Have heart it said several times, that it’s not possible to reinvent the wheel, and I would like your opinion about that, because I reckon it can be done, wouldn’t take mucg, surely ?
Just updating the question above, actually it’s a retorical question, because there is no dout in my mind that it is possible, and I should know because I manafed to do that not only one, but twice in a matter of minutes, which is why the fead of BMW has been on the phone several times recently, and will probably be on it again later today looking for more info and talking about his plans to prototype and test one of them soon , may not be your cup of tea, but will update again when I find out what’s going on.
A good idea, but as it stands, as far as I can see, there are problems with the attachment. You’ll have to convince the wheel manufacturers to incorporate the additional holes for your pins/bolts, or change your design. If BMW take it on board and patent it you will only have a one manufacturer market. But I’m sure you’ve already thought it through. Good luck!
Would be interested to know what prior art is there; ie. if anyone has bolted a wheel on top of another wheel before. If they have, the Patent Examiners will have a field day and throw this one out. I suppose the unique bit is the wheel being in multiple bits, like pizza slices, and somehow hanging together at speeds of up to 50kph. Of course, if it comes apart, the results might be pretty catastrophic, with a pizza slice of wheel jamming itself into the wheel well.
Why is BMW bothering with this at the moment; they don’t know yet if there is any IP worth protecting, until the searches have been completed?
Said before, you need to improve your keyboard skills. Its no longer dark.
A patent has been filed but not published I think, plus it only seems to be a patent through the Irish Patent Office, which I think confers Europe wide protection, but not world wide. the usual approach is to file with WIPO a PCT, to give a measure of worldwide protection. The fees start to rack up with the Examiner and national publication, and there are all sorts of different rules about disclosure. Presumably the OP is confident that his IPR is rock solid. On the face of it, protection has not been sought in China.
A safety concern would be the additional load on the original wheel bolts/lugs, as the mass is now moved outwards.
Would it even be legal as I imagine when fitted would stick out past the wheel arch? And what about the wheel catching on bumpers and wheelarches when turning?
There was a series on Channel 4 (?) some years ago about the Scilly Isles and a German lady vet moved into the community who insisted on calling everyone “Dude”. It really grated!
Temporary stick on or magnetic wheel arch extension if absolutely necessary, but really intended for emergency use, so wh’o gonna legislate against getting not only yourself, wife, kids, dog off the hard shoulder before they all get killed, no one !
Ut only has to be an inch or two wide so larger vehicles like SUV’S would not catch any wwhere I reckon, smaller cars, may heed extra room added to the arches a the front, can be factored into the production easy enough over time, and no way do connectors contact brake disc, all contained within the wheel that the spare assembly attaches too, but appreciate the question, thanks !
Thanks for that, all very good points, my attorney was once the chair of the Irish Patent Association, and have no doubt about his abilities, am already aware of the steps to be taken along the line and fully prepared for them, last chance to add to the patent is early next year, at which point it will almost certainly be both published and widely discovered by those who matter most to me, vehicle and wheel makers worldwide, anyway thanks for your replies, very nice of you !
Steering would be a bit hairy as well, if mounted to the front. Hopefully the lego interlocking bit is strong enough to cope with sideways forces.
The whole point of this invention is to provide a solution to fitting a spare wheel without use of a jack. You fit one half of the wheel, then roll the car forward a little, to enable the other part to be fitted. The construction of the wheel, not the rubber material used in the “tyre” are not really defined. But there is an easier way. If you have a way to fit a wheel to another wheel (and I have a feeling this has been done before), where through these attachment points on the face of the wheel, , or through some system to attach to the lugs, or to fix to the rim, then all you need is a fairly conventional thin wheel, of a smaller diameter than the existing wheel (not difficult these days), fitted with a deflated tyre that can be inflated once fitted to the vehicle, raising the deflated tyre off the ground.
Automatically inflating tyres already exist.
Steel spare wheels already exist.
You only need to design the attachment means. Thats straightforward; the spare wheel has extra large lug holes. The wheel engages by some means to the original wheel (plastic clips etc, just to align it). Working in pairs, you remove the nuts/bolts with a supplied deep socket. Something I would describe as a dished washer is fitted over the enlarged spare wheel hole, that fits to bottom of the wheel nut hole. Refit wheel nut/bolt. Would require wheels to have a design where the recess of the nut is enlarged over present day trends.
The proposed invention, to be successful, would require:
Development of a new multipart road wheel design; numerous risk elements
Development of a novel moulded tyre, akin to a rubber pad of a tank track link. This requires development of a rubber material, design of the means to engage to wheel, development of glues to prevent it shifting on the wheel part. etc.
