König has always been on the forefront of snow chain techology development since foundation.
Through the years, the company has designed, developed and made available different technologies to enhance product performances, reliability and lifetime to the next level.
Compared to consumer snow chain technologies, where the main aspect involved into innovation is product design, the technology on which König Professional snow chains are based on is heavily influenced by the production processes too.
You can browse the König Professional snow chain technology here below.
Overview of the areas
Swipe left to browse to the main product/application areas in which the König professional snow chain technology finds its place and deployment.
Cross-section designs
Link configuration
Multiple wire options
Side connections
Fitting systems
Cross-section designs
Vehicles used for Professional purposes can be very different from one to the other in terms of design, size and functionalities. Different machine sizes mean different tyres sizes (diameter / section), tyre designs (industrial, agricolture, garden) and usage conditions.
To cover this wide variability of needs, König has developed different cross-section designs in order to modulate product performances and durability according to the different vehicle and usage needs.
The best performance/weight ratio for lighter applications and usages
The single diamond represents the standard cross-section geometry which is largely used on whatever traction chain, compared to the old-school ladder design, the single diamond design includes a large number of diagonal chain segments offering superiori grip and handling.
The standard for heavier duty applications such as snow removal
The cross-section design is generated starting from two single diamonds getting horizontally flanked and then put in sequence. This is most typical cross-section design for snow removal chains where the requested traction and resistance level is way higher compared to the typical offroad and truck snow chains cross-sections.
The solutions for heavy machines with extra-wide tyres
The cross-section design is generated starting from three single diamonds getting horizontally flanked and then put in sequence. This is the ideal cross-section design for those large machines, such as wheel-loaders and tractors, equipped with super-wide tyres with section above 550mm.
Professionals dealing with the most extreme conditions are served
The cross-section design is given by an ultra-dense chain mesh based exclusively on 3-link segments offering the most complete tread and sidewall coverage for the best performances and resistance under the most stressful conditions.
The net cross-section design is available exclusively on the König Super Impact.
Link configuration
Professional vehicles are requested to be able to face different environmental conditions such as slope gradients, uneven ground bottoms and different weather conditions such as temperatures, quality and quantity of snow on the ground. To address such wide variability of factors, König has developed 3 type of link configurations suitable from the milder up to the most extreme usage conditions.
Lighter, gentler versus the ground and suitable for restricted wheelhouse clearance
Horizontal links alternated with vertical links: this is what the simple link configuration is about. Vertical links are the ones more aggressive versus the ground while horizontal links act mainly as conjunction between the vertical ones.
The simple link technology is the most gentle versus the ground, it generates a more contained vibration level, it’s lighter compared to other link configuration options and it requires less wheelhouse clearance.
The standard for heavier duty applications such as snow removal
The horizontal links at the center of the cross-section present “over-links” with an higher thickness than the vertical links. Used in heavier duty conditions compared to the simple link configuration, the ice-breaker configuration provides an increased number of touch-points between snow chain and ground, improving vehicle handling side handling and more aggressive geometries againts the ground.
The solutions for heavy machines with extra-wide tyres
The horizontal links at the center of the cross-section present ice-breaker “over-links” with an higher thickness than the vertical links, plus square bars welded on top of ice-breakers and of vertical links. Used in the most extreme conditions, the welded bars sensibly increase the available wear volume of the most stressed chain links on the cross-section, enhancing performances and ensuring the longest product lifetime.
Multiple wire options
Professional vehicles involved in winter activities may sensibly differ one from the others in terms of vehicle mass and tyre sizes. As it’s understandable, the larger vehicles are equipped with the large tyres and, viceversa, smaller vehicles are usually equipped with smaller tyres.
To cover all the possible traction needs in such complex application scenario, König has developed a wide variety of wire diameters which are proportionally following the size of the vehicle and its tyres. This guarantees that each König professional snow chain provides the best balance between performance, durability and weight for that specific application.
Links made with 4.50mm, 5.50mm and 7.00mm.
According to the tyre size, snow chains are made in 4.50mm and 5.50mm as standard, with 7.00mm versions for the heaviest applications.
Thinner wires are more compatible for standard conditions and for All Terrain tyre profiles.
Thicker wires are indicated for heavier duty applications and they result more suitable for applications on tyres featuring a deep tread or mud profile. In fact the thicker wire avoids the chain links to penetrate into the tread, keeping the cross-sections on top of the tyre profile for the best traction.
Round-shaped 6.00mm links and D-Shaped 5.60mm links are the selected ones.
Contrary to the heavy truck snow chains, the bus specific snow chains use thinner wires and with a more gentle profile. This is possible as busses are subject to lower loads compared to heavy trucks and the comfort of the occupants is one of the key selection factors.
5.50mm wire for the lighter applications, 7.00mm as industry standard and 8.00mm for the heavier duty conditions
Generally speaking, wheels up to 20″ rims are covered with 5.50mm wire links. For the standard 22.5″ wheels the 7.00mm links are the industry standard. For the heavier duty applications/conditions professionals can count on the stronger 8.00mm which is born to withstand whatever kind of usage in trasportation duties.
Starting from 5.50mm up to 10.mm to cover the wide variety of vehicles used for snow clearing purposes
You can imagine that the type of vehicles involved into snow removal is very wide and open. Starting from super compact snow removal machines such as Steer Skid Loaders with a mass of 2.6t and ending up with the largest Wheel Loaders with more than 40t of GVW. As you can imagine the first with small wheels is covered by snow chains with 5.50mm wire; the latter with sensibly larger wheels gets covered with the 10,00mm wire snow chains. Anything in between gets served with the 7.00mm and 8.00mm wires which are the most common for mid-size machines such as trucks, Unimogs, wheel loaders and tractors.
A wire range from 7.00mm up to 10.00mm
Agricoltural tractors are served with 3 wire sizes: 7.00mm wire links are used for the standard tractors up to 70hp with wheels between 17.5″ and 20″, the 8.00mm wire is used on tractors with 24″ up to 28″ wheels and 10.00mm for the largest tractors with wheels equal or larger than 30″.
When thin doesn't mean weak. At all.
Let’s split this category in two as products are very different.
The König Rallye SV is destined to light gardening vehicles used in winter time for private areas road cleaning, not heavy duty conditions. For this reason, the chain features 3.70mm, 4.50mm and 5.50mm wire links.
The König Load Master instead is the snow chain destined to forklifts which are surely compact in terms of vehicle and wheel size but which are actually carrying some the highest loads in proportion to the vehicle mass. For such reason, the Load Master features some higher specs also in terms of wire diameters in 4.50mm, 5.50mm and 7.00mm.
Side connections
A careful eye can recognize that into the Professional snow chains products may feature different side connections according to the models. This influences not only the resistance of such elements but also the surface treatment the product can be subject to.
A pragmatic yet effective solution to connect cross-sections to side elements
Bent side hooks represent the most practical solution to connect hardened cross-section together with untreated side chains. Side hooks are bent with specific geometries starting from steel wire and they get pressed into position connecting the shoulder chain portion with the side chains.
For the most stressful and demanding conditions
Welded side rings are the most heavy duty side connections for snow chains involved into demanding Professional activities. The rings are welded in place and, after that, the complete snow chain is subject to a case-hardening process which ensures that not only cross-sections are treated but also all the side elements, both on the internal and on the external side.
Welded side rings are used on all chains with wire > 7.00mm and on the HD versions of thinner wires (Polar HD, Rallye HD).
Fitting systems
Professionals know how to do their job and for this reason in most of the cases they’re not requesting easier ways to fit a chain on their truck or tractor. For this reason, more than 90% of the König Professional snow chains are featuring the traditional fitting system with internal side chain and inner/outer connecting hooks. Anyway, since Professionals’ preferences can be very different according to the type of activities, König has anyway developed different fitting systems for truck and bus applications and offering a cleaner, quicker and more comfortable way to fit snow chains.
Traditional in the best sense
The traditional fitting system with inner side chain is the most classical way to fit a professional snow chain. The super sturdy design doesn’t include anything else than steel and for this reason it’s the most reliable costruction available.
Easier fitting process thanks to the inner memory-shaped rigid arch
The inner arch is already shaped to follow the inner rim profile and doesn’t require any manual connection on the inner side of the wheel. The tensioning of the chain is managed through a short pitch tightening chain which once pulled closed the two rigid arch extremities and pass through the external shortening hooks.
This represents the most common fitting system on busses which are requested to multiple fitting/removing of the chains into each driving shift.
The most technological, suitable for zero inner clearance wheelhouses
Inheriting the basic design concept of the K-Summit for passenger cars, the external fitting system allows the fitting of the chain by working exclusively on the external profile of the wheel. Thanks to a specific brackets system which gets installed on the wheel bolts/nuts, the chain gets easily attached to the wheel and gets tensioned thorugh threaded tensioning wheel placed on the central body of the chain chain.