The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

University of Massachusetts

Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Inc.

Saint-Gobain Abrasifs

Dinesh Chandra

Cheng-Hsiung Lin

Carolin Anna Welter

Robin Lamgaday

Benjamin Isaiah Garn

Daniel Vojtko

Robert Allen Losey

Robert Leon Benedict

Arun Kumar Byatarayanapura Gopala

Sagar Dilip Bafana

Jungmee Kang

Betul Buehler

Michael A Zimmerman

Anuj Seth

Stephan Rodewald

Ralf Mruk

Thulasiram Gobinath

Alfred J Crosby

William Paul Francik

James Gregory Gillick

Andreas Frantzen

Carl Trevor Ross Pulford

Anne Therese Peronnet-Paquin

Bina Patel Botts

Patrick David Marks

Byoung Jo Lee

Michael Lawrence Gersman

Brian Richard Morris

Lauren Elizabeth Brace

Adam Mark Baldan

Dirk Vangeneugden

Frederic Gerard Auguste Siffer

Bert Verheyde

Mingliang Du

Erwin Van Hoof

Christopher Paul Hunt

Dan Qu

Jerome Bernard Hobelman

Samuel Patrick Landers

A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. The sidewall groove extends into an annular, axially extending, sidewall surface such as an axially oriented surface of a tire chafer protrusion located in non-contacting relationship with the rim. The air tube is extruded from a rubber composition, the rubber composition comprising: a diene based rubber; from 0.25 to 5 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of rubber (phr), of a self-lubrication agent capable of migrating from the rubber composition to the groove surface and disposing on the groove surface as a liquid; and from 1 to 15 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of rubber (phr), of a vulcanization modifier for use in the second rubber composition include α,ω-bis(N,N′-dihydrocarbylthiocarbamamoyldithio)alkanes, bismaleimides, and biscitraconimides.

Air maintenance tire

A connecting member and method of forming the connecting member in an air maintenance tire is provided. The method includes providing a tire having a sidewall formed with an annular groove. The groove receives an annular air tube having a first end with a first fitting and a second end with a second fitting. A recess is formed in the tire sidewall along the annular groove at a location where the first end of the annular air tube is adjacent the second end of the annular air tube. A mold formed with a cavity is provided and the fittings are removably secured in the cavity. The mold is positioned on a surface of the tire sidewall and an elastomer or a polymer is introduced into the mold cavity. The mold is heated to form the connecting member on the tire sidewall.

Connecting member for an air maintenance tire and method of forming the same

A mounting member for an air maintenance tire is provided. The tire includes a sidewall that is formed with a groove for receiving an air tube and a recess for receiving at least one pneumatic connector that is in fluid communication with the air tube. The mounting member includes a plurality of layers, in which the layers are in stacked alignment with one another. The plurality of layers includes at least an axially outward layer and an axially inward layer. The mounting member is received in the recess and secured to the tire sidewall, thereby securing the position of the at least one pneumatic connector. A method of forming a mounting member for an air maintenance tire is also provided.

Mounting member for an air maintenance tire

A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall or chafer groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. A coverstrip overlays and seals the groove and provides an abrasion resistant surface on the exterior of the tire. The coverstrip is made from a vulcanizable rubber composition comprising from 50 to 80 phr of a polybutadiene, from 50 to 20 phr of natural rubber, and from 0.1 to 5 phr of a vulcanization modifier.

An air maintenance tire system and method in accordance with the present invention includes an air pumping mechanism configured to maintain air pressure within a first tire and a second tire in a dual tire arrangement. The system includes a control valve assembly attached to an elongate valve stem projecting from a rim of a first tandem tire, and a one-way valve carrying connecting tube from a sidewall air pumping passageway within a sidewall of the first tire. The control valve assembly further includes first and second outlet tubes connected to the elongate valve stem to selectively pass pressurized air into the tire cavities of both tandem mounted tires on an as-needed basis.

Dual tire air maintenance system and method

The present invention is directed to a method of making a cord-reinforced rubber article, comprising the steps of

Atmospheric plasma treatment of reinforcement cords and use in rubber articles

An air maintenance tire and pump assembly comprising: a tire having two spaced inextensible beads; a ground contacting tread portion; a pair of individual sidewalls extending radially inward from the axial outer edges of said tread portion to join the respective beads; a supporting carcass for the tread portion and sidewalls; an innerliner disposed radially inward of the carcass, the innerliner having a innerliner surface facing an interior cavity of the tire; an elongate substantially annular air passageway enclosed within a bending region of the tire, the air passageway operatively closing and opening segment by segment as the bending region of the tire passes through a rolling tire footprint to pump air along the air passageway; an air inlet port assembly coupled to and in air flow communication with the air passageway at an inlet air passageway junction, the air inlet port assembly operable to channel inlet air from outside of the tire into the air passageway, the air inlet port assembly comprising a regulator assembly, the regulator assembly having a mounting surface; the mounting surface adhered to the innerliner surface with a silicone adhesive.

A tire assembly having: a tire having a tread portion and a pair of sidewalls extending radially inward from the tread portion to join with a respective bead; a supporting carcass for the tread portion and sidewalls; a pump passageway positioned within a bending region of the tire, the pump passageway being operative to open and close as the tire rotates; a valve assembly in fluid communication with the pump passageway; a pocket formed in the tire; a filter assembly mounted in the pocket, said filter assembly being in air flow communication with the valve assembly, wherein the pocket has an area larger than the area of the filter housing wherein the valve assembly has an inlet, wherein the filter assembly has an outlet, wherein a tube connects the filter outlet assembly to the inlet of the valve assembly; wherein the tube is made of a rubber composition having a shore D hardness greater than 40 as measured by ASTM-D2240.

Passage tube for air maintenance tire

The invention relates generally to a pneumatic rubber tire which contains an outer, annular, circular groove which contains a flexible tube bonded to the walls of the groove.

Tire with outer groove containing bonded tube

A method of forming a polymer film includes dispensing a substrate and coating the substrate with a composition that is curable using actinic radiation. In an example, the method further includes exposing the composition to actinic radiation in presence of an atmosphere including 1 vol % to 37 vol % oxygen, whereby the surface of the composition forms an undulating morphology. In another example, the method further includes applying an oxygen-containing overlay over the composition, exposing the composition to actinic radiation through the oxygen-containing overlay, and removing the oxygen-containing overlay, whereby the surface of the composition forms an undulating morphology.

Articles including surface microfeatures and methods for forming same

Growing community of inventors

Hudson, OH, United States of America

Dinesh Chandra