luckie
07-13-2006, 02:23 PM
AIRLESS-TIRE
The Lowell Sun
7/13/2006
By TOM SPOTH
http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_4046514
LOWELL, Mass. -- Eric Stansfield was a small child in the 1960s, when the radial tire invented by Michelin started to replace the old "bias ply" tires. "That was a huge innovation," recalled Stansfield, who grew up to be president of the family business, Stansfield Tire in Lowell. "Everyone else called (Michelin) crazy, but it worked." Now, the French company is trying to reinvent the wheel once again with a new product called the Tweel. It's a visually arresting device, radically different from the pneumatic tires widely used today. That's because the Tweel doesn't use air -- it's just a rubber tread connected to the hub with flexible spokes. Michelin states that the tire could never go flat, and checking one's tire pressure would also become a thing of the past. The Tweel would also improve vehicles' handling, according to Michelin. "It's an exciting prospect," Stansfield said. "We could be selling these things 10 years from now and I'd be laughing at the idea of a pneumatic."
But Stansfield and others temper their enthusiasm with a healthy dose of caution. The Tweel is still in the testing stage for automotive applications -- its first commercial use will likely be for military and construction vehicles. Those "specialty applications" could be realized within five years, and automotive use is still "quite a ways away," said Saul Ludwig, a tire-industry analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets. "There's a lot of very innovative engineering in the Tweel," said Ludwig, who has seen the tire demonstrated on a Segway scooter. "It's a very, very interesting product." When asked if the Tweel could eventually replace the pneumatic tire, Ludwig said he is "not willing to go there yet."
Michelin officials admit the Tweel is still a long way from becoming an industry standard, but speak in expansive terms of the tire's potential. "Major revolutions in mobility may come along only once in a hundred years," Terry Gettys, president of Michelin Americas Research and Development Center, said last year when the Tweel was officially unveiled. "But a new century has dawned and Tweel has proven its potential to transform mobility." Stansfield said Michelin still must answer many questions, such as how long Tweels will last and what their purchase and replacement costs will be. "In order for something to be marketable, it has to be consumer-friendly," Stansfield said.
Bill Plourde, owner of Dracut Tire, said that if the Tweel works as advertised, he expects it to be popular with both commercial vehicles such as Bobcats and passenger vehicles. "Right now I can't see it on cars, but they say they're going to do it for automobiles," he said. "It'll slow down the tire-repair industry a little bit, so I don't know if that's good or bad." Stansfield said that "if it works monetarily, it's going to radically change our business." "In our fair city, that would be a nice thing, wouldn't it?" he said. "I see half a dozen a day of damaged wheels and damaged tires."
Kicking the tires on the new Tweel
-- Tread: This is similar to the outer edge of the conventional pneumatic tires that are widely used today.
-- Flexible spokes: These take the place of the air-filled portion of standard pneumatic tires. The spokes "deform" and bounce back when a vehicle passes over rough terrain, helping to absorb shock.
-- Deformable wheel: This attaches the Tweel to a vehicle's axle, just like the hub in a pneumatic tire.
---Sheer band: Between spokes and tread, this helps distribute the weight of the vehicle throughout the tire.
The Lowell Sun
7/13/2006
By TOM SPOTH
http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_4046514
LOWELL, Mass. -- Eric Stansfield was a small child in the 1960s, when the radial tire invented by Michelin started to replace the old "bias ply" tires. "That was a huge innovation," recalled Stansfield, who grew up to be president of the family business, Stansfield Tire in Lowell. "Everyone else called (Michelin) crazy, but it worked." Now, the French company is trying to reinvent the wheel once again with a new product called the Tweel. It's a visually arresting device, radically different from the pneumatic tires widely used today. That's because the Tweel doesn't use air -- it's just a rubber tread connected to the hub with flexible spokes. Michelin states that the tire could never go flat, and checking one's tire pressure would also become a thing of the past. The Tweel would also improve vehicles' handling, according to Michelin. "It's an exciting prospect," Stansfield said. "We could be selling these things 10 years from now and I'd be laughing at the idea of a pneumatic."
But Stansfield and others temper their enthusiasm with a healthy dose of caution. The Tweel is still in the testing stage for automotive applications -- its first commercial use will likely be for military and construction vehicles. Those "specialty applications" could be realized within five years, and automotive use is still "quite a ways away," said Saul Ludwig, a tire-industry analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets. "There's a lot of very innovative engineering in the Tweel," said Ludwig, who has seen the tire demonstrated on a Segway scooter. "It's a very, very interesting product." When asked if the Tweel could eventually replace the pneumatic tire, Ludwig said he is "not willing to go there yet."
Michelin officials admit the Tweel is still a long way from becoming an industry standard, but speak in expansive terms of the tire's potential. "Major revolutions in mobility may come along only once in a hundred years," Terry Gettys, president of Michelin Americas Research and Development Center, said last year when the Tweel was officially unveiled. "But a new century has dawned and Tweel has proven its potential to transform mobility." Stansfield said Michelin still must answer many questions, such as how long Tweels will last and what their purchase and replacement costs will be. "In order for something to be marketable, it has to be consumer-friendly," Stansfield said.
Bill Plourde, owner of Dracut Tire, said that if the Tweel works as advertised, he expects it to be popular with both commercial vehicles such as Bobcats and passenger vehicles. "Right now I can't see it on cars, but they say they're going to do it for automobiles," he said. "It'll slow down the tire-repair industry a little bit, so I don't know if that's good or bad." Stansfield said that "if it works monetarily, it's going to radically change our business." "In our fair city, that would be a nice thing, wouldn't it?" he said. "I see half a dozen a day of damaged wheels and damaged tires."
Kicking the tires on the new Tweel
-- Tread: This is similar to the outer edge of the conventional pneumatic tires that are widely used today.
-- Flexible spokes: These take the place of the air-filled portion of standard pneumatic tires. The spokes "deform" and bounce back when a vehicle passes over rough terrain, helping to absorb shock.
-- Deformable wheel: This attaches the Tweel to a vehicle's axle, just like the hub in a pneumatic tire.
---Sheer band: Between spokes and tread, this helps distribute the weight of the vehicle throughout the tire.