Abstract: A wheel bearing assembly including a modular wheel hub that can be utilized for both passive and driven wheel hub applications with the insertion of a wheel hub bore modification body. The wheel hub is rotatably mounted to a vehicle using a wheel bearing and knuckle arrangement, the wheel bearing comprising an inner ring, outer ring and rolling elements between the rings.

Abstract: A hub assembly includes a retainer housing, a retaining member, a biasing element, and an occlusion. The retainer housing includes a wheel mounting sleeve and a pin sleeve. The wheel mounting sleeve includes an axle bore configured to receive an axle. The pin sleeve has a first end and a second end. The pin sleeve includes a conduit between the first end and the second end. The first end is in fluid communication with the axle bore. The retaining member and the biasing element are in the conduit. The retaining member is configured to engage a groove in an axle. The biasing element is configured to bias the retaining member towards the axle bore. The occlusion is proximate to the second end of the pin sleeve. The occlusion is configured to inhibit the retaining member from exiting the conduit at least prior to coupling the hub assembly to a wheel.

Abstract: A wheel assembly with a debris guard is disclosed, the debris guard being configured to prevent hair and thread from winding around an axle and interfering with the operation of the wheel. The debris guard, which is mounted between the wheel and the robot chassis, comprises a spool and a plurality of tines. The spool is positioned between the wheel and chassis to collect debris that would otherwise wind around the axle. In the preferred embodiment, the tines are arrayed in proximity to a gap between the debris guard and the hub in order to inhibit debris from migrating to the axle exposed between the guard and wheel. The debris guard is intended for a wide variety of wheeled devices.

Abstract: A wheel-balancing weight mounts to a wheel with a flange. The weight includes a body and a clip. The body is stamped by a punch to define a pocket within which an attaching portion of the clip resides. The defined pocket has a planar base and opposing side walls generally perpendicular to the base. The body as stamped by the punch includes a pre-stake for each side wall external to the pocket and adjacent the side wall, and an undercut for each side wall within the pocket and generally located at a juncture of the side wall and the base.

Abstract: A connecting element serves to connect a flanged ring of a hub-bearing unit to a wheel or a suspension standard of a motor vehicle. The connecting element has an overall crown-like shape and forms, in a single piece, an annular portion and a plurality of parallel, equally angularly spaced pin portions which extend protruding axially from a same side of the annular portion and each have a threaded section.

Abstract: A non-pneumatic tire for supporting a load by working in tension comprising a generally annular inner surface, a generally annular outer ring, and an interconnected web having a plurality of web elements and comprising a plurality of generally polygonal openings. Web elements are sized, oriented and comprised of a material that facilitates buckling when subjected to a compressive load. By buckling, those elements in a deformed portion of the tire between a hub and a footprint region where the tire contacts a surface may assume a significantly reduced portion of the load, if any. This causes web elements in other portions of the interconnected web to operate in tension to support the load. With the portion of the tire in the footprint region not bearing a significant portion of the load, non-pneumatic tire may exhibit a more comfortable ride subject to less noise and vibration and improved handling capabilities.

Abstract: A wheel assembly includes a rim, a rib surrounding and radially spaced apart from the rim, and a resilient member that engages the rib. The resilient member is tied to the rim, such that the rim is resiliently held in relation to the round rib at least in part by tension in the resilient member.

Abstract: An air maintenance tire and pump assembly includes an elongate annular air passageway enclosed within a bending region of a tire, the air passageway operatively closing and opening segment by segment as the bending region of the tire passes through a rolling tire footprint to pump air along the air passageway. A pair of inline valves are positioned on respective opposite sides of an inlet junction and direct a flow of inlet air in opposite directions into the air passageway; and a pair of outlet valves are positioned at a downstream side of a respective inline valve and direct a flow of the inlet air from the downstream side of a respective inline valve toward the tire cavity. The valves are selectively opened by a direction of air flow within the air passageway which, in turn, is directionally determined by the direction in which the tire rotates.

Abstract: An improved vehicle wheel, including a rim, a hub with a central axle and an outer flange, a plurality of spokes extending between the rim and hub and a connecting element connected to at least one of the spokes. The spoke is a generally slender element with a longitudinal axis with a span portion between the rim and hub and a tensile axis of applied tensile load along the span portion. At least one of said rim and hub constitutes a bracing element. The connecting element includes an external surface and an internal cavity with an internal surface adjacent said spoke. The connecting element is joined to the spoke by means of a crimped joinder such that said external surface is pressed inwardly to plastically deform said connecting element to displace the internal surface toward the spoke. The crimped joinder supports tensile load through an engagement interface.

Abstract: A roller for a tracked vehicle has a lubricating oil reservoir and an open end to the lubricating oil reservoir. The open end of the roller is closed by a cap removably coupled to the open end. The cap is a sealing body having an outer side facing away from the open end, an opposed inner side facing toward the open end, and a standoff structure formed in the inner side. A compressible gasket is applied between the inner side of the cap and the open end and is under a compression between the inner side of the cap and the open end of the roller forming a fluid-impervious seal between the cap and the open end of the roller. The standoff structure of the cap interacts between the cap and the open end holding the cap away from the open end limiting the compression of the gasket.

Abstract: A wheel assembly includes a fixed axle spindle, a rotating drive shaft extending inside the axle spindle, a bearing, a hub, a brake disc, and a wheel rim. An inner ring of the bearing is mounted on the spindle, the hub is mounted on an outer ring of the bearing and the drive shaft, the brake disc and the rim are fast in rotation with the hub. The drive shaft is mounted on the hub, the brake disc is mounted on the drive shaft and the rim is mounted on the brake disc, in that order, from an interior side to an exterior side of the wheel assembly with respect to a vehicle provided with said wheel assembly.

Abstract: An axle for removably retaining a wheel on a vehicle. The axle comprises a rotary-type connector at a first end thereof; a cam assembly operatively connected to the second end, the cam assembly including a cam having an axis of rotation; a lever operatively connected to a second end of the axle, said lever being rotatable about an axis substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the cam, between an open position in which the axle is removable from and mountable on the vehicle and a closed position in which the axle is retained on the vehicle; and a cam assembly operatively connected to the second end; and a lever stop ensuring that an angle of maximum rotation for the lever from the closed position is less than 180 degrees.

Abstract: A wheel for a vehicle includes a hub, a rim, a plurality of spokes, and a disk member. The hub includes a flange portion, a plurality of spoke pedestals, and a plurality of disk member attaching portions. The flange portion outwardly spreads in a radial direction of the hub and is provided on one end portion of the hub in an axial direction of the hub. The spoke pedestals are provided at substantially regular intervals on an inner side of the flange portion and inwardly projects from the flange portion in the radial direction. The disk member attaching portions are provided at substantially regular intervals on an outer periphery of the flange portion and outwardly projects from the flange portion in the radial direction. The disk member attaching portions are provided between the spoke pedestals in a circumferential direction of the flange portion.

Abstract: A wheel including a tire and a rim wherein the tire includes: a pair of beads, each of the beads being provided with a base, wherein the rim includes a pair of axially outer flanges defining respective bead housing seats, each of the bead housing seats including a base portion, and wherein the base of at least one of the beads and the base portion of the respective bead housing seat are mutually coupled by means of at least one mechanical coupling element, wherein the mechanical coupling element is provided with parts and has a length greater than its width, the length being lower than the circumference of the tire measured at the base of the bead and the width being lower than the axial width of the base of the bead and of the base portion of the respective bead housing seat.

Abstract: A rim for a bicycle having a rim body including a rim well and a rim base and rim flanks connecting the rim base and the rim well wherein the rim flanks and the rim base consist of a fibrous composite material. A minimum wall thickness of the rim flanks is thinner in one radial region than in another radial region. The rim body is bulbous in cross-section. A maximum height from the rim base to the rim well is less than 1.5 times and in particular less than 1.2 times the maximum width.

Abstract: A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube connected to a tire and defining an air passageway, the air tube being composed of a flexible material operative to allow an air tube segment opposite a tire footprint to flatten, closing the passageway, and resiliently unflatten into an original configuration. The air tube is sequentially flattened by the tire footprint in a direction opposite to a tire direction of rotation to pump air along the passageway to an inlet device for exhaust from the passageway or to an outlet device for direction into the tire cavity.

Abstract: A device for maintaining a desired inflation pressure within a tire mounted on a wheel of a vehicle which includes a flexible compression chamber and a magnetic element not on the wheel. As the compressor passes the magnet each wheel revolution, a small amount of atmospheric air is pumped into the tire, if needed. The magnet and the compressor need no other contact with the vehicle or the wheel and require no energy source on the wheel.

Abstract: A locking wheel useful for wheels on small vehicles. The locking wheel fits over a shaft and has a bore for receiving the end of the shaft. An outer member is connected to and spaced from the hub. A finger is adjacent to the bore and has a protrusion that extends into the bore. The finger is resilient and movable between a first and second position. The first position has the protrusion protruding into the bore and the second position has the protrusion outside of the bore with the finger being bent radially outward. The shaft has a notch or hole that receives the finger's protrusion. A locking device may selectively be placed between the outer member and the hub to prevent the finger from moving into its second position, thereby locking the hub onto the shaft.

Abstract: A pneumatic tire assembly includes a tire, a filter element disposed between a pneumatic cavity and atmosphere. The filter element has threads for securing to the pneumatic tire. First and second sidewalls extend respectively from first and second tire bead regions to a tire tread region. The first sidewall has a bending region operatively bending when radially within a rolling tire footprint. A sidewall groove defines groove walls positioned within the bending region of the first tire sidewall. The sidewall groove deforms in response to bending of the bending region of the first sidewall while radially within the rolling tire footprint. An air passageway is defined by the sidewall groove and deforms when radially within the rolling tire footprint.

Abstract: A guard for a crawler type land vehicles having a frame, a final drive on each side of the frame, the final drive including a spindle housing with a flange bolted to the frame and a sprocket hub rotationally supported on the spindle housing, a track sprocket on the sprocket hub, the spindle housing and hub establishing a small gap to form a mechanical shield to protect a rotational seal within the space enclosed by the spindle housing and sprocket hub, the guard being adapted to be assembled radially outward of the mechanical shield, the guard having a circular shell member for bolting to an inside face of the sprocket hub and extending axially in one piece across substantially all of the distance between the spindle flange and the sprocket hub, the guard shell having an internal circumferential groove, a circular radial flange for mounting in the space between the spindle flange and the sprocket hub, the guard shell being diametrally split whereby it can be radially assembled around the spindle flange with t