Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited

Sp Tyres UK Limited

Sp Tires UK Limited

Arthur R Williams

Nigel G Nock

David H Clarke

David Robert Watkins

John Anthony Turley

A radial tire having bead regions each comprising a bead clinch and a bead seat has between two and ten circumferentially extending ribs projecting outward of the bead region outer surface. The ribs are preferably continuous around the circumference of the tire bead and project outward from the bead region outer surface by a distance not greater than 8%, more preferably not greater than 3%, of the bead base width. Also the ribs preferably have a maximum width of between 5% and 15%, most preferably 10%, of the bead base width. The rib surface most preferably comprises a continuous surface of an arc and straight portion meeting tangentially.

Pneumatic tire with bead regions having circumferentially extending ribs

A pneumatic tire for a vehicle comprises a carcass ply extending between two bead regions and passing through a tread region which extends between two tread contact edges, a tread region reinforcing breaker radially outwards of the carcass in the tread region and a ground contacting tread surface curved in the axial direction wherein the curvature of the outer tread surface when the tire is mounted on its design wheel rim and normally inflated has a continuously decreasing radius from a point P which is at a distance SP in the axial direction from the tire circumferential center line equal to 20% of the distance from the tread center to the adjacent tread contact edge.

Pneumatic tire with specified tread curvature and/or specified breaker

A pneumatic tire for a vehicle comprises a carcass ply extending between two bead regions and passing through a tread region which extends between two tread contact edges, a tread region reinforcing breaker radially outwards of the carcass in the tread region and a ground contacting tread surface curved in the axial direction wherein the outer surface of the widest breaker ply when the tire is mounted in its design wheel rim and normally inflated has a curved shape in the tire axial direction and has a continuously decreasing radius from a point B to the adjacent edge of the breaker wherein point B is at a distance SP in the axial direction from the tire circumferential centerline equal to 20% of the distance from the tread center to the adjacent tread contact edge.

A radial tire for a four wheeled vehicle comprising a reinforced carcass ply extending between two bead regions through sidewall regions to a tread region and a reinforcing breaker disposed in the tread region extending circumferentially around the tire radially outside the carcass ply wherein the tread region is substantially curved in cross-section and has a camber value C/L of between 0.25 to 0.75. The breaker includes at least two plies of reinforcing fabric, a narrower breaker ply which is radially innermost and a wider breaker ply which is radially outermost, and each of the breaker plies except the outermost ply has adjacent to each of its lateral edges a circumferentially extending support strip which extends laterally outward from the edge of the breaker ply to at least the lateral position of the edge of the widest breaker ply.

Heavy duty radial tire for minimized road damage

A radial ply tire including a tread reinforcing breaker package comprising at least one ply of tire breaker fabric characterized in that the cords in both edge regions of the single radially outermost ply of the breaker package are inclined to the circumferential centerline of the breaker package at opposite acute angles so that the cords in said edge regions are in relative 'V' shaped formation and the tire is marked by a directional marker pointing in the opposite direction of the 'V' formation so that the tire may be fitted to a vehicle with the marker in the direction of rotation for a non-driven wheel and in the opposite direction for a driven wheel so that the greatest torque forces are applied to the breaker ply in the direction of the 'V' formation. The outermost ply may be side by side strips or cord laid in a 'V' formation.

Radial ply tire

A tire having a pair of axially spaced-apart bead regions each reinforced by an annular bead hoop around which one edge of a carcass reinforcing ply is wrapped and a filler strip positioned in the axially outer region of the bead. The filter strip which extends circumferentially around the bead, has one edge radially inwards of the bead hoop and one edge axially outwards of the bead hoop characterized in that the filler strips in both beads have their cords laid at an angle to the same specified direction circumferentially such that the cords of one filler strip are substantially parallel to the cords of the other filler strip. The tire has an external direction marker in the same circumferential direction to the specified direction so that in use the tire may be fitted to a vehicle with the marker in the opposite direction to the greatest torque force from the wheel. The filler strip may be cut edge tire cord fabric or a single cord laid in a zig-zag to form the fabric.

Growing community of inventors

Solihull, United Kingdom

Arthur R Williams