The present invention relates to pneumatic tires, and in particular to a pneumatic tire including a carcass ply having an end interposed between an axially inner core and an axially outer core disposed in a bead portion.
The following patent document 1 discloses a core-molding method for manufacturing a pneumatic tire using a core. The core includes an outer surface corresponding to an inner surface of the pneumatic tire to be manufactured. In a process to form a green tire, an inner liner, a carcass ply, a bead core, a sidewall rubber, a tread rubber and the like are arranged on the outer surface of the core. Then the green tire with the core is vulcanized in a tire mold so that the green tire is not expanded in the tire mold. After vulcanization, the core is taken out by being decomposed from the vulcanized tire. In the core-molding method, since the deformation of the tire during vulcanization is small, it may provide a pneumatic tire with excellent dimension stability
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No 2012-158064
As the carcass cord, a material having a heat shrinkable property may be used. Such a carcass cord shrinks by heat during vulcanization. When the carcass cord, which is held between the inner core di and the outer core do, thermally shrinks, the carcass cord may bite into the inner liner f by increasing the tension of the carcass cord. Such a tire, for example, tends to have damage on the inner liner f along the carcass cords, thereby exhibiting undesirable durability.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problem, and has a main object to provide a pneumatic tire having excellent dimension stability and durability.
The present invention provides a pneumatic tire comprising a carcass comprising a carcass ply extending between bead cores of bead portions through a tread portion and a pair of side wall portions, each of the bead cores comprising an inner core disposed axially inward of the carcass ply and an outer core disposed axially outward of the carcass ply, wherein the carcass ply is interposed between the inner core and the outer core, each of the outer core and the inner core comprising a bead cord wound at least one time in a circumferential direction of the tire, and the bead cord comprising an outermost layer having a plurality of filaments twisted together, in at least one of the bead portions, each of the outermost layers of the bead cords of the respective inner and outer cores having a twisting direction in which the carcass ply moves easily radially outwardly from between the inner core and the outer core.
In another aspect of the invention, in at least one of the head portions, a winding direction of the bead cord of the inner core in the circumferential direction of the tire may be the same as a winding direction of the head cord of the outer core in the circumferential direction of the tire, and the twisting direction of the outermost layer of the bead cord of the inner core may be opposite to the twisting direction of the outermost layer of the bead cord of the outer core.
In another aspect of the invention, in at least one of the bead portions, a winding direction of the bead cord of the inner core in the circumferential direction of the tire may be opposite to a winding direction of the bead cord of the outer core in the circumferential direction of the tire, and the twisting direction of the outermost layer of the bead cord, of the inner core may be the same as the twisting direction of the outermost layer of the bead cord of the outer core.
In another aspect of the invention, the carcass cord may have a heat shrinkage ratio of not less than 1.5%, where the heat shrinkage ratio is defined as a ratio y/x (%) of an amount of shrinkage “y” of the carcass cord under a no-load condition when left 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius to an original length “x” of the carcass cord.
In the pneumatic tire in accordance with the present invention, at least one of the bead portions includes the inner core and the outer core. The outermost layer of the bead cord of the respective inner and outer cores has a twisting direction in which the carcass ply moves easily radially outwardly from between the inner core and the outer core. Accordingly, when the carcass cord thermally shrinks, the carcass cord may moves radially outwardly from between the inner core and the outer core. Such a-movement may prevent an increase in tension on the carcass cord, thereby preventing the carcass cord from biting into the inner liner. Thus, the pneumatic tire in accordance with the present invention may exhibit excellent durability.
An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in
The belt layer 7 includes at least one belt ply of belt cords laid at an angle of from 10 to 40 degrees with respect to the tire equator C. In this embodiment, the belt layer 7 includes two belt plies 7A and 7B which are superposed in a radial direction of the tire so that the belt cords of each ply are crossed. As the belt cord, not only steel cord but also a high modulus organic fiber cord such as aramid rayon and the like may be employed.
The inner liner 8 is arranged approximately the whole area of a tire cavity surface 9 so as to extend between bead portions 4 and 4 in a troidal shape. In order to maintain the inner pressure of the tire 1, the inner liner 8 preferably has excellent air impermeable property, and preferably is made of butyl based rubber containing a halogenated butyl rubber at least 50 parts by weight in the rubber, for example.
The bead core 6 includes an inner core 14 disposed along an axially inner surface 5i of the carcass ply 11 and an outer core 15 disposed along an axially outer surface 5o of the carcass ply 11. The inner core 14 and the outer core 15 hold the end portion lie of the carcass ply 11 from both sides to prevent pull-out of the carcass 5. The bead portion 4 is provided with a pair of bead apex rubber components 20i and 20o each made of a hard rubber to reinforce the bead portion 4. Furthermore, the bead portion 4 is arranged a chafer rubber 21 that suppresses not only damage caused by friction with a rim but also slippage to the rim.
As shown in
As shown in
The core 19 in accordance with the present embodiment is configured by twisting three filaments 17. The outermost layer 18 in accordance with the present embodiment is configured by twisting eight filaments 17. Preferably, each of the filaments 17 is made of steel, for example, to obtain a high strength.
If the twisting direction of the filaments 17 of the outermost layer 18 is recognized, as for the bead cord 16, various kinds of cords may be employed such as a bundle-twisted cord having a structure in which n pieces of filaments 17 are bundled and twisted together (1×n), a cord having a structure with the core 19 and the outermost layer 18 both of which have the same twisting pitch and direction of filaments, and a multi twisted cord having a structure in which m pieces of strands, each of which comprises n pieces of filaments twisted together, are twisted together (m×n), for example.
When an external force that twists up the filaments acts on the bead cord 16, the filaments 17 of the outermost layer 18 may hardly deform. On the other hand, when an external force that loosens the twist of the filaments acts on the bead cord 16, the filaments 17 of the outermost layer 18 may easily deform (untwist). Furthermore, since the radially inner end 16a of the bead cord 16 is fixed, the deformation of the filaments 17 of the outermost layer 18 of the bead cord 16 tends to occur in a radially outer portion of the bead cord 16.
When the carcass cord 10, for example, thermally shrinks, the carcass ply 11 may move radially outwardly from between the inner core 14 and the outer core 15. Accordingly, an excessive increase in tension on the carcass cord 10 may be prevented. This may prevent the carcass cord 10 from biting into the inner liner 8, thereby improving durability of the tire 1.
Preferably, the inner core 14 is configured to have a symmetrical structure, to the outer core 15. Accordingly, the inner core 14 and the outer core 15 may equally hold the carcass ply 11.
In this embodiment, in each of the bead portions 4, the inner core 14 and the outer core 15 have the same winding direction of the bead cord 16 in the circumferential direction of the tire. Furthermore, in each of the bead portions 4, the twisting direction of the outermost layer 18 of the bead cord 16 of the inner core 14 is opposite to the twisting direction of the outermost layer 18 of the bead cord 16 of the outer core 15.
In the embodiment of
When the carcass cord 10 has a small heat shrinkage ratio, the tension on the carcass cord 10 does not excessively increase and therefore the amount of biting into the inner liner 8 of the carcass cord 10 is small. Accordingly, the effects of the present embodiment described above may effectively be obtained by applying to a tire having the carcass cord 10 with a heat shrinkage ratio of not less than 1.5%, more preferably not less than 2.0%. For example, such a carcass cord 10 is made of relatively inexpensive material such as PET, nylon or the like, and it helps to improve productivity in cost.
Here, the heat shrinkage ratio is defined as a ratio y/x (%) of the amount of shrinkage “y” of the carcass cord under a no-load condition when left 5 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius to an original length “x” of the carcass cord.
In another variation of the embodiment shown in
In
The green tire molding step further includes an inner core forming step S1, a carcass forming step S2 and an outer core forming step S3.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In the inner core forming step S1 and the outer core forming step S3, the embodiment shown in
More specifically, the inner core 14 and the outer core 15 of the respective bead portions 4a and 4b employ the S-twisted bead cord 16S. In the first bead portion 4a (the front side in
In variation of the embodiment shown in
Embodiments shown in
While the particularly preferable embodiments in accordance with the present invention have been described in detail, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, but can be modified and carried out in various aspects.
In order to confirm effects of the invention, pneumatic tires (225/40R18) having an internal structure as shown in
The respective bead cords shown in Table 1 have the same structure with respect to a twisting structure of 2/7×0.37, a cord diameter of 1.41 mm and twisting pitches of 50 mm, except a twisting direction. As the carcass cord, the “PET” is 1670/2 dtex, the “Rayon” is 1840/2 dtex, and the “Aramid” is 1100/2 dtex.
<Amount of Biting of Carcass Cord>
After vulcanizing each test tire, the amount of biting of the carcass cord into the inner liner was measured and evaluated using an index of its reciprocal, wherein Ex. 1 is set to 100. The larger the value, the better the performance is.
<Durability>
Each test tire was mounted on a wheel rim of 8.5 J with an internal pressure of 210 kPa, and then made to run on a dram tester at 80 km/hr until the tire was broken. Then runnable distance of each test tire was measured and evaluated using an index of the runnable distance of Ex. 1 being 100. The larger the value, the better the performance is.
As shown in Table 1, it is confirmed that example tires prevent the carcass cord from biting into the inner liner and improve durability.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2013-097799 | May 2013 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2014/056342 | 3/11/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2014/181579 | 11/13/2014 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
4628978 | Imai | Dec 1986 | A |
20090020202 | Jaunet | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20120193010 | Fukumoto | Aug 2012 | A1 |
20140251522 | Fukumoto | Sep 2014 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
1088686 | Apr 2001 | EP |
1088686 | Apr 2001 | EP |
2910390 | Aug 2015 | EP |
2008-13135 | Jan 2008 | JP |
2008-273435 | Nov 2008 | JP |
2012-106441 | Jun 2012 | JP |
2012-158064 | Aug 2012 | JP |
WO 2013054579 | Apr 2013 | WO |
Entry |
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Extended European Search Report, dated Nov. 29, 2016, for European Application No. 14794067.0. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20160082784 A1 | Mar 2016 | US |