The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Frank Philpott

Laurent Colantonio

Alain Emile Francois Roesgen

Filomeno Gennaro Corvasce

Gia Van Nguyen

Anne Thérèse Peronnet-Paquin

Giorgio Agostini

Matthieu Pingenat

Laurent Luigi Domenico Colantonio

Walter Dale Allen

Anne Therese Peronnet-Paquin

Johan Peter Dahlberg

Philippe Marie Manne

Philippe Marie Etienne Manne

Mustafa Goksoy

Luigi Domenico Colantonio

A run flat safety support ring intended to be mounted on a wheel rim inside a tire equipping a vehicle for supporting the tire tread in case of loss of inflation pressure has a generally cylindrical crown intended to come in contact with the interior of the tire tread in the event of the loss of inflation pressure, but has a clearance from the tire tread interior at normal pressure. The ring also has an annular body located radially inward of the crown, the annular body comprising a grid of continuous reinforcement composite.

Tire support ring

A self-supporting pneumatic tire, capable of continued operation during under-inflation conditions, has at least one insert located in each tire sidewall. Forming the interior surface of the self-supporting tire is a stiffening layer of material having characteristics similar to that of the insert. In the tread region of the tire, and radially inward of the innermost carcass layer, and possibly in the interior bead region of the tire, is a partial inner liner layer of the bromobutyl rubber.

Self-supporting pneumatic tire with a partial inner liner

Disclosed is a pneumatic run-flat tire. The tire has at least one carcass reinforcing ply, at least one pair of sidewall wedge inserts, and a belt reinforcing structure. The belt reinforcing structure is formed from at least a pair of cross cord belt reinforcing plies. Located radially outward of the carcass reinforcing ply is a porous elastomeric layer. The porous elastomeric layer has a porosity level of 20 to 80%, preferably 40&#x2013;70%, of the total volume of the porous elastomeric layer.

Pneumatic run-flat tire with porous elastomeric layer

The present invention is a crown-stiffening underlay structure comprised of a flat strip of elastomeric material reinforced with essentially inextensible cords. The cord-reinforced flat strip is wrapped helically around the green tire carcass prior to blowup into the characteristic toroidal shape of a tire carcass. In one embodiment, the underlay structure is disposed between breakers and the radial ply structure. In another embodiment, the underlay is disposed between the radial ply structure and the innerliner. In another embodiment, the afore described underlay structure has an additional and structurally contiguous beam made of elastomeric material.

Underlay structure for increased crown stiffening

The present invention relates to a radial ply tire ( ) with a tread ( ) subdivided transversely into a central portion ( ) having central ribs ( ), shoulder portions ( ) having shoulder ribs ( ) and intermediate portions ( ) having intermediate ribs between the central portion and the shoulder portions. The tread has intermediate grooves ( ) between the central ribs and the intermediate ribs ( ) and shoulder decoupling grooves ( ) between the intermediate ribs and the shoulder ribs ( ). The shoulder decoupling grooves having a depth (D ) being less than the intermediate decoupling grooves whereby the footprint width of the tread surface can expand from first width (NLFPW) under normal load to a second width (HLFPW) under heavy load.

Pneumatic tire having a load dependent adaptive footprint shape

The invention relates to a pneumatic tire with a toroidal shaped tire carcass having sidewalls and a tread. The tire carcass terminates at opposite bead regions for mounting on a tire rim. The tire has at least one of the sidewalls having a circumferentially extending continuous groove, and a non-rubber inlay ring secured within the continuous groove of the sidewall(s) to form a rim flange protector.

Tire with inlay ring mounted in sidewall

A pneumatic tire with an increased load carrying capacity (extended load index) but compatible with conventional, commercially available wheel rims, has a modified carcass ply line. The pneumatic tire ( ) has a tread area ( ) and a carcass structure ( ) including two bead areas ( ), at least one cord-reinforced elastomeric ply ( ) extending through sidewalls ( ) between the bead areas ( ) and the tread area ( ), and a belt structure ( ) between the tread area ( ) and the carcass structure ( ). The tire ( ) has bead areas ( ) containing a triangular shaped beads so that the ply line (PL&prime;&Prime;) that causes the bead areas to better secure the tire to the rim during high stress conditions.

Triangular bead configuration for pneumatic tire with extended load carrying capacity

A pneumatic tire with an increased load carrying capacity (extended load index) but compatible with conventional, commercially available wheel rims, has a modified carcass plyline. The tire has a tread area, a carcass structure including two bead areas each comprising a bead, at least one cord-reinforced elastomeric ply extending between the two bead areas, and two sidewalls, one sidewall extending between the tread area and each bead area. The tire is characterized by: a section width defined by lines L and L disposed orthogonally to an axis of rotation of the tire and at equal distances on either side of the equatorial plane of the tire; a plyline that follows the meridional path of a radially and axially outermost one of the at least one ply; points P P on the plyline, being located where the plyline is axially outside of one of the beads and simultaneously at a minimum radial distance of dp dp respectively, from the axis of rotation AR; lines M and M each parallel to, and axially inwards of, lines L and L respectively, and passing through points P and P respectively; a first distance of 1 mm to 5 mm being the spacing from line L to line M and from line L to line M limiting radial distances r and r that exceed the distances dp and dp respectively, by a value of 30% to 70% of a section height SH of the tire; and the plyline extending radially outward in each sidewall to the limiting radial distance r r without axially deviating from lines M M respectively, by more than a second distance of 0 mm to 5 mm.

Pneumatic tire with extended load carrying capacity

A pneumatic radial ply runflat tire ( ) has a tread ( ), belt structure ( ), a carcass ( ), and an underlay ( ) disposed between the belt structure and the carcass. The carcass ( ) comprises two sidewalls ( ), two beads ( ), and one or more radial plies ( ). The tire ( ) is characterized by the underlay ( ) having reinforcement cords ( ) with turns aligned parallel to the tire's equatorial plane, the cords ( ) exhibiting negligible modulus of elasticity (&ldquo;modulus&rdquo;) below a threshold elongation and high modulus above the threshold elongation. The underlay ( ) stiffens the tire during runflat operation but not during normal inflated operation.

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Waldbredimus, Luxembourg

Frank Philpott