2886results about "Tyre tread bands/patterns" patented technology

PCT No. PCT/JP97/01514 Sec. 371 Date Jan. 28, 1998 Sec. 102(e) Date Jan. 28, 1998 PCT Filed May 2, 1997 PCT Pub. No. WO97/45489 PCT Pub. Date Dec. 4, 1997A pneumatic tire having an air permeation preventive layer comprising a low permeability thermoplastic elastomer composition comprising a thermoplastic elastomer having a thermoplastic resin composition as a continuous phase and a rubber composition as a dispersed phase, in which a barrier resin composition is contained, which low permeability thermoplastic elastomer composition has a phase structure in which the barrier resin composition is dispersed in the form of a flat state in the thermoplastic elastomer, is abundant in flexibility, is superior in gas permeation preventive property, and enables the tire to be reduced in weight.

In a non-pneumatic tire having a support structure body supporting a load from a vehicle, the support structure body (SS) comprises an inner annular portion (1) an intermediate annular portion (2) provided concentrically in an outer side of the inner annular portion (1), an outer annular portion (3) provided concentrically in an outer side of the intermediate annular portion (2), a plurality of inner coupling portions (4) coupling the inner annular portion (1) and the intermediate annular portion (2) and being independent in a circumferential direction, and a plurality of outer coupling portions (5) coupling the outer annular portion (3) and the intermediate annular portion (2) and being independent in a circumferential direction.

Method and apparatus for sensing a crash of a vehicle in which acceleration and angular motion of the vehicle are measured and analyzed by a processor to determine whether a crash is occurring. A deployable occupant protection device is deployed by a processor when deployment criteria are satisfied. The processor may embody a pattern recognition technique for analyzing the measured acceleration and angular motion of the vehicle and determine whether deployment of the occupant protection device is beneficial. For example, the pattern recognition technique may be a neural network trained to determine whether the vehicle is experiencing a crash such as a rollover based on the measured acceleration and angular motion of the vehicle.

A system and method related thereto, for automatically inspecting at least one tire of a moving vehicle. The system includes an image acquisition device including at least one camera. The camera acquires multiple real-time images of at least one tire of a moving vehicle. As the tire of the vehicle enters a field of view of the camera, the camera component is configured to photograph and transmit the multiple photographs of the at least one tire. A light source illuminates the at least one tire of the vehicle in the field of view of the camera, and the light application may be synchronous with the imaging performed by the camera. A computer image processing component receives the multiple images transmitted from the camera and analyzes the multiple images using a detection program. The computer imaging processing component analyzing the photographs and provides an inspection analysis of each at least one tire.

A non-pneumatic tire comprising side cavities that are staggered with respect to laterally opposing side cavities, and laterally extending tread grooves that are in substantial radial alignment with the cavities. In another embodiment, the invention is to a tire comprising side ribs that are staggered with respect to laterally opposing side ribs, and laterally extending tread grooves that are substantially offset relative to the side ribs. Also provided are processes for making such tires and to off-the-road (OTR) vehicles employing such tires.

A tire or tire lining comprising a rubber composite, comprising at least one rubber or elastomer matrix and pristine nano graphene platelets dispersed in the matrix. The pristine nano graphene-modified tire or tire lining has a significantly enhanced thermal conductivity.

Detecting wear through use of information-transmitting devices. At least one information-transmitting wireless device is provided for each of one or more wear positions of an item, wherein each of the devices is adapted for transmitting information to a reader, such that each of the devices can transmit information usable for detecting wear of the item as the item wears. When using a plurality of devices for a particular wear position, the devices may be stacked or placed in a depth-wise, end-to-end arrangement. As another alternative, a single device having a plurality of separable areas may be provided for each of one or more wear positions. As yet another alternative, a single device may be provided for each of one or more wear positions such that its failure to transmit indicates wear at the corresponding wear position. An information-transmitting device may become damaged or missing, due to item wear, and an RFID reader may therefore be unable to scan (i.e.., receive data from) the device.

A tire has an axis of rotation. The tire includes two sidewalls extending radially outward and a tread disposed radially outward of the two sidewalls and interconnecting the two sidewalls. The tread includes a main portion comprising a first compound and a reinforcing structure comprising a second compound having reinforcing short fibers oriented between −20 degrees to +20 degrees to a circumferential direction of the tread. The main portion of the tread includes at least one circumferential groove separating circumferential ribs. Each circumferential groove has two sides and a base therebetween. The reinforcing structure includes a layer of the second compound secured to the sides of each circumferential groove.

A control system for controlling an automotive vehicle (10) is set forth. Various tire parameters such as a rolling radius, a vertical spring rate, and a tire rotational spring rate may be used to determine a tire abnormal state. The vehicle (10) is controlled in response to the tire abnormal state. To control the vehicle various dynamic control systems such as anti-lock brakes, traction control, various sensors existing in the vehicle such as a yaw signal, roll signal and pitch signal may be used to determine a tire parameter.

Sipes extending from one end of a block to the central area of the block and sipes extending from the other end of the block to the central area of the block (sipes 24, 28, 32 and 36) are inclined in directions opposite to each other. The sipes extending from one end of the block and the sipes extending from the other end of the block intersect a common line extending along the circumferential direction of the tire. Due to this structure, the number of portions of the sipes, which portions are located in the central area of the block, is made greater than that in the peripheral area of the block. The density of sipes is thus increased in the central area of a block where water tends to form when driving on ice, for improving braking and traction properties on ice.

A method for forming a polymer including a sulfur-containing functional group, the method comprising introducing a sulfur-containing initiator defined by the formula

with conjugated diene monomer and optionally copolymerizable monomer within a polymerization medium and allowing the sulfur-containing initiator to initiate the polymerization of the conjugated diene monomer and the optional copolymerizable monomer, where R¹ is a monovalent organic group, R² is a divalent organic group, R³ is a divalent organic group or a bond, and a is an integer from 1 to about 5.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire capable of maintaining performance on snow, and improving operation stability and noise performance. A shoulder axial grove (10) comprises a first shoulder axial groove (11) having a groove width of not less than 3.5 mm.; a second shoulder axial groove (12) comprising an axially innermost sipe-like part (12b) having a groove width of 0.5 to 2.0 mm, and an axially outer main part (12a) having a groove width of not less than 3.5 mm. a crown axial groove (7) comprises a first crown axial groove (8) having a groove width of not less than 2.0 mm; and a second crown axial groove (9) comprising an axially innermost sipe-like part (9b) having a groove width of 0.5 to 2.0 mm, and an axially outer main part (9a) having a groove width of not less than 2.0 mm. In addition, the first and second shoulder axial grooves are formed on the tire circumference alternatively; the first and second crown axial grooves are alternatively formed on the tire circumference.

A rubber composition for a tire tread, or a pneumatic tire using the same in a tire tread portion, wherein the tread portion contains a diene rubber; and carbon black and/or silica; and a gas-encapsulated thermoplastic resin and, further, a short fiber, a hard particle and/or a liquid polymer, and wherein the gas-encapsulated thermoplastic resin particle is obtained by expanding, upon heating. at a temperature of an expansion starting temperature thereof or more, prior to vulcanization of a rubber, a thermally expansible thermoplastic resin particle, which comprises a thermoplastic resin having an expansion starting temperature of from 70° C. to less than 120° C. and having a heat resistance to withstand vulcanization of rubber, followed by vulcanization to uniformly disperse the gas-encapsulated thermoplastic resin in the rubber, or a short fiber, a hard particle and/or a liquid polymer is further compounded to give a high frictional force on ice.

A heavy-duty tire comprises a tread portion provided with at least three circumferentially continuously extending ribs divided by at least two circumferential grooves extending straight in the tire circumferential direction, wherein the ribs have side edges adjacent to the circumferential grooves; each of the side edges is provided with edge sipes at intervals in the tire circumferential direction; each of the edge sipes extends parallel with the tire axial direction from the adjacent circumferential groove and terminates in the rib; each of the edge sipe has an axial length in a range of not less than 5% but not more than 15% of the axial width of the rib, a thickness in a range of not less than 0.3 mm but not more than 1.0 mm and a depth in a range of not less than 50% but not more than 100% of the depth of the circumferential groove; and the total number of the edge sipes per tire is in a range of from 4 to 8 times the value of the tire diameter in millimeter.

Rubber mixtures which contain an organosilane of the general structure ¹R²R³Si—R⁴—Z (I), wherein R¹, R² and R³ independently of one another are H, (C₁-C₄)alkyl, (C₁-C₄)alkoxy or halogen and the number of alkyl groups is ≧1; R⁴ is a linear or branched (C₁-C₁₈)alkylidene group; and Z=H, halogen, SCN, SH or S_x—R⁴—SiR¹R²R³, where x is 2 to 10. The rubber mixtures are useful in molding compositions particularly for tires and tire treads.

An opaque article having a surface and substantially asymmetric striae extending along the surface. A portion of the striae reside in a first area and have an orientation. Another portion of the striae reside in a second area and have an orientation substantially opposite the striae in the first area. The first area striae and the second area striae create an optical contrast therebetween at a wide range of viewing angles and illumination angles. The opaque article can be a tire. The striae can reside at numerous locations on the tire, including, for example, the sidewall, tread ribs or blocks, and stone ejectors.

A tire has a tread and a pair of opposing shoulders. In the first sidewall, a series of extension blocks creates a pair of concentric rings. In the second sidewall, a different configuration of extension blocks may be present. The second sidewall has alternating extension blocks where one of the blocks has a portion that is located radially inward of the other block.

Both a mold blade for forming sipes and the sipe so formed in a tire tread element have three dimensional portions. In the formed sipe, the three dimensional portion creates a constant interlocking of the opposing sipe faces. The blade and the sipe have at least one row of alternating polygonal shaped recesses and protrusions. The recesses and protrusions terminate in a vertex; the vertex has a planar, or two-dimensional, configuration that is parallel to either-the blade centerline or the sipe centerline.

A vehicle tire includes a tread portion provided with a plurality of blocks and at least one circumferential rib, the circumferential rib having a first side face facing a circumferential groove and a second side face, and first side face being corrugated to form furrows and ridges which are arranged alternatively in the circumferential direction and extend radially of the tire, the corrugation having an amplitude Lb in the range of 0.5 to 2.0 mm, the circumferential rib being provided with sipes extending thereacross so that each sipe has an end opened in one of the furrows on the first side face and an end opened in said second side face, and the spacings La of the sipes being in the range of 2.0 to 5.0 mm. Each of the sipe has a zigzag middle part.

Vehicular pneumatic tire having an asymmetric tread formed in relation to a circumference of a running surface and process of making vehicular pneumatic tire. The vehicular pneumatic tire includes an outside region that includes an outside shoulder block row and an outside circumferential groove, an inside region that includes an inside shoulder block row and an inside circumferential groove, and a center region that is laterally delimited by the outside circumferential groove and the inside circumferential groove. A plurality of transverse grooves are arranged within the inside shoulder block row, and the plurality of transverse grooves further are arranged to extend into the center region. No more than about one-half of the plurality of transverse grooves are arranged to at least nearly entirely traverse the center region and are oriented to form an angle to a circumferential equator line of no more than approximately 30° over at least one-third of their longitudinal extensions. The process includes forming an outside region to include an outside shoulder block row and an outside circumferential groove, forming an inside region to include an inside shoulder block row and an inside circumferential groove, and laterally delimiting a center region with the outside circumferential groove and the inside circumferential groove. The process further includes arranging a plurality of transverse grooves within the inside shoulder block row and to extend into the center region. No more than one half of the plurality of transverse grooves are arranged to at least nearly entirely traverse the center region and are oriented to form an angle to a circumferential equator line of no more than approximately 30° over at least one-third of their longitudinal extensions.

A pneumatic tire including five land portions Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5 in a tread surface 1 by providing four main grooves G1, G2, G3, and G4 in a ground contact region R of the tread surface 1, wherein positions and groove widths of the main grooves G1, G2, G3, and G4 are specified together with only the land portion Q1 positioned outermost on a vehicle outer side when mounted on a vehicle being formed into a block row, and the other land portions Q2, Q3, Q4, and Q5 being formed into ribs, and a groove area proportion of the tread surface 1 is larger on a vehicle inner side than the vehicle outer side with a tire equator CL and center lines of the land portions Q2, Q3, Q4 as boundaries.

A tire wear state estimation system estimates forces and sliding velocity generated in a tire contact patch, determines frictional energy from the tire force and sliding velocity, and generates an estimate of tire wear state based upon the frictional work done by the tire. A tire wear estimate, pursuant to the system and methodology, is made by determining the amount of frictional work performed by the tire through the integrated use of tire-mounted, GPS sourced, and vehicle-mounted sensor information.

A pneumatic tire includes a plurality of protrusions on a bottom of each of the grooves. The height of the protrusion is variable in a profile of the protrusion in a circumference direction of the pneumatic. The protrusion has at least one peak portion that protrudes away from a center of the pneumatic tire. The pneumatic tire further includes a connection member between the protrusion and an adjacent one of the lands, the connection member having a first end toward the land and a second end toward the peak portion, a height of the first end from the bottom of the groove being larger than that of the second end.

The present invention relates to a rubber composition containing a combination of starch, modified starch and/or starch/plasticizer composite together with selected methylene donor and/or methylene acceptor compounds. The invention also relates to tires having at least one component comprised of such rubber composition. Such tire component can be, for example, its circumferential tread or other component of the tire.

A pneumatic radial tire includes: at least one carcass layer suspended across left and right bead parts; a belt layer arranged on an outer circumferential side of the carcass layer; and a tread arranged on an outer circumferential side of the belt layer. The tread has a laminated structure in which a thermoplastic film layer of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition is interposed between a tread-side rubber layer and a belt layer-side rubber layer. The thermoplastic elastomer composition is obtained by blending an elastomer in a thermoplastic resin. A process for producing a retreaded tire includes the steps of: forming a base tire from the pneumatic radial tire by softening the thermoplastic film layer through heating so as to separate and remove the tread-side rubber layer, the pneumatic radial tire having the tread worn away; and subsequently bonding a new tread-side rubber layer onto the base tire.

The invention relates to a tire having a circumferential rubber tread of a cap/base construction composed of a cap rubber layer as the tire running surface and an internal base rubber layer underlying said tread cap layer. The said tread cap layer is composed of a primary tread cap portion and one or two lateral tread cap portions of rubber compositions containing precipitated silica and/or rubber reinforcing carbon black reinforcement and wherein the rubber composition of at least one of said lateral tread cap portions contains a dispersion of short carbon fibers. Said primary tread cap portion contains a major portion of the running surface of the tread and is comprised of a silica-rich or carbon black-rich, preferably silica-rich, reinforcement-containing rubber composition, and said lateral tread portion(s) contains a minor portion of the running surface of the tread and is comprised of a silica-rich or carbon black-rich, preferably carbon black-rich, reinforcement-containing rubber composition. Where said primary tread cap portion is comprised of a silica-rich rubber composition, said lateral tread cap portion(s) is comprised of a carbon black-rich rubber composition and visa versa. The said tread cap portions are load bearing portions in the sense of extending from the running surface of the tread radially inward to said underlying tread base layer. In one aspect, the portioned rubber tread cap layer and the rubber tread base layer are co-extruded together to form a unitary composite thereof.

The invention relates to a tire having a rubber tread comprised of cap/base construction where the tread cap layer provides the running surface of the tread and the tread base layer underlies the tread cap layer and thereby provides a transition between the tread cap layer and the tire carcass. For this invention, the tread cap layer is comprised of a plurality of individual circumferential load-bearing zones of rubber compositions, which exhibit graduated physical properties, and which extend from the outer running surface of the tread cap layer radially inward to said tread base layer. In one aspect, the zoned rubber tread cap layer and rubber tread base layer are co-extruded together to form a unit as an integral tread rubber composite.

An anti-skid stud for insertion into the tread of a vehicle tire is disclosed. The stud comprises a support body part extending in an axial direction and a pin body part, the support body part comprising a bottom portion, a middle portion, and a head portion having an upper surface, wherein the pin body part extends beyond the upper surface of the head portion, and wherein, when viewed in top view onto the head portion,

• • (i) the location of the center of gravity of the head portion is laterally offset from the center of gravity of the bottom portion; or
  • (ii) the location of the center of gravity of the pin body part is laterally offset from the center of gravity of the bottom portion; or
  • (iii) the location of the center of gravity of the pin body part is laterally offset from the center of gravity of the head portion; or
  • (iv) the location of the center of gravity of the middle portion is laterally offset from the center of gravity of the bottom portion.

Also, a pneumatic tire comprising a tread, the tread comprising a plurality of such anti-skid studs is disclosed. The majority of the studs may be oriented in a common direction.

An improved tire tread has tread elements which form a tread pattern exhibiting two or more peripheral grooves and a plurality of transverse grooves extending inward from the outer (ground engaging) surface of the tread. Preferably the transverse grooves extend across the peripheral groves, and there are at least four of the peripheral grooves. Along at least a major portion of one upper side of chosen ones of such grooves, the tread elements defining such groove side are formed with serrations extending inward of the groove from the tread surface at an acute angle to a radius of the tire and terminating short of the base of the groove. The serrated surfaces define an upper portion of the groove as an opening of increased area at the upper part of the groove intersecting the tread surface, and present a substantially increased traction area along the outer or open top of the groove. In modifications of this tread, the serrations may be along one side of one or more of a plurality of peripheral tread grooves, or the serrations may be may be along opposite sides of such one or more grooves.

A tire wear sensor for monitoring wear of a tire comprises a sensor mounted within a tread of a tire, the sensor for monitoring wear of a tire and for generating a signal indicative of a tire needing replacement and a controller for receiving the signal.