h a l f b a k e r y"Not baked goods, Professor; baked bads!" -- The Tick
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-I got this idea from this martian popping thing from the
Archie Mcfee catalogue. This little rubber "martian" had
eyes,
ears, and mouth that would balloon out when you squeezed
its body.
Whenever I need to buy a new set of tires for my ORV,
(not SUV) (*) I find myself debating
over the right tire for
me.
The variety driving situations that I encounter demands an
extremly versitile tire; river crossings, rock ledges, and deep
snow are common obstacles. Inevitably, I end up with a tire
that you might see at a monster truck rally. Although I feel
the need to be prepared for anything (yes, I was a boy
scout),
I feel guilty burning up so much extra fuel because of large
tires when I am on the pavement-which is about 90 percent
of
the time-not to mention having the poor highway handling
of
an off road tire.
I would like to see a tire that is adjustable to all
situatons. During your everyday driving situations, the tire
would have a normal road tread pattern with all the
economic
qualities of a highway tire. Now, anytime you feel the
primal
urge to go drive over a tree, drive onto your roof
(www.rotten.com), or make your own parking spot, The
inflatable tire will get you there.
The tire starts out thick walled with a typical tread.
Folded between the rows of tread are more rows of
increasingly more aggressive tread waiting to be unleashed.
To expose these addidional rows, like a shark grows extra
rows of teeth, one would simply add more air to the tire.
Inflation could be stopped at any point for perfect traction.
The overall circumfrance of the tire would change as well,
so you could also combine these tires with inflatable boddy
lifters like on the defender-90.
This idea could be combined with many other half-bakes
such
as the anti-severe tire damage strips. They might also be
heavier incorporating the idea of heavy SUV tires(*).
I don't know how exactly they would support themselves
and not roll sideways, but hey, they figured out how to
build
the segway. Maybe there would be a chip in the things
and
they could be adjusted from the comfort of the captains
chair.
-demtangs
(*)SUVs are oversized family wagons never intended for off
road use and have no business being there.
Hummer tire inflation system
http://www.lynchhum...onentpages/CTI.html
[krelnik, Oct 04 2004]
Pneumatic tire and tread therefor having variable rolling contact with the ground
http://164.195.100....797&RS=PN/3,949,797
A similar idea, but without the variable pressure [ldischler, Oct 04 2004]
[link]
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What about the tires that are on the Pope's limo? No air, can't deflate, plenty of longevity. |
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I think you could do this as a two-
state tire. A pneumatic profile:
solid rubber with nominal air for
low rolling resistance on the
highway. And the blown-out
martian inflated profile you desire
for traction on soft
surfaces, deep snow, sand etc.
Temporary traction effect, and it
would depend on a
construction that could deflate and
bond again into a tight
pneumatic state.
You'd
have to give up on getting
aggressive rock rumbling and river
fording tires though: in case
you've never looked at an
unmounted tire, they are not quite
all rubber. Crossing laminates of
steel belts and thick compound
material provide rigidity, tread
integrity, and structural strength
for a wide variety of performance
criteria, including deformation
resistance. Anything flexible
enough to inflate and change its
shape as you describe wouldn't be
strong enough to deal with the
hazards of rough off-road terrain. |
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Your idea about the changing tread is new, but the basic concept of changing the inflation of the tire to accomodate different terrain is quite common on all-terrain vehicles. The HUMMER has an automatic system built in so you can control this from inside the vehicle. (See link). |
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//when it gets full, you can just throw it out the window.//
Off road, of course. |
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//ALWAYS keep a litter bag in your car...//
--Steve Martin, standup routine, approx 1977 |
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Rather than changing the tire pressure per se why not use Goodyear's existing technology and insert an inflatable rib all along the tire between the tread and the inner wall of the tire. It would be the same tech used in the inflatable plane of WWII built by Goodyear. Rather than having extra treads that pop out, putting in the ribs would cause the existing ribs to swell outwards when you inflate just the ribs. That way you don't have to use as expensive a rubber compound as you would need to alter the tire pressure that drastically. It seems like it would be alot like the pneumatic tire idea linked up there but would not be adjustable on the fly. |
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this inflatable tread would be vulnerable to punctures since it would have to be relatively thin to be able to inflate and 'pop out'. |
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Rather than adding tread, an inflatable *subtractive* tread may be more effective. So as before, the tread is filled with inflatable tubes, but fully inflating them brings them flush with the rest of the tire (and deflating them, they reside deep in the tread). The thin/flexible part of the inflatable tube is then protected by the walls of the tread (and the top surface of the tube can be made as thick as desired). |
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I had an extra set of tires mounted on extra steel
wheels for my 4WD pickup truck: a set of everyday
"highway" tires, and a set of offroad/winter tires. It
took less than 45 minits to change out the tires,
using air tools, of course. |
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45 minutes using air tools?! I'm pretty sure I could
change out all four tires in under 45 minutes using
just the jack and tire iron that came with the truck. |
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Time from getting the tires and tools out to putting
up the first set of tires and putting away the tools,
about 42 minutes. |
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Seeing as I use trains, I can't really compete. Until they come up with offroad/winter wheels for trains. |
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