Wheel with improved tire bead retainer

Claim 1

In a wheel for a pneumatic tubeless tire having a rim with a drop well, a flange secured to the rim, a tire bead seat on said rim adjacent said flange and a tire bead safety retainer comprising permanent non-yieldable solid means projecting radially from said bead seat and circumferentially therealong for a relatively small portion of the circumference of the bead seat, said retainer being fixed to said rim and having a tire bead abutment face extending generally radially outwardly and circumferentially of said bead seat on the side of said retainer facing said rim flange and constructed and arranged to overlap and lie closely adjacent a portion of the inner face of a tire bead received on said bead seat in the space between said flange and said bead retainer, said retainer having a ramp face disposed remote from said abutment face on the well side of said retainer, said rim having a surface portion immediately adjacent and inwardly of said retainer ramp face capable of air tight seating engagement with the bead of the tire when the same becomes hung up on said ramp face, the improvement comprising means including said bead retainer providing an axially extending gas bleed passage having an inlet located radially inwardly of said rim surface portion adjacent said drop well and between said well and said rim surface portion, said passage extending from said inlet at least in part radially inwardly of said rim surface portion to an outlet of said passage communicating with the outside atmosphere in said space between said bead retainer and said flange, said passage providing a controlled leakage to outside atmosphere via said passage outlet for gas admitted to the interior of a tire mounted on said rim when the tire bead is hung up on said ramp face and in air tight seating with said rim surface portion such that inflation of the tire is prevented, said passage outlet being disposed such that a tire bead properly seated between said retainer and rim flange blocks said passage outlet and permits inflation of the tire.