The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Gencorp, Inc.

Other

Ching-Chih Lee

Robert Allen Losey

Thulasiram Gobinath

John Patrick Roman

Michael Christopher Kulton

Kelly Sue King

Michael David Kachner

David Louis Winter

Judy Ann Birt

Randall Raymond Brayer, Sr

David Lee Bair

Susan Lynn Ashton

Yang Wang

Ikechukwu Joel Okoye

James Vincent Satrape

Alfonso Quijano

Le Zhang

Gary Robert Burg

James F Stevenson

Bruce Joseph Turner

Malcolm George Marshall

Richard A Miranda

Randall Raymond Brayer Sr

James F Roach

Ernest Wilford Looman

Pressure sensors may be used to directly measure the pressure between a green tire and a curing apparatus during shaping and/or during curing. This can be accomplished by a method including the steps of: (A) providing a bladder, a tire mold and, a green tire having a pair of annular beads and one or more plies; (B) mounting a first pressure sensor to an inner surface of the green tire between an overlay and a belt; (C) inserting the green tire into the tire mold and closing the tire mold; (D) shaping the green tire by expanding the bladder within the green tire against the closed tire mold; and, (E) directly measuring the pressure between the overlay and the belt of the green tire during step (D) with the first pressure sensor.

Measuring tire pressure in a tire mold

Pressure sensors may be used to directly measure the pressure between a green tire and a curing apparatus during shaping and/or during curing.

A pneumatic tire has a carcass structure extending through a pair of opposing bead portions and an inner liner located inward of the carcass structure, each bead portion comprising a bead core about which is wrapped the carcass structure and a toeguard. Each bead portion has a bead toe, a bead base, and a bead heel, the bead base extending between the bead toe and the bead heel. The bead heel has a profile corresponding to a sector of an ellipse or approximates a sector of an ellipse by having a dual radius structure. The bead base may have a dual taper configuration. The bead core may be substantially centered in the bead portion, as determined by the material thickness at three locations about the bead core.

Tire bead geometry

An expandable bladder for shaping a pneumatic tire to be mounted inside a tire curing press has a pair of opposing annular beads and an expansion portion located between the pair of annular beads. The expansion portion of the bladder has a central portion, shoulder portions, and sidewall portions. When the bladder is in a mounted but uninflated mode, the shoulder portions have a radius of curvature less than infinity. At a distance (x) from each end of the central portion, the bladder has an increased thickness in the shoulder and upper sidewall portions.

Tire curing bladder

An expandable, toroidal shaped bladder for use in a tire curing press has a pair of opposing annular beads and an expansion portion location between the pair of annular beads. The expansion portion of the bladder has a central portion, shoulder portions, and sidewall portions. When the bladder is in a mounted but uninflated mode, the shoulder portions of the bladder have a radius of curvature Rsignificantly less than a radius of curvature Rc of the central portion. The shoulder portions have a bubble or square-like configuration.

The method of designing a bead flange profile ( ) for a pneumatic tire ( ) to be mounted on a design rim ( ) as specified for the tire size has the steps of (a) selecting a design rim and a cured tire construction and bead profile ( ); (b) predicting or measuring the tire deformation upon mounting and inflation; (c) analyzing the deformation to show the compressed beat seat profile ( ) and the bead flange profile ( ) contacting the rim flange; (d) identifying any gaps between the tire ( ) and the rim ( ); (e) modifying the tire's bead flange profile ( ) to eliminate any gaps by moving selected points on the bead flange profile ( ) in proportion to the local gap sizes; (f) shifting all modified points axially inward by a distance so that the molded base width remains the same as the original profile ( ); and then (g) smoothing the connections between the modified portion and the rest of the bead profile ( ).

Method of tire bead flange profiling

A weatherstrip seal comprises a carrier structure without embedded reinforcement that has an attached weather-sealing structure extending therefrom. The carrier structure has two spaced-apart legs connected by a base, the interior walls of the legs forming a channel therebetween. Finger-like members extending from the walls are adapted to frictionally engage and hold a mounting flange inserted into the channel. The legs decrease in thickness as they proceed outwardly from the base and their walls converge inwardly toward each other, minimizing the material required for fabrication of the carrier and enhancing its ability to withstand forces acting to dislodge the mounting flange from the channel, especially at corners thereof.

Wireless weatherstrip profiles

An apparatus for inspecting a reflective surface of an article for defects includes a point light source for generally uniformly illuminating the entire surface of the article under inspection, and a diffusing screen for intercepting the light rays reflected from the surface under inspection of the article. The intercepted light rays produce a high resolution image on the screen consisting of bright and dark areas or spots corresponding to surface defects in the article under inspection.

Surface inspection apparatus and method

Growing community of inventors

Hudson, OH, United States of America

Ching-Chih Lee