Wheel having a sinusoidal circumference

Abstract

A circular wheel is aligned in a rotational plane and has a peripheral outfacing surface symmetrical about the plane of rotational. A center line of the width of the peripheral outfacing surface is sinusoidal around the wheel. The wheel may have a central hub, a rim, a medial wheel structure between the hub and the rim, and a tire mounted on the rim. The outfacing surface may be that of the hub, the medial wheel structure, the rim, or the tire depending on the application.

Claims

1. A vehicular wheel for axial load bearing and load transfer to a supporting surface, said vehicular wheel has a wheel width, an axis of rotation, and orthogonal thereto, a plane of symmetry, said vehicular wheel comprising: a single peripheral surface encircling said axis of rotation, wherein said peripheral surface is sinusoidally and symmetrically divergent about said plane of symmetry in plural sinusoidal cycles, having a constant sinusoidal amplitude peak and a constant sinusoidal period; wherein, said peripheral surface is convex across a width of said peripheral surface, and is spaced apart from said plane of symmetry at each sinusoidal amplitude peak by a space equal to one-half of said width of said peripheral surface.

2. The vehicular wheel of claim 1 wherein said peripheral surface width is equal to one-third of a full width of said wheel width.

3. The vehicular wheel of claim 1 wherein a structure supporting said peripheral surface has spokes, wherein said spokes are aligned with said plane of symmetry.

4. The vehicular wheel of claim 1 wherein a structure supporting said peripheral surface is disc shaped.

5. A pair of vehicular wheels for axial load bearing and load transfer to a supporting surface, wherein each one of said wheels has a wheel width, an axis of rotation, and orthogonal thereto, planes a plane of symmetry, said vehicular wheels each comprising: a single peripheral surface encircling said axis of rotation, wherein said peripheral surface is sinusoidally and symmetrically divergent about said plane of symmetry in plural sinusoidal cycles, having a constant sinusoidal amplitude peak and a constant sinusoidal period; wherein, said peripheral surface has is convex across a width of said peripheral surface, and is spaced apart from said plane of symmetry at each sinusoidal amplitude peak by a space equal to one-half of said width of said peripheral surface.

6. The vehicular wheels of claim 5 wherein each, said peripheral surface width is equal to one-third of said wheel width.

7. The vehicular wheels of claim 5 wherein at least one wheel of said pair of vehicular wheels has a spoked structure supporting said peripheral surface, wherein said spoked structure comprises spokes wherein said spokes are aligned with said plane of symmetry.

8. The vehicular wheels of claim 5 wherein at least one wheel of said pair of vehicular wheels has a disk structure supporting said peripheral surface.

9. The vehicular wheels of claim 5 wherein said sinusoidal amplitude peaks of said wheels are rotationally aligned and spaced apart by said width of said peripheral surface.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Embodiments of the described apparatus are illustrated only as examples in the figures of the accompanying drawing sheets wherein the same reference numeral refers to the same element as it may appear in multiple figures and drawing sheets.

(2) FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of a bicycle according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a front elevation view showing a wheel thereof in simplified form;

(4) FIG. 3A is a perspective view of an automobile according to the invention;

(5) FIG. 3B is a perspective view of a further wheel according to the invention;

(6) FIG. 4 is a side elevation view of the wheel of FIG. 3A; and

(7) FIGS. 5-7 are front elevation views of wheels shown in simplified form according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) The presently described apparatus is a novel wheel, generically 10 as shown in FIGS. 5-7. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a vehIcle (bicycle) 11A that may be driven on a pavement 3. In one embodiment wheel 10, referred to by reference number 10-1, may have a central hub 12, used to mount wheel 10-1 onto an axle 14 as shown in FIG. 2. In FIGS. 1 and 3B it is shown that a medial wheel structure 18-1 and 18-1 respectively may be an array of radial spokes 11 or 11. In a second embodiment, shown in FIG. 4, wheel 10, referred to by reference number 10-2, may include a rim 13, which may have a tire 16 mounted on it, and also may have a medial wheel structure 18-2 for securing rim 13 to hub 12 for load transfer therebetween. Wheel 10 may have an outfacing peripheral surface 15, forming a circumference of wheel 10 which may be the surface of a tire 16 as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. In some embodiments of wheel 10, outfacing peripheral surface 15 may be that of rim 13 while in other embodiments, outfacing peripheral surface 15 may be that of medial wheel structure 18-2 or of hub 12. Clearly, it should be understood that whatever is presented as the outfacing peripheral surface of wheel 10 it will be in contact with pavement 3. For instance, hub 12 may have an appropriate diameter for wheels 10 used in applications such as roller skates and skate boards. A wheel 10 according to the invention may be configured in any of the aforementioned embodiments and others as those of skill may contrive in accordance with the following claims, and all such configurations will have an outfacing peripheral surface 15 which rolls on pavement 3. As shown in FIG. 3A, two or more wheels 10-2 may be mounted abreast for improved load carrying. As can be seen in FIG. 3A, the adjacent vehicular wheels 10-2 may be rotationally aligned so that their sinusoidal amplitude peaks and other configurational features are aligned and close nested, that is, spaced apart by the width 8 of peripheral surface 15 as shown in FIG. 6. In FIG. 3A vehicle 11B may be driven on pavement 3 and also may be driven as a water-borne or amphibious craft, and it has been found that the shape of wheel 10-2 as shown with a solid medial wheel structure 18-2 can provide significant thrust to vehicle 11B for propelling it through water. This is especially true when side-by-side wheels 10-2 are mounted close together as shown in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3B illustrates wheel 10-1 in an embodiment where spokes 11 are positioned or aligned with the inflection points a of the sinusoidal variation of peripheral surface 15, that is, spokes 11 are aligned with plane of symmetry 5. This has two advantages; first, greater wheel strength in carrying loads since loads applied to hub 12 are vectored directly to peripheral surface 15 rather than at a non-aligned angle whereby only a component of a load is vectored directly to peripheral surface 15. One of skill will understand that the latter is suboptimal in a wheel where the point of contact of wheel 10 with pavement 3 is positioned to one side of plane of symmetry 5 multiple times during each wheel rotation. A second benefit is that wind resistance to forward rotational movement of wheel 10-1 is reduced since each spoke 11 breaks wind for each next spoke because all spokes move in common plane of symmetry 5.

(9) Generally, wheels used in commerce and for recreation are circular and a centerline of their outfacing peripheral surface lies fully in and aligned with their plane of rotation.

(10) Although wheel 10 is circular as may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, the outfacing peripheral surface 15 does not coincide with, and is not aligned with, plane of symmetry 5 as seen in FIGS. 5-7. The axis of rotation of wheel 10 is represented by line 6. Center line 7 represents the geometric center of outfacing peripheral surface 15. Center line 7 is a curve taking a sinusoidal path around the circumference of wheel 10 as is shown in FIGS. 5-7. Therefore, it is shown that outfacing peripheral surface 15, 15, 15 varies laterally around the circumference of wheel 10, 10, 10 veering to the left and to the right of plane of symmetry 5. Sinusoidal centerline 7 may have a constant sinusoidal period and sinusoidal amplitude, and this results in a consistently smooth ride when rolling on a smooth pavement 3. FIG. 6, shows that wheel 10 has a width 9 that is wider than outfacing peripheral surface 15 which has a width 8 and it has been found by extensive experimentation that a ratio of wheel width 9 to outfacing peripheral surface 8 is optimally 3. In this case, a wheel 10 with said ratio of 3 will have less rolling drag due to the relatively narrow width 8 of outfacing peripheral surface 15, and yet it will have nearly the same braking friction and rolling stability as a conventional wheel with no sinusoidal variation.

(11) It should be clear that in order to reduce rolling drag width 8 of outfacing peripheral surface 15 should be reduced and to increase braking friction and wheel stability wheel width 9 should be increased. Because these two variables are under the control of the manufacturer opportunities exist for improved rolling characteristics of wheel 10 in various applications. For instance, it has been found through experimentation that when a wheel is made in accordance with this invention having an even number of plural sinusoidal periods, improved operational characteristics are achieved.

(12) In the foregoing description, embodiments are described as a plurality of individual parts, and this is solely for the sake of illustration. Accordingly, it is contemplated that some additional parts or steps may be added, some parts or steps may be changed or omitted, and the order of the parts or steps may be re-arranged, while maintaining the sense and understanding of the apparatus and methods as claimed.