#1219: Segmentyre
Today’s invention is a new form of tyre which can be changed without removing any wheels and jacking up a couple of tonnes of steel.
It is in the form of a number of rubber compartments, each with a metal foot bonded on. These feet are slotted axially into a hub, as show, by slightly deflating the adjacent segments using the valve which each incorporates.
Repressurisation allows the whole tyre to be used rapidly…there is no longer any need to carry a giant spare tyre…a couple of extra segments should suffice.
Comment by Patrick
I reckon it would be cool to have these segments inserted axially from inside the wheelwell, enabling changing damaged elements of a tyre whilst the vehicle was in motion. Maybe there are military applications of this? Pity the DARPA process is such a thicket of bureaucracy.