The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Robert Allen Losey

Samuel P Landers

Thulasiram Gobinath

David Charles Poling

Charles Kenneth Schmalix

Robert Leon Benedict

Billy Joe Ratliff, Jr

James Alfred Benzing, Ii

Robin Lamgaday

Andrew Brent Mendenhall

Karl Eric Sundkvist

Cheng-Hsiung Lin

Robert Anthony Neubauer

Joseph Carmine Lettieri

Paul Bryan Maxwell

Aaron Scott Puhala

Keith Carl Trares

Joseph Kevin Hubbell

John Patrick Roman

Ching-Chih Lee

Jonathan James Shondel

Randall Raymond Brayer, Sr

Ping Zhang

Randall R Brayer

Martin Paul Cohen

Eric John Marazzi

Thomas Reed Oare

Daniel Ray Downing

Carolin Anna Welter

Michael Julian Crawford

Walter Dale Allen

Leonard James Reiter

Dale Edward Umstot

Timothy Michael Rooney

Bruce Raymond Hahn

Michael Joseph Weber

Richard Michael D'Sidocky

Philip S Hammond

Gary Edwin Tubb

Kevin Lee Burnworth

Patrick David Marks

Addison Brian Siegel

Mahdy Malekzadeh Moghani

Kenneth Wayne Rudd

Rani Harb

Michael Christopher Kulton

Kelly Sue King

Andrew Edward Morrison

Michael David Kachner

David Louis Winter

Judy Ann Birt

Dinesh Chandra

Bernard Matthew Bezilla, Jr

John Joseph Kantura, Iii

Robert Bernard Nelson

Michael Thomas Driscoll

Jean-Claude Patrice Philippe Griffoin

Kenneth Allen Bates

Brian Richard Morris

Luis Antonio Cabrera

Jeremy Elton Miracle

Donald Allan Abbott

Samuel Patrick Landers

Alfredo Guillermo Causa

James Kenneth Niedermier

Ginger Lee

Billy Joe Ratliff

Tarah Pecora Shpargel

Eddy Dong-Rong Pan

Rachel Rebekah Barnette

Jennifer Ann McDougal

Melissa Marie Beauvais

William Marcellus Buckler, Jr

Nathan Edward Yensho

Cynthia Nelson, Legal Representative

Hoa L Lam

Randall Raymond Brayer Sr

Kurtis Dale Kandel

Steven Allan Kontney

Bernard Matthew Bezilla

Tire

A self-inflating tire assembly includes an air tube mounted within a tire sidewall groove. The air tube is in contacting engagement with opposite angled groove surfaces surrounding the air tube. A segment of the air tube is flattened from an expanded diameter to a flat diameter by bending and compression of the groove in a rolling tire footprint to force air evacuated from the flattened segment along a tube air passageway. A tube is positioned within the groove, wherein the tube has a circular cross-sectional shape and an outside diameter D, and the groove does not have a circular cross-sectional shape, wherein said groove has a width W and a length L, wherein D is greater than W.

Air maintenance tire and valve assembly

A method in accordance with the present invention retreads an air maintenance tire. The method comprises the steps of: grinding remaining tread material from a tire casing for a worn air-maintenance tire; temporarily securing a contoured piece around a structure secured to the inner surface of the tire casing; placing a tread on the tire casing; inflating a bladder within an internal cavity of the tire casing and around the contoured piece whereby the bladder does not contact the structure; securing the tread to the tire casing; deflating the bladder; separating the tire casing and tread secured to the tire casing from the bladder; and removing the contoured piece from the tire casing.

Protective structure for a retreaded air maintenance tire

A method of making a tire comprising the steps of providing a core; forming a first layer of ply by winding a strip of one or more rubber coated cords onto the core in a geodesic pattern extending from a first shoulder to a second shoulder opposite said first shoulder and being tangent to the bead at a location between said first shoulder and said second shoulder.

Geodesic tire and method of manufacture

Spokes

An air maintenance tire and air pump assembly is provided including a tire and an elongate tubular air passageway enclosed within a flexing region of a tire sidewall. A plurality of check valve devices are spaced apart and positioned along the air passageway into multiple air passageway segments. A check valve membrane opens to allow pressurized air to directionally pass through the check valve device from an upstream passageway segment to a downstream passageway segment and closes to prevent air from passing in an opposite direction through the check valve from the downstream segment to the upstream segment.

Vein pump assembly for air maintenance tire

An air pumping tube and tire system and method of assembling is provided in which a tire groove is formed to extend into a flexing region of a tire sidewall and a complementary air pumping tube inserts into the tire groove. In the green, uncured air pumping tube condition, one or more check valves are assembled into the air pumping tube through access shafts and align with an internal air passageway of the air pumping tube. Plug components of the system enclose the check valves in the air pumping tube and the check valve-containing green air pumping tube is then cured.

Vein-style air pumping tube and tire system and method of assembly

An air maintenance tire and pump assembly comprising: a tire having two spaced inextensible beads; a ground contacting tread portion; a pair of individual sidewalls extending radially inward from the axial outer edges of said tread portion to join the respective beads; a supporting carcass for the tread portion and sidewalls; an innerliner disposed radially inward of the carcass, the innerliner having a innerliner surface facing an interior cavity of the tire; an elongate substantially annular air passageway enclosed within a bending region of the tire, the air passageway operatively closing and opening segment by segment as the bending region of the tire passes through a rolling tire footprint to pump air along the air passageway; an air inlet port assembly coupled to and in air flow communication with the air passageway at an inlet air passageway junction, the air inlet port assembly operable to channel inlet air from outside of the tire into the air passageway, the air inlet port assembly comprising a regulator assembly, the regulator assembly having a mounting surface; the mounting surface adhered to the innerliner surface with a silicone adhesive.

Air maintenance tire

A tire assembly having: a tire having a tread portion and a pair of sidewalls extending radially inward from the tread portion to join with a respective bead; a supporting carcass for the tread portion and sidewalls; a pump passageway positioned within a bending region of the tire, the pump passageway being operative to open and close as the tire rotates; a valve assembly in fluid communication with the pump passageway; a pocket formed in the tire; a filter assembly mounted in the pocket, said filter assembly being in air flow communication with the valve assembly, wherein the pocket has an area larger than the area of the filter housing wherein the valve assembly has an inlet, wherein the filter assembly has an outlet, wherein a tube connects the filter outlet assembly to the inlet of the valve assembly; wherein the tube is made of a rubber composition having a shore D hardness greater than 40 as measured by ASTM-D2240.

Passage tube for air maintenance tire

A method of assembling an air pump in a tire is provided including: opening an axial air passageway of an elongate flexible air tube at one end; inserting one by one a plurality of one-way check valves into the air passageway from the one end to form an axial array of spaced apart check valves along the air passageway, each check valve having an external nominal width greater than a nominal width of the air tube passageway; establishing a press fit engagement between each check valve and air tube internal sidewalls defining the air passageway to place each check valve at a respective preferred position within the air passageway; retaining the check valves in the respective preferred positions within the air passageway by radial pressure from the air tube internal sidewalls and closing the one end of the flexible air tube.

Method of assemblying a segmented vein air pump in a tire

A pneumatic tire includes a carcass with a plurality of ply cords braided into an interlaced structure. Each of the ply cords follows a geodesic path from a first sidewall portion across a crown portion to a second sidewall portion. The pneumatic tire also includes a rubber layer encasing the carcass and including a tread adjacent the crown portion. The pneumatic tire does not include any beads because the plurality of carcass plies is folded onto itself at each of the first and second sidewall portions. Thus, the benefits of geodesic plies and braided ply construction are achieved by the pneumatic tire.

Geodesic pneumatic tire with braided carcass

An elongate air tube is positioned within a tire sidewall cavity in contacting internal engagement with the tire sidewall to form an assembly. The air tube includes an internal elongate air passageway and wing projections projecting in opposite directions at an axially inward body portion. The wing projections seat within cavity pockets to retain the air tube within the cavity. The air tube body operatively compresses responsive to impinging stress forces from the tire sidewall against the air tube body, whereby the air tube body reconfiguring from an expanded unstressed configuration into a compressed configuration to constrict the air passageway. The air tube body decompresses into the expanded configuration upon reduction of the impinging stress forces against the air tube body.

Peristaltic tube air maintenance tire assembly and method

Growing community of inventors

Kent, OH, United States of America

Robert Allen Losey