Tire Tread Strip Block Fabrication Without Fasteners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for reclaiming used vehicle tires are limited to specific outcomes or shredding, which does not yield a product suitable for general fabrication, and often require metal fasteners, plates, and membranes to maintain the material's flatness and strength.
Innovation Solution
A process of harvesting tread strips from tires by removing the tread texture and cutting through the tread cap away from the shoulders, then stacking and gumming the strips to form a solid block without the need for fasteners, plates, or membranes, allowing for further cutting, shaping, and drilling for various product fabrications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If existing methods are used to reclaim used tires, then specific outcomes or shredded material is produced, but the product is not suitable for general fabrication and requires metal fasteners, plates, and membranes
Solution Approach 1:
The tire is segmented into specific components (tread cap, sidewalls, shoulders) and the tread cap is further processed into strips. This selective segmentation allows the tread strips to be stacked and bonded directly without requiring external fasteners, plates, or membranes, thus improving product versatility while reducing component complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The tread texture is removed and the tread cap is extracted from the tire structure. By taking out only the necessary portion (tread cap) and processing it into strips, the invention creates a self-sufficient building material that does not require additional metal fasteners or membranes, resolving the contradiction between versatility and complexity
2Strength
If metal fasteners, plates, and membranes are used to maintain flatness and strength, then structural integrity is improved, but weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple tread strips are merged by stacking and bonding them together using gum or adhesive. This merging process creates a unified block structure where the strips themselves form the structural integrity through their layered configuration, eliminating the need for additional metal fasteners and plates, thus reducing weight while maintaining strength
Solution Approach 2:
The invention creates a composite material structure by bonding multiple rubber tread strips together. This composite construction provides the necessary strength and structural integrity through the layered rubber material itself, without requiring metal reinforcement, thereby reducing the overall weight of the block
3Stability of the object's composition
If metal fasteners, plates, and membranes are used to maintain flatness, then structural stability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tread strips are prepared in advance by removing the tread texture and cutting the tread cap into uniform strips. This preliminary preparation ensures that the strips have consistent dimensions and properties, allowing them to be stacked and bonded into a flat, stable block without requiring complex fastening systems to maintain flatness
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method produces a versatile block of construction material that can be used in a range of products, reducing costs and complexity while eliminating the need for internal metal components, resulting in a lighter and more planar final product.
Implementation Method 1
Each strip is preheated, and while maintaining the temperature, stacked onto the gummed previous strips
Data Source
AI summary
A block of construction material is fabricated by harvesting a plurality of tread strips from a plurality of tires by, for each tire, removing a tread texture of a tread cap from each tire using a tread removal device while leaving a remaining portion of the tread cap intact with one or more sidewalls and shoulders of each tire, removing the side walls and the entire shoulders from each tire by cutting through the remaining portion of each tread cap, and slicing the remaining portion of each tread cap to produce tread strips. Each strip is preheated, and while maintaining the temperature, stacked onto the gummed previous strips, until a block of desirable size is yielded. Use of fasteners, plates and membranes to maintain the stacked tread strips into a block arrangement is eliminated.