Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC

Bridgestone/firestone, Inc.

Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire, LLC

Scott J Coe

Paul B Wilson

Vladimir Roth

Brian D Steenwyk

Ryan L Kupchella

David A Kienholz

A method of designing a tire, wherein a tire designer identifies a target residual aligning torque range for a tire design and creates a computer model of the tire, including a buttress angle. Further, the method includes calculating the residual aligning torque of the modeled tire and comparing the calculated residual aligning torque value to the target residual aligning torque to determine whether the calculated residual aligning torque value is within the target residual aligning torque range. The method produces a final tire design having a target residual aligning torque.

Method of designing a tire having a target residual aligning torque

A tire testing machine ( ) comprising a movable simulated road surface ( ), an axle ( ) including a bearing surface ( ) around which a tire/wheel assembly (T) can rotate; and a frame ( ) which supports the axle ( ) in a non-rotatable but vertically floatable manner relative to the simulated road surface ( ) whereby the tire/wheel assembly (T) can be loaded in rolling engagement against the simulated road surface ( ). The frame ( ) comprises tie members ( ) which extend from the axle ( ) to a stationary support ( ) in a geometrically sturdy (e.g., triangular) arrangement and non-damping piston members ( ) which are interposed between the tie members ( ) and the stationary support ( ). The geometrically sturdy arrangement of the tie members ( ) can be an isosceles triangular arrangement and the simulated road surface ( ) can comprise the outer circumferential surface of a road wheel ( ).

Tire testing machine

A method and apparatus for generating various tire profiles. A linear-linear-rotary table carries a non-contacting probe that sequentially scans the entire outer surface of a tire. The non-contacting probe collects measurement data which is transferred to a processor to generate an average cross-sectional tire profile or a high definition cross-sectional tire profile of the tire being measured. The processor, in conjunction with the non-contacting probe, provides an automatic ranging feature which eliminates the need to manually adjust the non-contacting probe prior to the collection of measurement data.

Apparatus and related methods for obtaining tire profiles including the

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Akron, OH, United States of America

Scott J Coe