outer rim so that the inboard lateral stops and the outboard lateral stops cooperate to limit relative lateral movement of the disk and the outer rim.

A wheel assembly to be coupled to a hub of a vehicle may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle and an outer rim surrounding the hub. The wheel assembly may also include gas springs operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim. At least one gas spring may have a controllable operating response.

A wheel assembly to be coupled to a hub of a vehicle may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle and an outer rim surrounding the inner rim. The wheel assembly may include gas springs operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim and tread assemblies carried by the outer rim.

A wheel assembly to be coupled to a hub of a vehicle may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle, and an outer rim surrounding the hub. The wheel assembly may also include gas springs operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim to provide a gas suspension for relative movement between the inner rim and the outer rim. The wheel assembly may also include a disk coupled to the inner rim and defining a closeable gap with adjacent interior portions of the outer rim to define a mechanical stop to limit relative movement of the inner rim and outer rim.

A wheel assembly may include an inner rim to be coupled to the hub of the vehicle, and an outer rim surrounding the inner rim. Gas springs may be operatively coupled between the inner rim and the outer rim and permitting relative movement therebetween. The wheel assembly may also include a sensor configured to sense the relative movement between the inner and outer rims.

An annular tire sleeve is provided for being installed onto a tire for skid avoidance training. The sleeve has a low friction tread on the exterior surface for making contact with the road and an array of studs on the interior surface for engaging and securing the sleeve to the tire. The studs project out from the interior surface to form a point. A flange is integrally formed from an outside edge of the sleeve extending radially inward to maintain the sleeve on the tire shoulder during a skid.

The innovation presented herein provides among its embodiments, a non-pneumatic structure such as a vehicle tire, consisting of a matrix of shape memory alloy (SMA) elements. The interlocking layering pattern provides geometries which leverage the SMA material properties to accomplish performance characteristics of traditional pneumatic structures across a spectrum of possible desired uses including normal personal use, recreational use, sport use and commercial use. Embodiments include applying structural design and material properties to provide a fixed or a variable set of performance characteristics. Similar to the fruits of other space program initiatives, the innovation leverages material science developed for extra-terrestrial purposes to accomplish advances over conventional items.

Expanded rubber articles and processes for making such, comprising: partially curing an expandable rubber formulation by heating it in a first mould cavity to form a moulded blank; releasing the moulded blank from the first mould cavity and allowing the moulded blank to expand to form an expanded moulded blank; and further curing and expanding the expanded moulded blank by heating it to form the expanded rubber article comprising an expanded rubber part, wherein the expanded moulded blank is heated in a second mould cavity. Optionally, the expanded moulded blank is contacted with a further rubber formulation and a substrate comprising a base material and an elastomer bonding layer in the second mould cavity to form an expanded rubber article additionally comprising a solid rubber part and a substrate.

A pneumatic tire includes: a protrusion portion projecting outward in a tire lateral direction disposed in a buttress portion; and a linear portion with a linear shape when viewed in a tire meridian cross section, the linear portion constituting a surface of the protrusion portion at a position inward in a tire radial direction from a corner portion, the corner portion being an end portion of the protrusion portion outward in the tire lateral direction; the corner portion being located within a retreading development width position, which is a range in the tire radial direction in which a boundary for removing a tread when retreading is located; and the linear portion having an angle ranging from 45 to 90 with respect to a horizontal line parallel with a tire rotation axis at a position inward of the linear portion in the tire lateral direction.