Redesigning the manual automobile tyre bead breaker

A new tyre bead-breaking tool was developed to eliminate the drudgery of manual bead breaking by local Nigerian tyre repair artisans. Like a conventional bead breaker, the new tool is based on the lever principle. Its velocity ratio is 11.2, and its production cost 4500; the conventional bead breaker's velocity ratio is 5.1 and its production cost is approximately 2500. It was tested alongside the conventional tool. The average time spent on the first bead-breaking action for tyres with rim sizes ranging from 13″ to 16″ was 2.54 s using the new tool; it was 19.04 s for the conventional tool. The amount of time increased with rim size. It was easier and required less energy to use the new tool, especially with tyres of larger rim sizes. This is a significant technological breakthrough in Africa where the higher-cost bead breakers are not readily affordable.