The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Other

William Frank Dunn

Robert Walter Brown

John Michael Maloney

Gary T Belski

Dennis Alan Lundell

Richard Stephen Pollack

Daniel Ray Downing

James Michael Hart

Albert James Yovichin

Klaus Beer

Gene Raymond Starkey

James E Webb

William Randall Dutt

Michael L Becker

John Roux Phelan

Ronald M Ames

Richard C Houck

George Jeffrey Lipczynski

Wayne David Maas

Raouf Abdul Ridha

Harry R Swanson

Ernest A Milan

Michael Lynn Hooper

David D Hyde

Method and apparatus ( ) for monitoring vehicle tire pressure and warning the driver when a low tire inflation pressure condition occurs includes transponder tags ( ) and associated sensors (e.g., pressure, temperature) for each tire and a monitor ( disposed in close proximity to each tire ( ). In this case manner, a low-powered radio transmission can take place between each tire tag and an associated one of the monitors. Each monitor is connected to a vehicle data bus ) for communicating, preferably bi-directionally, with a computer ( ), and a central display ( ) provides visual (or audible) warnings to the operator of the vehicle. The system is simple in operation, economical to manufacture, easy to install, and highly reliable, and conforms to standards established for heavy vehicles, and can be used on passenger car applications as well.

Low pressure warning system for pneumatic tires with RF tags and monitors for each tire

A sealed container is provided with a sensor capable of monitoring the physical and/or chemical condition of materials stored in the container. The sensor may or may not have its own power source. In the embodiment where the sensor does not have a power source, a communicator induces a signal in the sensor and receives a return signal with the desired data. The container may be a metal or a nonmetal.

Container with sensor

Method of correcting the imbalance of a pneumatic tire with a tire

When the pressure on a reinforced rubber object is varied, weaker portions of the object expand more than surrounding areas of the object. By (a) illuminating the object with single phase monochromatic light which is separated into more than one beam, (b) causing the object to distort by abrasion or expansion, (c) observing the interference patterns on the object as it distorts and (d) analyzing stress patterns revealed by the interference patterns, these physical changes can be detected, recorded and analyzed.

Method for dynamic interference pattern testing

An apparatus for cutting an elongated body of elastomeric material includes a tensioned wire which is oscillated in a generally up and down motion while traversing through the elastomeric material. The wire acts as a cutting blade and prepares the cut surface of the elastomeric material to improve splices. The wire is suspended between a pair of pivotally mounted arms so that the wire oscillates as the arms are rocked by an eccentric mounted to a rotating shaft. The cutter wire passes through the body of elastomeric material at an angle relative to the plane in which the body of elastomeric material lies. The body of elastomeric material is secured in place by clamp segments which conform themselves to the cross-sectional shape of the body. The cutter wire is traversed through the elastomeric material on a cutter frame which is moved by a ball screw driven by a variable speed electric motor.

Apparatus for cutting of elastomeric materials

An apparatus which uses a sensing device for measuring gauges of elastomeric or rigid articles, or runout of elastomeric articles, has a pivoting arm which holds a means for creating a signal, and is movable relative to the object being measured. The means for creating a signal provides a signal to the sensing device, and the magnitude of the signal depends on the position of the pivoting arm relative to the object being measured. Movement of the pivoting arm, caused by changes in the dimensions of the object, can be recorded and analyzed.

Low-cost runout sensor with high frequency response and negligible

A pneumatic tire has an integrated circuit transponder which, upon interrogation by an external RF signal, transmits tire identification and tire pressure data in digitally-coded form. The transponder has an antenna adjacent and thereby coupled by electric or magnetic fields to an annular tensile member comprising a bead of the tire. The antenna has lead wires that preferably are positioned between the innerliner of the tire and its continuous carcass ply. The transponder thus is on the axially inner side of the reinforced carcass ply. A pressure transducer is within the transponder and is responsive, preferably through the innerliner material, to pressure within the tire. If the antenna is a coil, the coil is substantially planar in shape and parallel with the reinforced carcass ply. The transponder and pressure transducer also can be attached to the axially inner side of the innerliner.

Pneumatic tire having an integrated circuit transponder and pressure

A pneumatic tire has an integrated circuit transponder which, upon interrogation by an external RF signal, transmits tire identification and/or other data in digitally-coded form. The transponder has a coil antenna of small enclosed area as compared to the area enclosed by an annular tensile member comprising a bead of the tire. The annular tensile member, during transponder interrogation, acts as the primary winding of a transformer. The coil antenna is loosely coupled to the primary winding and is the secondary winding of the transformer. The coil antenna is substantially planar in shape, and, when positioned between the innerliner of the tire and its carcass ply, the transponder may include a pressure sensor responsive to tire inflation pressure.

Integrated circuit transponder with coil antenna in a pneumatic tire for

A combination pneumatic tire and integrated circuit transponder for tire identification. The transponder is located within the tire structure and is capable of transmitting an identifying digital signal in response to interrogation by an R/F electric field emanating from outside the tire. The transponder then transmits the identifying signal, which is received, conditioned and demodulated. The tire has a steel-reinforced component, such as an annular tensile member in its bead or a steel-reinforced ply. The transponder has first and second electrodes, the first of which is positioned such that the average spacing of this first electrode's surface from one of the steel-reinforced tire components is substantially less than the average spacing of the second electrode's surface from such component. The transponder is capable of transmitting the electrical signal from the tire both prior to and after its valcanization, thus permitting identification and control of the tire during its manufacture and after its distribution and use.

Integrated circuit transponder in a pneumatic tire for tire

Light admitting window coverings are provided with apertures which are formed in a covering such as a vertical blind louver. The louver is formed of opposed panel portions with a transparent film or sheet sandwiched therebetween to provide for sufficient light transmission and visibility through the louvers in the closed position but without permitting convective heat transmission through the window covering. The blind louvers may be formed with an insulating air space between the opposed louver panel portions and the transparent film or sheet. The blind louvers or single panel apertured blind louvers and the like may be formed with apertures at an acute angle extending downward towards the airspace formed between a windowpane and the window covering to minimize convective air flow from the room interior into the space between the window and the blind louver when the room temperature exceeds the outside ambient temperature and to prevent heat buildup in the space between the window coverings and the windowpane when the temperature in the room interior air space is less than the temperature in the airspace between the window covering and the windowpane.

Perforated window coverings

Improved method and apparatus for automatically moving a set of venetian type window blinds or similar louvered window coverings or partitions between open or closed positions in response to sensing a predetermined level of solar energy imposed on the window or opening across which the covering is to be disposed.

Automatic closing system for window blinds

Strip material coming from a letoff position is wound on a supply reel by rotating the reel while at the same time providing axial movement of the reel relative to the letoff. The axial movement is stopped for a predetermined period of time when the strip reaches an end portion of the reel and before the relative axial movement is reversed to form another layer on the reel to provide a supporting edge surface for other layers and reduce the induced curl in the strip material. Each successive layer of strip material may be of a shorter length to provide a pyramid configuration to maintain the position of the windings. This method may be controlled by a microprocessor programmed with a basic sequence which can be altered by the operator to set the number of base layers, the number of pyramid layers and the duration of the interval during which there is no relative axial movement of the shell and the letoff at the end of each pass on the supply reel.

Growing community of inventors

Stow, OH, United States of America

William Frank Dunn