Abstract:
This invention relates to a tire having an electrically non-conductive tread which contains an electrically conductive rubber strip which extends through at least a portion of the tread to its running surface in a wave configured shape, and therefore not a continuous straight line within said tread, in which at least a portion of the rubber strip is in a shape of, for example, a substantially sinusoidal, cycloidal and/or zigzag form, to thereby provide a mechanical self-locking configuration between tread segments through which the rubber strip extends and divides. In particular, said tread is composed of a cap/base configuration. The outer cap layer is of a relatively electrically non-conductive rubber composition having a running surface intended to be ground-contacting. The tread base layer, underlying the tread cap layer, is of a relatively electrically conductive rubber composition and is not normally intended to be ground-contacting. A thin rubber strip, unitary with and as an extension of said tread base layer, which is thereby relatively electrically conductive, extends radially outward from said tread base layer of which at least a portion of the rubber strip is in a form of a wave-shaped configuration through, and therefore within, said tread cap layer to an outer running surface of said tread cap layer. In practice therefore, said rubber strip extends from, and as a part of, said tread base layer through said tread cap layer. In practice, said thin layer extending in said tread cap exhibits substantially at least one half an undulation, and preferably substantially at least two undulations of its wave configured shape of, for example, a substantially sinusoidal, cycloid al and/or zigzag form. The form of the individual undulations of the wave shaped configuration of the strip within the tread may be the same or different.
Abstract:
A pneumatic tire having a tire tread, the tread comprising grooves therein, the grooves forming tread elements, the tread having a radially outer surface and a non-skid tread depth as measured from the radially outer surface of the tread, and a radially innermost surface of the grooves, and one or more sunken grooves located radially inward and below the surface of the unworn tread, the tread comprised of a base tread compound, a radially outer compound, and a radially inner compound, wherein the intersection of the radially outer compound and the radially inner compound is wavy.
Abstract:
A tire assembly (200) having runflat capability comprises a tire (202) mounted to a rim (203) to provide a tire cavity (204) defined by a carcass circumferential inner surface (246), two sidewall inner surfaces (248A,248B) and the rim. The tire assembly (200) is characterized by having a platform (206) disposed circumferentially around the rim within the tire cavity and one or more hoops (208A-208C) disposed within the tire cavity (204) between the platform (206) and the carcass circumferential inner surface (246) so that under normal inflation the one or more hoops do not contact either the carcass circumferential inner surface (246) or the sidewall inner surfaces (248A,248B), but below a first runflat inflation pressure, the one or more hoops (208A-208C) contact and support the carcass circumferential inner surface (246).
Abstract:
An apparatus for testing the fatigue of a sample of cord or filament (12) by bending it over a fixed surface (19). The apparatus comprises a tensioner (14), a fixed bending surface (19) and a driving mechanism (24), whereby the driving mechanism (24) causes a non-twisting bending of cord or filament (12) over bending surface (19) while tensioner (14) maintains a constant tension on cord or filament (12). In a method of the invention, a cord or filament (12) is attached to a tensioner (14), the cord or filament (12) is mounted on fixed bending surface (19) and attached to non-stationary roller (20), and driving mechanism (24) is activated to cause a back and forth movement of roller (20), thereby causing filament or cord (12) to bend back and forth over fixed bending surface (19) until it breaks. This process is repeated using different stress increase rates on the cord or filament (12) by adjusting the tensioner (14) and a linear regression equation is used to determine the fatigue stress limit of the material.
Abstract:
A passenger tire having a tread, a casing with two sidewalls, one or more radial plies extending from and wrapped about two annular beads and a belt reinforcement structure located radially between the tread and the piles. The tread has a central rib with a first contour-defining curve extending outwards from the mid centerline of the tire towards the sidewalls and a pair of side ribs each having a second contour-defining curve disposed between the central rib and the sidewalls. The first and second contour-defining curves each have first and second radii disposed such that the meeting point of first and second adjacent contour-defining curves cannot contain a single line that is mutually tangential to the first and second adjacent contour-defining curves. First and second circumferential decoupling grooves are disposed on either side of the centerline at the meeting point of the first and second adjacent contour-defining curves, and define a circumferential line at the bottom of the grooves which is a region of greater flexibility than the adjacent ribs of the tire tread to decouple a sidewall bending stresses from the central rib.
Abstract:
Tires using high tensile reinforcement with value of at least 1240 N(280 lbs) for U+T type cord and at least 2000 N(450 lbs) for bunched type cord.
Abstract:
Steel reinforcing cords (36) having four or more filaments (38, 40, 42 and 44) in two groups, one twisted and the other untwisted with a filament tensile strength TS equal to K.sub.1 -K.sub.2 D where K.sub.1 =4080N/mm.sup.2, and D is a filament diameter in mm to form cords with a break load equal to N(720.40D.sup.2 -352.6D.sup.3 ; CE is the cord efficiency, D is the filament diameter in millimeters and N is the number of filaments.
Abstract:
A tire has a tread, with the tread having a plurality of ground engaging tread elements creating a tread surface and at least one of the elements has a sipe therein. In planes parallel to the tread surface, the configuration of a radially outer portion of the sipe is defined by a continuous non-linear curvature, the curvature having at least one radius R. The value of the radius R of the sipe curvature increases from the tread surface to a base of the sipe and the base of the sipe has a configuration defined by a radius R having a value of infinity.
Abstract:
A pneumatic radial ply tire (50) has a tread (52), a carcass (61) with two sidewalls (77, 78), a single radial ply (70) reinforced with inextensible metal cords, two annular beads (36a′, 36b′), and a belt structure (58) located radially between the tread and the radial ply structure (56). Each sidewall (77, 78) is reinforced with wedge inserts (59a, 59b) containing stiffener layers (72a, 72b, 73a, 73b) that carry the compressive loading to which the tire is subjected during runflat operation. The incorporation of wedge-insert stiffeners (72a, 72b, 73a, 73b) provides a light-weight runflat tire having a simplified construction.
Abstract:
A tire assembly (100) comprises a tire (110), a rim (112) having a rim well (124), and an alarm system (114). The tire assembly (100) is characterized by the alarm system (114) having a belt (130) disposed tightly around the rim well (124), a bladder (132a) attached to the belt, and a whistle (136a) within the tire cavity (128).