摘要:
The bead breaker is comprised of two blades (50,140) held in immobile spaced relation relative one to the other, the two blades defining two spaced working faces in a common plane adapted to lie flush against the bead area (18) of a tire (14) when the two blades are butted against a rim's flange in initial set up position prior to breaking the tire's bead away from the rim. The blades (36,37) are preferably formed from curved plates having a common curvature axis (75) that axis being angled relative to the median plane (35) ofthe rim (13) in a direction away from the rim's center when the two blades are butted against the rim's flange (17) in the set up position. The curvature of the blades (36,37) preferably is such that no point on the rim edge of each blade is spaced away from the rim's flange a distance greaterthan about two times the tire's bead core (90) diameter when the blades are butted against the rim's flange in set up relation. The bead breaker blades are swingably connected to a power unit (39) for moving the blades between storage and use positions. The bead breaker mechanism (10) and power unit (39) are structured so that, in use, the bead breaker blades are drawn from the set up position toward the rim's center plane in a generally linear and radially inward directed fashion without the blades being latched to the tire's rim and without contact of the blades with the rim. At maximum extension of the bead breaker blades by the power unit, the working faces of the blades are entirely located radially inward of the rim's flange (17).