A SAFETY DEVICE FOR VEHICLE WHEELS

Abstract

The present invention relates to a novel safety device for motor vehicles wheels, in particular a device for locking the wheel nuts, able to effectively prevent their rotation and consequent spontaneous unscrewing, which may cause serious accidents.

Claims

1. A device for locking the wheel nuts of motor vehicles, comprising two ring elements adapted to engage around said nuts and placed each on the opposite side with respect to an elongated body having adjustable length, said ring elements being connected to each other by said elongated body so that a ring element is free to rotate in any direction with respect to said elongated body, while a ring element is free to perform only a translational movement on a plane perpendicular to a central axis X of said ring element.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein said ring elements have an internal surface with grooves and reliefs parallel to a central axis X of said ring elements, which form a toothed inner surface suitable to grip said nuts.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein said elongated body is connected with its ends to said ring elements by means of their two hollow portions extending from an edge of the two respective ring elements, and comprises a first portion being a screw stud connected to said hollow portion of the element so that the elongated body can perform only a translational movement in the plane perpendicular to the axis central X of said ring element, and a second portion being a nut, intended for connection to said hollow portion of said ring element so that said element is free to rotate around the elongated body; said nut portion being connected via a thread to said screw stud, said connection allowing also the adjustment in the length of said elongated body by simply tightening the nut to shorten the body or unscrewing to increase the length.

4. The device according to claim 3, wherein said elongated body and said first screw stud portion are connected through an elastic plug pressure-inserted within said hollow portion and inserted in a special through hole at the proximal end of said screw.

5. The device according to claim 3, wherein said elongated body and said second nut portion are connected by means of a ball joint connection in which said portion has the proximal end to said ring element of rounded shape, inserted in said hollow portion.

6. The device according to claim 3, wherein said elongated body is further provided with a safety nut that is screwed on said screw stud portion after said nut portion to further block the screwing position reached, preventing any spontaneous unscrewing.

7. A method for locking the nuts of motor vehicle wheels, comprising mounting a device as defined in claim 1 on a pair of adjacent nuts by adjusting the length of said elongated body and positioning of said ring elements of the device to surround said pair of adjacent nuts.

8. The method according to claim 7, comprising mounting said devices in number of two and placed in a symmetrical manner so as not to alter the wheel balance.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The features and advantages of the safety device according to the present invention will be illustrated in the following exemplary and non-limiting description of embodiments thereof, with reference to the attached figures wherein:

[0015] the FIG. 1 shows a top view of an embodiment of the device of the invention;

[0016] the FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a wheel with two of the devices of the invention of FIG. 1, mounted on the wheel nuts;

[0017] the FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a wheel with four of the devices of the invention of FIG. 1, mounted the wheel nuts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] With reference to said figures, and in particular for now to the FIG. 1, the device 1 for locking wheel nuts according to the invention comprises two ring elements 2,3 adapted to engage around said nuts and placed each on the opposite side with respect to an elongated body 4 having adjustable length, that connects said ring elements, so that the ring element 3 is free to rotate in any directions with respect to the elongated body itself, while the other ring element 2 is connected to the elongated body 4 so that it is free to perform only a translational movement on a plane perpendicular to the central axis X of said ring element 2.

[0019] Typically, the ring elements 2,3 have an internal surface provided with grooves 5 and reliefs 6 parallel to a central axis X of each ring, which form a toothed inner surface, ideal to grip the sides of the wheel nuts, around which they have to engage. Also the inner diameter of each ring 2,3 is commensurate with the diameter of a nut for vehicle wheels, so that the present device can be positioned by surrounding two adjacent nuts with the two rings 2,3 of the device until the central axis X of the rings coincides with the axis of the nuts.

[0020] With reference to the embodiment illustrated in particular in FIG. 1, the elongated body 4 is connected with its ends to the two ring elements 2,3, by means of their two hollow portions 21,31 extending from an edge of the two respective ring elements. According to such preferred embodiment, the elongated body 4 comprises a first screw stud portion 42 connected to a hollow portion 21 of the element 2 so that the elongated body can perform only a translational movement on the plane perpendicular to the central axis X of the ring element 2; such connection is for instance accomplished by a pin 22 settled inside said hollow portion 21 and inserted in a suitable though hole at the proximal end of the screw 42; alternatively, such connection can be advantageously accomplished by an elastic plug, typically made of spring steel, able to be pressure-inserted inside said hollow portion 21 and in a special through hole at the proximal end of the screw 42. In such preferred embodiment, moreover, the elongated body 4 comprises a second nut portion 43, intended for the connection to a hollow portion 31 of the ring element 3 so that such element is free to rotate around the elongated body 4, for example by a spherical joint connection wherein said portion 43 has the end proximal to said ring element 3 of rounded shape, inserted in the hollow portion 31; the nut portion 43 is connected via a thread to the screw stud 42, such connection further allowing to easily adjust the length of the elongated body 4 by simply tightening the nut to shorten the body 4 or unscrewing it to increase the length.

[0021] According to a particularly preferred embodiment, the device of the invention further comprises on the elongated body 4 a safety nut 7 that, screwed subsequently on the nut portion 43 on the screw stud 42, blocks further the screwing position reached, preventing any spontaneous unscrewing for example due to vibrations.

[0022] Thanks to its particular structure, the present device is therefore suitable for use on pairs of nuts that are more or less distant between each other, with different inclinations and different positions of the nuts edges, and the mounting (and removing) operations of the device on any pair of nuts is particularly effortless. Once the ring elements 2,3 are positioned so as to surround a pair of adjacent nuts, by operating on the nut portion 43 of the elongated body 4, the length of the elongated body itself can be adjusted to tension the device, then the safety nut 7 is screwed until the nut portion 43 is blocked in this position. Whenever it is required to remove the device, the safety nut 7 can be simply unscrewed, if present, then unscrew the nut portion 43 extending the elongated body 4 to loosen the ring elements that, at this point, can be easily removed from the wheel nuts.

[0023] Following application of the device of the present invention on wheels of various type mounted on heavy vehicles, an excellent result was observed for the locking of wheel nuts even by application of just two devices of the invention on two pairs of adjacent nuts, without the need of applying the device on each nut or pair of nuts, as it is indeed necessary for the known devices; it is only preferable that the two devices are symmetrically positioned with respect to each other so that they do not weigh on the wheel balancing. In general, just because of the wheel balancing, it is preferable to mount an even number of devices on a same wheel, symmetrically positioned with respect to each other: for example, on a common configuration with ten nuts, two of the present devices can be mounted as illustrated in the attached FIG. 2, each device being mounted on a pair of adjacent nuts 8, the two pairs being placed on opposite sides so as to not create any weigh unbalancing, not even a minor unbalancing, on the wheel. Alternatively, on a configuration of this type, also four devices 1 can be mounted, as shown in FIG. 3, or five devices to cover all fastening nuts 8.

[0024] The connections of the ring elements 2,3 to the elongated body 4 can be accomplished also by means of different connections from the above described spherical joint connections and the screw stud connections, in accordance to what implementable by any person of ordinary skills in the art, provided that at least a ring element of the device is free to rotate with respect to the elongated body 4.

[0025] Suitable materials for the manufacture of the present device are in general the metal materials used for the mechanical structures. Amongst them there is steel, in particular the hardened steel.

[0026] The present invention therefore allows to overcome the problems involved in the manufacture of a device for locking nuts of vehicles wheels that is robust and relatively light, that allows an efficacious block of the nuts for a long time without requiring continuous checks and maintenance, that can be easily mounted and at the same time can be easily removed for a possible wheel replacement or for balancing operations or similar.

[0027] The present device is moreover manufactured substantially as a single piece thus avoiding any undesirable contacts between moving parts during use, and it may moreover easily interface with the parts to which it has to be connected, adapting to any kinds of tyre rims and wheels, without creating too much encumbrance or load on the wheel.

[0028] The present device was made with the aim of achieving an efficacious locking of the nuts of vehicles wheels and securing an adequate level of safety in particular for the vehicles for transporting people, without having to undergo continuous maintenance operations. The applicability of the device may be clearly not limited to the field of such vehicles, but it can be extended to all the fields wherein locking of fastening nuts is required.

[0029] The present invention has been described up to here with reference to preferred embodiments thereof. It should be understood that there can be other embodiments that derive from the same inventive core, all of which are covered by the scope of protection of the claims given hereafter.