The present invention regards a group for supporting and tightening a rim of or for a tired wheel, and such group includes a base, a wheel-holder table, an upright or column projecting upward from the base and supporting at the top the wheel-holder table, a shaft or pin mounted in or alongside the upright or column, a sleeve element or ring nut element constrainable or mountable on the shaft or pin and means for the relative movement of the shaft or pin and of the table.

The present invention regards a tightening group for a rim of or for a tired wheel including a base, a main wheel-holder or rim-holder plate or table and at least three jaws or jaw or gripper components.

There is provided a tire-mounting/removing robot capable of automatically grasping a spent or used tire in which a tire wheel is mounted, a tire-mounting/removing system in which the tire wheel can be automatically removed from and mounted in the spent or used tire in which the tire wheel is mounted by using this tire-mounting/removing robot, and a tire-gripping head used in the tire-mounting/removing robot and the tire-mounting/removing system. Hand portions that grasp a tire or a tire wheel, and mechanisms that open and close the hand portions are provided. The hand portion includes a claw portion in an end portion of the hand portion, and this claw portion includes a first claw portion to be locked onto an edge portion of a rim of the tire wheel to grasp the tire wheel or a tire wheel-mounted tire in which this tire wheel is mounted, and a second claw portion to be locked onto a bead portion of a tire wheel-non-mounted tire to grasp the tire wheel-non-mounted tire.

A handling robot includes an articulated arm movable in three directions, which carries a gripper at its free end for gripping and holding pneumatic tires. The pneumatic tire is held on its running surface by the gripper, taken from a provision position and moved to an optional wetting station for wetting the pneumatic tire with lubricant. The wetted pneumatic tire is then moved to an assembly station with a clamping device for releasably holding a wheel rim, which comprises a handling device with an assembly head equipped with assembly tools that can be guided along between the tire bead and the wheel rim flange. Here, the pneumatic tire is mounted on the wheel rim by a coordinated movement of the handling robot and the assembly head.

A mount and demount head configured as a housing affixed to a shaft of an OEM tire machine with a semicircular shaped shaft affixed to the housing. The shaft has a bulbous protrusion on a bottom end of the shaft with specific tapers. The shaft and the bulbous end have a flattened portion for following the contour of the rim. On the upper side of the bulbous end is the narrow semicircular shaft with a tapered top end, tapered to a widened shaft, which is affixed to the housing. A non-metallic insert is preferably inserted into a void in the flattened portion of the narrow semicircular shaft and bulbous end to protect the rim surface. Clamp adapters are used to clamp and hold small wheel assemblies whereby the clamp adapters are inserted over the OEM clamps to extend the clamp capability of the OEM tire machine.

A jaw (1) for clamping a wheel rim comprises a body (2) extending along a longitudinal orientation (L). The body (2) includes: a connecting portion (22) configured to be connected to the head of the wheel-holder unit; a base portion (21) extending along the longitudinal orientation (L); a first abutment wall (23) extending from the base portion (21) along a clamping orientation (R); a second abutment wall (24) extending from the base portion (21) along the clamping orientation (R) in a spacing-apart direction (VA) and longitudinally spaced from the first abutment wall (23) by a working distance (DL); an abutment surface (251), longitudinally interposed between the first abutment surface (23) and the second abutment surface (24) and including a first portion (251A) and a second portion (251B, 251C), disposed at an advanced position relative to the first portion (251A) in the spacing-apart direction (VA) of the clamping orientation (R) to come into contact with the wheel rim. The second portion is spaced from the first abutment wall (23) along the longitudinal orientation (L) by a first abutment distance (D1), greater than 30% of the working distance (DL).

A vertical tire changer with a double-sided tool and an overturning structure is provided. The vertical tire changer includes a pedal, a base, an operating platform, a pulley, a double-sided tool rotating structure, a small pressing wheel structure, a large pressing wheel structure, a lifting seat and a rotating chuck. A wheel hub is clamped above the rotating chuck so that the rotating chuck rotates to a horizontal position. The ends of the double-sided tool rotating structure are provided with a straight hook portion and a bent hook portion respectively. The straight hook portion is configured for tire mounting, and the bent hook portion is configured for tire dismounting. The small pressing wheel structure and the large pressing wheel structure can both be contracted and extended in the using process. The small pressing wheel structure and the large pressing wheel structure play an auxiliary supporting role.

A handling robot includes an articulated arm movable in three directions, which carries a gripper at its free end for gripping and holding pneumatic tires. The pneumatic tire is held on its running surface by the gripper, taken from a provision position and moved to an optional wetting station for wetting the pneumatic tire with lubricant. The wetted pneumatic tire is then moved to an assembly station with a clamping device for releasably holding a wheel rim, which comprises a handling device with an assembly head equipped with assembly tools that can be guided along between the tire bead and the wheel rim flange. Here, the pneumatic tire is mounted on the wheel rim by a coordinated movement of the handling robot and the assembly head.

A system for disassembling a tire-wheel assembly includes a dismount stand, a robot, a first assembly, and a second assembly. The robot is disposed adjacent to the dismount stand. The first assembly is configured to detachably connect to the robot and engage the tire-wheel assembly. The first assembly and the robot are configured to retrieve the tire-wheel assembly from an initial location and position the tire-wheel assembly on the dismount stand. The second assembly is detachably coupled to the robot and is configured to disengage a tire of the tire-wheel assembly from a wheel of the tire-wheel assembly.