Plastic vehicle wheel

Claim 1

A vehicle wheel comprising an integral molded member of rigid plastic material of sufficient strength to afford resistance to compressive force applied transverse of the axis of the wheel, said member comprising a hub, a rim having parallel circumferential lips, and an intervening web, said intervening web being in the form of a continuous ribbon having a plurality of undulations angularly spaced symmetrically radially about the hub, said undulations defining spoke means comprised of alternating spokes and each spoke having side portions and a bridging crown portion, said side portions each having a complementary diametrically opposite side portion in the same plane taken through the axis of the hub, the said sidewalls being disposed in radial planes substantially parallel to the axis of the hub at both the hub and the rim, the overall depth of each of the spokes taken along the hub and parallel to the axis thereof being substantially the same as the width of the rim considered as the distance between the lips of said rim and the overall depth of the spoke taken at the rim being only slightly less than the depth of the spoke taken at the hub, said radial planes meeting at the axis of the hub, the circumferential length of the ribbon being substantially longer than the circumference of the wheel at any radial distance from the center thereof, and each of said spokes having proximal ends engaging the hub over substantially the full length of the hub and distal ends engaging the rim, the distal ends each including a section following the rim contour directly across the width of the rim.