This invention is a new form of tyre which can be changed without removing any wheels and jacking up several tonnes of steel.

It is in the form of a number of separate rubber compartments, each with a metal foot bonded on. These feet are slotted axially into a hub, as show, by slightly deflating the adjacent segments using the valve which each incorporates.

Repressurisation allows the whole tyre to be used rapidly…there is no longer any need to carry a giant spare tyre…a couple of extra segments should suffice.

It would even be possible to have these segments inserted axially from inside the wheelwell, enabling automatic changing of damaged elements of a tyre whilst the vehicle was in motion.

A mechanism would be required to restrain the segments from accidentally slipping off the end of the axle, but this seems perfectly feasible.

Tyres could be made to lower specifications (and much more cheaply) than now, given that they would be more damage-tolerant and each, smaller part would be better able to withstand the stresses of motoring.