Abstract: In a process for the forming of wheel rims in metal alloy, a cast blank undergoes a cold chip removal process by cutting its central area, its inner surface and its lateral surface in order to obtain a semi-finished work which is then heated and plastically deformed by flow forming along its lateral surface to obtain an inner edge, an outer edge and a middle portion with a defined machine allowance; the rim thus obtained undergoes another cold chip removal process by cutting in order to work it down to the required size; the latter process may be preceded by solution and age hardening heat treatments.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
September 23, 1996
Date of Patent:
June 30, 1998
Assignee:
Reynolds Wheels S.p.A.
Inventors:
Valter Baldi, David J. Edwards, deceased
Abstract: The semifinished casting for an alloy road wheel undergoes three successive machining operations in which material is removed by stages to produce an inner circumferential seating, destined ultimately to accommodate one bead of a tire, a center hole coaxial both with the inner seating and with the axis of rotation of the wheel, also a set of fixing holes of which the axes describe a circle centered on the axis of rotation, and finally, an outer circumferential seating destined to accommodate the remaining bead of the tire, which is offset from the axis of rotation in such a way as to achieve a non-uniform distribution of mass, limited to the part of wheel affording the outer circumferential seating, that varies progressively with the change in angular position around the axis of rotation between a maximum and a minimum value.
Abstract: The semifinished casting for an alloy road wheel undergoes three successive machining operations in which material is removed by stages to produce an inner circumferential seating, destined ultimately to accommodate one bead of a tire, a center hole coaxial both with the inner seating and with the axis of rotation of the wheel, also a set of fixing holes of which the axes describe a circle centered on the axis of rotation, and finally, an outer circumferential seating destined to accommodate the remaining bead of the tire, which is offset from the axis of rotation in such a way as to achieve a non-uniform distribution of mass, limited to the part of wheel affording the outer circumferential seating, that varies progressively with the change in angular position around the axis of rotation between a maximum and a minimum value.
Abstract: Molten metal is either poured or injected into the cavity of a permanent mold by way of a bush which comprises a metal sleeve, anchored to the mold itself, a first tubular element of ceramic material lodged internally of the sleeve, and a second tubular element, also ceramic, coaxial with the first. The stream of metal passes from a feeder into the inlet end of the bush, through the first and then the second ceramic element, and enters the cavity ultimately from an outlet end consisting of a metal annular element connected in a precise and effectively fluid-tight fit with the corresponding end of the second tubular element.