Sumitomo Rubber Industries Limited

Paul Stephens

David Robert Watkins

Michael Jackson

Thomas Holmes

Lavinder S Rehal

John C Walker

Andrew Chanse

A tire for a vehicle having at least one wheel at each corner, the tire comprising a non-longitudinal ground contacting tread extending axially between first and second axial edge regions and having tread grooves formed therein, wherein in the first axial edge region of the tread, the tread grooves are oriented substantially in the tire circumferential direction and in the second axial edge region of the tread the grooves are oriented substantially in the tire axial direction and in a third axial region of the tread axially between the first and second edge regions the orientation of the grooves changes progressively from circumferential to axial.

Tire having tread including orientation of grooves changing across entire tread width

A tire for a vehicle having at least one wheel at each corner, the tire comprising a ground contacting tread extending axially between first and second edge regions and having tread grooves formed therein, wherein in the first axial edge region of the tread the tread grooves are aligned substantially in the tire circumferential direction and in the second axial edge region of the tread the grooves are aligned substantially in the tire axial direction and in a third axial region of the tread axially between the first and second edge regions the alignment of the grooves changes progressively from circumferential to axial.

Method of manufacturing tire including grooves

A method of determining the inflation pressure of one or more pneumatic tires on a moving vehicle having a plurality of n wheels fitted with tires by performing a set-up procedure comprising, for a range of tire inflation set-up procedure comprising, for a range of tire inflation pressures including all the vehicle tires at their scheduled inflation pressure and combinations of one or more tires at a range of pressures below their scheduled and for a range of vehicle speeds and driving conditions such as accelerating, braking, straight-ahead driving and cornering, deriving for each of the wheels a speed value Cn proportion to the wheel angular velocity, determining and saving the relationship of the set of set-up speed values to each related tire pressure, and subsequently in normal driving monitoring at intervals of time the wheel speed signals of the wheels on the vehicle, deriving an equivalent set of normal driving speed values based on these monitored wheel speed signals, obtaining the associated tire inflation pressures. The method may utilize a trainable information processing system such as a neural network to map the speed values onto the set of tire inflation pressures. The method may particularly be applied to detecting a deflated tire on a vehicle.

Method of determining the inflation pressure of a tire on a moving

The invention is directed to a tire and wheel rim assembly for a vehicle. The tire comprises a pair of bead regions each reinforced by a bead core characterized by at least one bead portion of the tire having an additional hardened retention zone positioned axially inwards of and integral with the main bead portion, the retention zone having an axially inner tip or toe substantially inwards of the main bead portion and the construction of the bead between the bead core and tip providing substantial resistance to compressive forces therebetween. The wheel rim comprises a pair of bead seats and axially inwards of and adjacent to at least one of the bead seats, which is that part of the bead seat contacted by a standard tire, at least one circumferentially extending tooth having a sharp edge inter-engaging only the retention zone of the tire at the tip such that when lateral force is applied to the tire tread and internal inflation pressure is low, axially inward movement of the tip is resisted by tip-to-tooth inter-engagement thus causing bead rotation about the tip and generation of compression force in those parts of the bead region between the tip and the core to provide bead retention at the bead seat. The invention also provides a wheel rim and a tire having the above features.

Tire and wheel rim assemblies

The invention is directed to a tire for mounting on the wheel rim of a vehicle. The tire comprises a pair of bead portions each reinforced by a bead hoop, at least one bead portion of the tire having an additional retention zone positioned axially inwards of and integral with the main bead portion, the retention zone having an axially inner tip or toe substantially inwards of the main bead portion and the construction of the bead portion and the additional retention zone between the bead hoop and tip providing substantial resistance to compressive forces therebetween. The portion between the bead hoop and the tip can include reinforcement and can comprise an elastomeric material having a hardness of 80 to 95 degrees I. R. H. The tip is formed from an elastomeric material having a set property at 70.degree. C. of greater than 40% so that when the tip is fitted to a wheel rim having sharp teeth in the region contacted by the tip, the material of the tip engages the teeth. The tip may be provided by means of a strip of material positioned at the axially and radially innermost point of the tire toe. The tire can also comprise a chafer layer extending around the outer periphery of the bead in which case the strip of material providing the tip is positioned on the outside of the chafer.

Bead portion of a tire

A tire tread compound, particularly useful for truck tires, comprises a base polymer of natural or synthetic rubber, a filler at least 50% of which is carbon black and between 2 and 10 parts of epoxy resin per hundred parts of polymer.

Growing community of inventors

Halesowen, United Kingdom

Paul Stephens