The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

The Goodyear Rubber & Tire Company

Gia Van Nguyen

Laurent Colantonio

Anne-France Gabrielle Jeanne-Marie Cambron

Alain Emile Francois Roesgen

Frank Pierre Severens

Jean Luc Dheur

Roland Paul Close

Frank Philpott

Jean J Collette

Joël André Ghislain Delogne

Agnes Nathalie Iwana Verbeke-Ensch

Florence De Boisfleury

Maurice Graas

Samuel P Landers

Georges Marcel Victor Thielen

Marc Weydert

Italo Marziale Sinopoli

Robert M Shemenski

Michel Marguerite Walther Ghislain Constant

Dong Kwang Kim

Robert Edward Lionetti

John Gomer Morgan

Andrew Frederick Weimer

Peter Phelps Roch

Farrel Bruce Helfer

Marco Joseph Eicher

Bernard Croissant

Guy Jeanpierre

Michel Meunier

Xavier Sebastien Benoit Fraipont

Sebastien Morin

Alain Francois Emile Roesgen

Sébastien Morin

Marc Ernest Ginter

Mustafa Goksoy

Alain Alphonse Zelie Samuel Klepper

Claude Jacque

Xavier Sébastien Benoît Fraipont

A pneumatic tire tread has tread elements formed by circumferential and/or lateral grooves. At least one tread element has a sipe that devolves from a constant width sipe having a three dimensional aspect in at least a portion of the radially outer portion of the sipe to a wider width groove at the base of the tread feature.

Molding blade for pneumatic tire tread

Pneumatic tire tread having sipe that devolves into groove as tread wears

A tire has a tread with a plurality of ground engaging tread elements. In at least one of the tread elements is a sipe having a depth in the radial direction of the tire. The sipe has a crossed configuration comprised of two sipes. At least one of the sipes of the crossed sipe has a radially outer portion having three dimensional elements and a radially innermost portion have a substantially linear configuration. A blade useful for manufacturing the sipe has a crossed blade configuration with a configuration corresponding to the formed sipe.

Tire with tread having crossed configuration sipe

This invention relates to a tire having an electrically non-conductive tread which contains an electrically conductive rubber strip which extends through at least a portion of the tread to its running surface in a wave configured shape, and therefore not a continuous straight line within said tread, in which at least a portion of the rubber strip is in a shape of, for example, a substantially sinusoidal, cycloidal and/or zigzag form, to thereby provide a mechanical self-locking configuration between tread segments through which the rubber strip extends and divides. In particular, said tread is composed of a cap/base configuration. The outer cap layer is of a relatively electrically non-conductive rubber composition having a running surface intended to be ground-contacting. The tread base layer, underlying the tread cap layer, is of a relatively electrically conductive rubber composition and is not normally intended to be ground-contacting. A thin rubber strip, unitary with and as an extension of said tread base layer, which is thereby relatively electrically conductive, extends radially outward from said tread base layer of which at least a portion of the rubber strip is in a form of a wave-shaped configuration through, and therefore within, said tread cap layer to an outer running surface of said tread cap layer. In practice therefore, said rubber strip extends from, and as a part of, said tread base layer through said tread cap layer. In practice, said thin layer extending in said tread cap exhibits substantially at least one half an undulation, and preferably substantially at least two undulations of its wave configured shape of, for example, a substantially sinusoidal, cycloid al and/or zigzag form. The form of the individual undulations of the wave shaped configuration of the strip within the tread may be the same or different.

Tire with electrically non-conductive tread which contains a self locking electrically conductive rubber strip extending through said tread to its running surface

A pneumatic radial ply passenger tire () having a tread (), a casing with two sidewalls (), one or more radial plies () extending from and wrapped about two annular beads () and a belt reinforcement structure () located radially between the tread and the plies. The tread has a first contour-defining curve extending outwards from the equatorial plane of the tire towards the sidewalls, an adjacent second contour-defining curve disposed between the first contour defining curve and the sidewalls and an adjacent third contour defining curve extending outwards from the second contour defining curve and the sidewalls. The first, second and third contour-defining curves have first (R) and second (R) and third (R) radii chosen such that RRR

Radial passenger tire with improved tread contour

A tire with a changing tread pattern is formed by first forming a tire having a tread, the tread having at least one circumferential or lateral groove. A wearable filler, having a configuration corresponding to at least a portion of the circumferential or lateral groove formed in the tire, is located in the radially outer portion of the circumferential or lateral groove or a portion of the circumferential or lateral groove, and secured within the grooves so as to create a groove void radially inward of the wearable filler, the void being exposed upon wear of the tire tread.

Pneumatic tire

A radial ply, passenger vehicle tire has a tread with a substantially flat tread profile, a belt structure, and a carcass comprising two sidewalls, two beads and one or more plies. The one or more plies have a loaded shoulder ply radius that is smaller than the tire's unloaded shoulder ply radius. This design eliminates tread-lift and eliminates the need for decoupling grooves in the shoulder regions of the tread.

Radial tire with improved ply line

Fabric treatment layers ( ) are deployed in the sidewall regions of a runflat tire ( ) having a metal-reinforced first ply ( ). In one embodiment, parallel cord, reinforced fabric treatment layers ( ) sandwich the metal forced first ply ( ) and inhibit buckling of the reinforcing cords ( ) of the first ply during runflat operation when the ply cords or wires are bearing compression loads. In another embodiment, a single woven fabric treatment layer ( ) is disposed in each sidewall region ( ) at a location immediately axially inward of the metal-reinforced first ply ( ).

Fabric support for metal reinforced inner ply of runflat tire

A pneumatic radial ply tire ( ) has a tread ( ), a carcass ( ) with two sidewalls ( ), a single radial ply ( ) reinforced with inextensible metal cords, two annular beads ( &prime;), and a belt structure ( ) located radially between the tread and the radial ply structure ( ). Each sidewall ( ) is reinforced with wedge inserts ( ) containing stiffener layers ( ) that carry the compressive loading to which the tire is subjected during runflat operation. The incorporation of wedge-insert stiffeners ( ) provides a light-weight runflat tire having a simplified construction.

Reinforced wedge-insert construction for extended mobility tires

A hybrid cord is presented for use in the reinforcement of elastomers. The hybrid cord is characterized by having a core steel filament, a first layer of one or more nonmetallic filaments which are wrapped about the steel filament in the core, and a second layer of from 4 to 12 steel filaments which are wrapped about the first layer.

Hybrid cord

Tire tread

A pneumatic radial ply passenger tire ( ) having a tread ( ), a casing with two sidewalls ( ), two radial plies ( ) extending from and wrapped about two annular beads ( ) and a belt reinforcement structure ( ) located radially between the tread and the plies. Inner ply ( ) is reinforced with essentially inextensible metal cords and is designed to carry a compressive load during runflat operation. Outer ply ( ) is reinforced with organic-fiber cords designed to withstand tensile stresses during runflat operation. A circumferentially deployed insert ( ) is disposed between the inner and outer radial plies ( ) in each sidewall ( ) adjacent to the shoulder of the tread. The metal cords ( ) of inner ply ( ) have compressive-load-hearing capacity which reduces the mass of the insert material ( ). The metal cords ( ) also have thermal conductivity properties that dissipate heat buildup from both ply ( ) and insert ( ).

Sidewall with insert construction for runflat tire

A pneumatic radial ply tire ( ) having a tread ( ), a carcass ( ) with two sidewalls ( ), two or more radial plies ( ), two annular beads ( &prime;), a belt structure ( ) located radially between the tread and the radial ply structure ( ), one or more circumferentially deployed high-modulus incompressible belt reinforcements ( ) and/or two or more circumferentially deployed high-modulus tensile-stress-bearing fabric reinforcements ( ). Belt reinforcement(s) ( ) and/or fabric reinforcement(s) ( ) work to increase the lateral and circumferential rigidity of the tread ( ) and underlying structures of the carcass ( ). The lateral and circumferential stiffening of the tread ( ) enhances high-speed runflat handling and contributes to improved runflat operational life.

Thread reinforcement means for extended mobility tire

An apparatus for testing the fatigue of a sample of cord or filament ( ) by bending it over a fixed surface ( ). The apparatus comprises a tensioner ( ), a fixed bending surface ( ) and a driving mechanism ( ), whereby the driving mechanism ( ) causes a non-twisting bending of cord or filament ( ) over bending surface ( ) while tensioner ( ) maintains a constant tension on cord or filament ( ). In a method of the invention, a cord or filament ( ) is attached to a tensioner ( ), the cord or filament ( ) is mounted on fixed bending surface ( ) and attached to non-stationary roller ( ), and driving mechanism ( ) is activated to cause a back and forth movement of roller ( ), thereby causing filament or cord ( ) to bend back and forth over fixed bending surface ( ) until it breaks. This process is repeated using different stress increase rates on the cord or filament ( ) by adjusting the tensioner ( ) and a linear regression equation is used to determine the fatigue stress limit of the material.

Fatigue machine for testing cord or filament

A radial ply runflat tire ( ) having a tread ( ), a carcass ( ) with two sidewalls ( ), one or more radial plies ( ), two annular beads ( &prime;), and a belt structure ( ) located radially between the tread and the radial ply structure ( ). The tread has laterally disposed tread ribs ( ) whose contours are defined by circular curves intersecting nontangentially with the circular curve that defines the contour of the central portion of the tread. Each sidewall portion ( ) has a rib ( ) that is out of contact with the road during normal inflation operation and that engages the road during runflat operation. The tread ribs ( ) are separated from the respective sidewall ribs ( ) by decoupling grooves ( ) which overlie the point of nontangential intersection of the circular curves that define the respective contours of the sidewall ribs and the laterally disposed tread ribs. Decoupling grooves ( ) overlie the point of nontangential intersection of the circular curves that define the respective contours of the laterally disposed tread ribs ( ) and the central portion ( ) of the tread.

Tread and sidewall construction for runflat tire

Growing community of inventors

Rossignol, Belgium

Gia Van Nguyen