The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

John S Attinello

Samuel P Landers

William E Glover

Kevin Alan Reid

Norman D Anderson

Dale G Freygang

James C Stroble

John Kotanides, Jr

Max Harold Dixon

Maurice Graas

Karl Eric Sundkvist

Joel Joseph Lazeration

Paul Bryan Maxwell

Sean D Montag

Paul B Maxwell

Wiliam E Glover

A medallion assembly for a pneumatic tire, in accordance with the present invention, includes a protruding portion, a fastener, and a medallion. The protruding portion is integrally formed with a sidewall of the tire and extends away from the sidewall of the tire. The protruding portion has an annular tapered outer surface. The fastener has an annular tapered inner surface and an annular outer surface. The annular tapered inner surface engages the annular tapered outer surface of the protruding portion. The medallion has an annular inner surface for engaging the annular outer surface of the fastener such that the medallion is secured to the fastener and both the medallion and the fastener are secured to the protruding portion of the sidewall of the tire.

Medallion assembly secured to a tire sidewall

A fastener assembly for a pneumatic tire includes a protruding portion, a fastener, and a securable attachment. The protruding portion is integrally formed with a sidewall of the tire and extends away from the sidewall of the tire. The protruding portion has an annular outer surface and a knob. The fastener has an annular inner surface and an annular outer surface. The annular inner surface engages the annular outer surface of the protruding portion. The annular outer surface has a recess. The securable attachment has an annular inner surface for engaging the recess of the outer surface of the fastener such that the securable attachment is secured to the fastener and both the securable attachment and the fastener are secured to protruding portion of the sidewall of the tire.

Fastener assembly secured to a tire sidewall

Tire tread

A pneumatic tire having improved wet traction has lugs containing sipes which change direction within the lug and tie bars in the sipes near each point where the sipes change direction. Siping, and the positioning of tie bars, provide means for minimizing the difference of the principle direction of lug stiffness between individual lugs. Also, a tire of the invention has 4 pitch ratios which are distributed around the tire so that extra large pitches are not located next to small pitches.

Pneumatic tire having improved wear properties

A tire sidewall having a surface with a distinctive design pattern is described. The pattern has a plurality of ridges 20 of similar cross-sectional shapes of varying sizes, each ridge 20 being substantially parallel to an adjacent ridge 20. The pattern has a plurality of parallel ridges 20 extending in a direction between 45.degree. and 0.degree. relative to the radial direction. The ridges 20 of the pattern vary in size or depth and are preferably arranged in a repeating pattern varying from small to large to small sizes or depths. The preferred patterns have at least three distinct sizes or depths of ridges arranged in a sinusoidal or a sawtooth configuration and have a variation in cross sectional height of at least 0.010 in preferably 0.015 of an inch between consecutive sizes. The design patterns when incorporated into the sidewall 12 of a tire 10 may form a circumferentially continuous wide decorative band with striped or solid alpha-numeric markings superimposed over a portion of the wide decorative band.

Design patterns for a tire sidewall

Growing community of inventors

Hartville, OH, United States of America

John S Attinello