This invention relates to a pneumatic tire, and more particularly, to a pneumatic tire having improved puncture resistance and durability.
Many types of vehicles are driven off road or in rugged road conditions, from the off the road enthusiast in a light truck or all terrain vehicle, to massive earth mover vehicles. The commonality often experienced by these vehicle tires are tire cuts and rock penetration, particularly in the sidewall area. It is thus desired to have an improved tire with a sidewall that increases cut resistance and improves the strength of the sidewall.
“Apex” means a non-reinforced elastomer positioned radially above a bead core.
“Aspect ratio” of the tire means the ratio of its section height (SH) to its section width (SW) multiplied by 100 percent for expression as a percentage.
“Axial” and “axially” mean lines or directions that are parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire.
“Bead” means that part of the tire comprising an annular tensile member wrapped by ply cords and shaped, with or without other reinforcement elements such as flippers, chippers, apexes, toe guards and chafers, to fit the design rim.
“Bias ply tire” means a tire having a carcass with reinforcing cords in the carcass ply extending diagonally across the tire from bead core to bead core at about a 25-50 degree angle with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire. Cords run at opposite angles in alternate layers.
“Carcass” means the tire structure apart from the belt structure, tread, undertread, and sidewall rubber over the plies, but including the beads.
“Circumferential” means lines or directions extending along the perimeter of the surface of the annular tread perpendicular to the axial direction.
“Chafers” refer to narrow strips of material placed around the outside of the bead to protect cord plies from the rim, distribute flexing above the rim, and to seal the tire.
“Chippers” mean a reinforcement structure located in the bead portion of the tire.
“Cord” means one of the reinforcement strands of which the plies in the tire are comprised.
“Extensible” means a cable having a relative elongation at break of greater than 0.2 percent at 10 percent of the breaking load, when measured from a cord extracted from a cured tire.
“Equatorial plane (EP)” means the plane perpendicular to the tire's axis of rotation and passing through the center of its tread.
“Flipper” means a reinforced fabric wrapped about the bead core and apex.
“Footprint” means the contact patch or area of contact of the tire tread with a flat surface at zero speed and under normal load and pressure
“Innerliner” means the layer or layers of elastomer or other material that form the inside surface of a tubeless tire and that contain the inflating fluid within the tire.
“Net-to-gross ratio” means the ratio of the tire tread rubber that makes contact with the road surface while in the footprint, divided by the area of the tread in the footprint, including non-contacting portions such as grooves.
“Radial-ply tire” means a belted or circumferentially-restricted pneumatic tire in which the ply cords which extend from bead to bead are laid at cord angles between 65-90 degrees with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Section height” (SH) means the radial distance from the nominal rim diameter to the outer diameter of the tire at its equatorial plane.
The invention will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
The tire 100 of the present invention has a pair of axially spaced bead portions with an annular bead core 20 provided therein. The tire 100 further includes an optional apex 30 which extends radially outward of the bead core 20, and is preferably triangular in cross-sectional shape. The tire 100 further includes a first carcass reinforcing ply 300 extending radially inward of the crown portion of the tire and extending from one bead core to the other bead core 20. The first reinforcing ply 300 is wound around each bead core and apex, forming turnup end portions 330, which terminate radially outward of each bead core. The first reinforcing ply 300 further includes a reinforced stiffener 320 for positioning in each sidewall of the tire for enhanced durability and stiffness. The reinforced stiffener 320 may be a single sheet or divided into two spaced apart discrete reinforced stiffeners. The reinforced stiffeners 320 are preassembled to the first carcass reinforcing ply 300 as shown in
The pneumatic tire of the present invention further includes a second carcass reinforcing ply 400, which extends radially inward from the crown portion of the tire, and wraps around the bead and apex forming a turn up portion 420. The second carcass reinforcing ply 400 is located radially outward of the first carcass reinforcing ply 300.
The reinforced stiffener 320 has a first end 322 that is positioned between the first and second reinforcing ply 300,400 and a lateral end 52 of a belt package 50. The reinforced stiffener 320 has a second end 324 that is positioned between the down portions of the first and second reinforcing plies 300,400. The second end is preferably located radially inward of the apex. The second end is also preferably radially inward of turnup 320 and turnup 420.
The reinforced stiffener 320 may be formed of reinforced tire ply and may have parallel reinforcement cords that are oriented in any desired direction such as being inclined at an angle of 0 to 90 relative to the circumferential direction of the tire. The reinforced stiffener 320 may be formed of reinforced tire ply having reinforcement cords of 1000/2, 2000/2 or 1500/2. The orientation/angle of the reinforcement cords of the stiffener are preferably in the range of 70 to 100 degrees relative to the tire circumferential direction. The reinforced stiffener may also be formed of a fabric with reinforcement cords extending in two directions perpendicular to each other. The reinforcement cords may comprise aramid, polyester, nylon, PET, PEN, or blends or hybrids thereof.
The method of manufacturing the present invention of the tire of
Variations in the present invention are possible in light of the description of it provided herein. While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the subject invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the scope of the subject invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that changes can be made in the particular embodiments described which will be within the full intended scope of the invention as defined by the following appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63265622 | Dec 2021 | US |