The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Michael David Kachner

Robert Allen Losey

Thulasiram Gobinath

John Patrick Roman

Ching-Chih Lee

Michael Christopher Kulton

Kelly Sue King

Judy Ann Birt

David Louis Winter

Randall Raymond Brayer, Sr

David Ray Hubbell

Richard C Beard

Randall Raymond Brayer Sr

Christopher Michael Smith

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

By shifting the peak height of the tread on one side of the tire from the centerline (CL), for a tire intended for cambered use on a vehicle and/or exposure to lateral loading, improvements in the footprint shape, pressure distribution, area and footprint shape factor (FSF) are obtained. In an illustrated embodiment, 0.127 cm to 5 cm (deep) of mold material are removed from one side of the centerline (CL) of the crown in a conventional mold, at 15% to 85% of the distance from the centerline to the shoulder area of the mold (one-half inch to five and one-half inches in the illustrated tires), to obtain a mold shape having the designated change in tread peak height.

Method of forming pneumatic radial tire including tread having asymmetric profile

An improved radial ply pneumatic tire 30 is described. The improved tire 30 has a first annular surface 23 located between the heel 22B and toe 22A of each bead 33 and a second surface 24 extending radially outwardly from the bead heel 22B. The first surface 23 is designed to be in contact with the bead seat 42 of the design rim 40 when the tire 30 is mounted and inflated to normal pressure. The first annular surface 23, when the tire 30 is unmounted, forms an average angle .beta. with the axis of the tire, when the beads 33 are axially spaced a distance D equal to the design rim width as defined herein. The average angle .beta. is in the range of at least one-half degree and less than three degrees greater than the angle formed between the mating bead seat 42 of the design rim 40 and the axis of the tire. The second surface 24 is designed to be in contact with an annular flange 44 portion of the design rim 40 when the tire is mounted and inflated to normal pressure. The second surface 24 is perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

Radial ply tire with specified bead portion design

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Akron, OH, United States of America

Michael David Kachner