Patent Application
20090229727
The present invention generally relates to the construction of pneumatic tires and more particularly the sidewall area and rim flange protection of a tire.
For many years, tire manufacturers have considered the use of colored sidewalls. One technique known in the art embeds the desired colored compound into the characteristic black sidewall stock of the tire during the extruding or the fabrication of the sidewall and prior to the first stages of tire fabrication or building. The colored compound is normally covered with a thin layer or laminate of black sidewall stock commonly referred to as a cover strip. The tire is subsequently completed in conventional fashion as in the manufacture of a standard black wall tire through the shaping and vulcanization steps. Subsequent to vulcanization, grinding or butting equipment is employed to remove portions of the cover strip and expose the extent of colored compound necessary to achieve the predetermined desired decorative effect. Other ways of adding color to sidewalls have also been proposed. Commercial acceptance of these methods have been limited because of the additional cost associated with the additional processing steps and the increased number of imperfect tires caused by the additional processing.
Reference will be made in detail to preferred embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The drawings are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Certain elements in selected ones of the drawings may be illustrated not-to-scale, for illustrative clarity.
“Apex” means an elastomeric filler located radially above the bead core and between the plies and the turnup ply.
“Axial” and “Axially” means the lines or directions that are parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire.
“Axially Inward” means in an axial direction toward the equatorial plane.
“Axially Outward” means in an axial direction away from the equatorial plane.
“Bead” or “Bead Core” generally means that part of the tire comprising an annular tensile member of radially inner beads that are associated with holding the tire to the rim; the beads being wrapped by ply cords and shaped, with or without other reinforcement elements such as flippers, chippers, apexes or fillers, toe guards and chafers.
“Belt Structure” or “Reinforcement Belts” means at least two annular layers or plies of parallel cords, woven or unwoven, underlying the tread, unanchored to the bead, and having both left and right cord angles in the range from 17E to 27E relative to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Breakers” or “tire breakers” means the same as belt or belt structure or reinforcement belts.
“Bead” or “Bead Core” generally means that part of the tire comprising an annular tensile member of radially inner beads that are associated with holding the tire to the rim.
“Carcass” means the tire structure apart from the belt structure, tread, undertread over the plies, but including the beads.
“Circumferential” most often means circular lines or directions extending along the perimeter of the surface of the annular tread perpendicular to the axial direction; it can also refer to the direction of the sets of adjacent circular curves whose radii define the axial curvature of the tread, as viewed in cross section.
“Cord” means one of the reinforcement strands of which the plies and other cord-reinforced components of the tire are comprised.
“Green carcass” means the uncured tire carcass prior to the installation of the belt structure and tread.
“Insert” means the cross-sectionally crescent- or wedge-shaped reinforcement typically used to reinforce the sidewalls of runflat-type tires.
“Lateral” means a direction parallel to the axial direction.
“Ply” means a cord-reinforced layer of rubber coated radially deployed or otherwise parallel cords.
“Radial” and “radially” mean directions radially toward or away from the axis of rotation of the tire.
“Radial ply structure” means the one or more carcass plies of which at least one ply has reinforcing cords oriented at an angle of between 65° and 90° with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Radial ply tire” means a belted or circumferentially-restricted pneumatic tire in which at least one ply has cords which extend from bead to bead are laid at cord angles between 65° and 90° with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire.
“Shoulder” means the upper portion of sidewall just below the tread edge.
“Sidewall” means that portion of a tire between the tread and the bead.
“Tangential” and “tangentially” refer to segments of circular curves that intersect at a point through which can be drawn a single line that is mutually tangential to both circular segments.
“Tread” means the ground contacting portion of a tire.
“Tire crown” means the tread, tread shoulders and adjacent portions of the sidewalls.
Referring to
A close-up view of the rim flange protector 140 is shown in
As shown in
For all of the above described embodiments, the second member 160 may be mounted into the sidewall prior to closing the mold during the vulcanization of the tire 100. Preferably, the second member 160 is inserted into the molded in groove 150 after the tire has been vulcanized. In that event, the base portion 166 can be adhered within the groove 150, respectively, by either the tight fit between the base portion and the groove, or with an adhesive placed within the groove to insure that sufficient adhesive forces can be developed that the second member stays in place. In all of the embodiments described above, the second member 160 can be installed and/or removed from the vulcanized tire at a later time so as to insert another ring for reasons such as styling (using a different color ring or logo) or if the ring is damaged.
The above described embodiments are not limited to the location near the rim flange. Member 140 may be located anywhere on the sidewall.
The invention has been illustrated and described in a manner that should be considered as exemplary rather than restrictive in character. It is understood that only preferred embodiments have been shown and described, and that all changes and modifications that come within the scope of the invention are desired to be protected. Undoubtedly, many other “variations” on the techniques set forth hereinabove will occur to one having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention most nearly pertains, and such variations are intended to be within the scope of the invention, as disclosed herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61036443 | Mar 2008 | US |
