Abstract: The invention concerns a tread pattern of the directional type for automobile tires that are intended for highpowered vehicles and for exacting conditions of usage caused by the great acceleration used and the very high speeds reached during such driving, even when cornering. The tread pattern comprises a plurality of small blocks having a substantially rhomboidal form disposed in at least six axially spaced and circumferentially extending rows, which are separated from each other by straight circumferentially extending grooves and by oblique transversal grooves. The grooves of the two axially centered rows are disposed astride the equatorial plane of the tire and are inclined in the contrary sense in each row, both with respect to the next row and with respect to the oblique grooves of the other remaining rows disposed in the same midplane as the tread band.

Abstract: The invention relates to the lugs of tires intended to be mounted at least on the driving wheels of agricultural and industrial tractors; said lugs have the front sidewall, with respect to the running direction of the vehicle when in service, shaped according to a curvilinear profile which produces considerable advantages as regards the wearing-out, the efficiency, and the lifetime of the tire itself. This curvilinear profile is expressed by the equation:y=Ax.sup.3 +Bx.sup.2 -Cxwhere A, B and C are constants linked to the geometry of the lug.

Abstract: A vulcanized molded tire, comprising a carcass of one or more plies of rubberized cord fabric, sidewalls, a tread band with shoulders at the joining points between said sidewalls and tread, and a breaker comprising a binding structure on each lateral portion inserted between the carcass and the tread band. The carcass plies have a profile in the cross-section comprising in each shoulder a curvilinear tract with the concavity faced towards the outside of the tire, disposed in underlying position with respect to the edges of said breaker and in correspondence with said binding structures.

Abstract: This device consists of a wheel rim having a protuberance that protrudes radially outwardly with respect to the bead seat, the height of which, with respect to said seat, varies from a maximum to a minimum, both along the rim circumference as well as along the axis thereof. The minimum values are found along the axial extremities of said protuberance and not lying in the same axial plane.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for the manufacture of pneumatic tires comprising a carcass formed of reinforcing plies and bead cores are disclosed. The tire carcass is built up around a first drum in cylindrical configuration and bead cores are applied to the carcass. The carcass is transferred telescopically to and around a second expandable drum. The carcass is then torically shaped and the ends of the plies turned-up around the bead cores.

Abstract: The subject matter of the present invention concerns presses for vulcanizing vehicle-wheel tires and in particular, those presses provided with a centripetal-type mold. For the purpose of optional heating of the sectors of the mold while avoiding heat-dispersion, heating-fluid losses, or any lowering of the temperature during the moving periods of the mold, there is provided, in the body of each sector, a network of channels that are connected, for example, through flexible tubing, to networks of the other adjacent sectors, in such a way as to realize a closed circuit with regard to the outside ambient, within which circuit the heating-fluid is permanently caused to circulate.

Abstract: The device is composed of a series of two or more substantially circular protuberances that are eccentric with respect to the rim axis, and formed on the mounting rim in an axially inner position with respect to the bead seat, creating a confining space adjacent the bead seat and radially outwardly projecting with respect to it, so as to constitute a limit to the axial shifting of the tire bead heel towards the central well of the rim.

Abstract: A process and apparatus for the manufacture of pneumatic tires comprising a carcass formed of reinforcing plies and bead cores are disclosed. The tire carcass is built up around a first drum in cylindrical configuration and bead cores are applied to the carcass. The carcass is transferred telescopically to and around a second expandable drum. The carcass is then torically shaped and the ends of the plies turned-up around the bead cores.

Abstract: Apparatus for producing metallic cords having layers of wires twisted around a wire core, with great efficiency and low costs, of the outer collection kind, comprises two double-twist cabling machines in series, mutually co-axial and joined together in such a way that the ratio of the rotational velocities of two cages differ and can be changed while the apparatus is in operation.

Abstract: A pneumatic tire for a motor vehicle has a tread band having at least two longitudinal grooves which divide it into a plurality of circumferential ridges, and a series of circumferentially spaced axial grooves which divide the two outermost ridges into blocks. The edges of the inner ridges are provided with blind, oblique slits, all inclined in the same sense with respect to the circumferential direction of the tire. The slits are substantially parallel to one another and are preferably offset with respect to each other.

Abstract: An apparatus for feeding elastomeric strips used to form an annular tread reinforcing structure of a vehicle pneumatic tire provided with reinforcing metal cords to a drum which forms the strips into the annular reinforcing structure is disclosed. The apparatus comprises an endless belt looped about spaced pulleys which transfers cut lengths of an elastomeric strip for making an annular tread reinforcing structure from bobbins of the strip to a drum which shapes an annular tread reinforcing member therefrom. The cut lengths of elastomeric strip are maintained in the desired position on the belt and drum by the action of two separate magnetic fields. One of the magnets is stationary and is placed under the belt. The other magnet is adjacent to the belt pulley nearest the drum. Apparatus is provided for laying automatically the two ends of the elastomeric strip on the belt.

Abstract: This invention provides a method and apparatus for making vehicle tires wherein the annular, reinforcing structure and the tread band are manufactured on two drums, one drum having a comb-shaped surface, and the other drum having sectors.The comb-shaped drum is co-axial and can be slipped off with respect to the drum having sectors. Means are provided for rotating the two drums independently of one another in a slipped position, and for centering the teeth of the comb when the two drums are one around the other. After centering, the sectors are expanded, from the inside towards the outside of the comb, for sustaining the annular structure previously disposed on the comb in a slipped position from the sectors and for receiving the tread band.

Abstract: A radial tire is provided with an annular reinforcing structure comprising at least two layers of steel monofilaments arranged on a carcass having a radius of curvature, on the meridian plane in the crown point, equal to or greater than 400 mm.

Abstract: An apparatus for vulcanizing a vehicle tire comprises upper and lower platens supporting mold shell sections which when mounted one on the other form a mold enclosing a mold cavity. The upper platen is moved first vertically and then laterally with respect to the lower platen by a bull gear crank. A vulcanizing bladder is stretched by a piston rod of a fluid-dynamic piston-cylinder assembly through the opening of a vehicle tire casing disposed in the mold cavity to facilitate loading of the casing in the mold cavity.The apparatus is also provided with a second fluid actuated piston-cylinder assembly to move the upper platen while maintaining the bladder standing sufficiently, in relation to the lower plane of the mold, in such a way as to adapt the press even for unloading tires having dimensions larger than those of the usual tires for which the apparatus was originally built.

Abstract: A process for manufacturing radial type motor vehicle pneumatic tires is provided in which an annular reinforcing structure is disposed on a toric carcass. The reinforcing structure is built up of two layers of metallic cords crossed with each other, and an additional third layer of heat shrinkable textile cords that form, with the longitudinal direction of the tire, an angle which is not zero and is a smaller angle than that of the underlying cords.The third textile layer is applied by butt-joining its respective opposite ends along a straight line parallel to the metallic cords of the underlying metallic layer.

Abstract: A pneumatic tire having a radial carcass comprises two reinforcing layers, of metallic cords, one over the other, in each sidewall. A flipper may be embedded in the upper portion of the sidewall. The flipper is formed by the turned up end of the innermost layer of the sidewall around the second layer of the sidewall reinforcement.

Abstract: An apparatus for automatically filling a vehicle tire bead-core with an elastomeric filler having one or more drums, for encasing the bead-core in which the filler is applied when the drum rotates around its own axis.The apparatus is provided with means suitable for stretching the filler when it is pulled into rotation with the bead-core on the drum to stiffen the filler and resist bending, and therefore maintain the filler substantially in the drum midline.The apparatus is further provided with means for discharging the bead-core/filler assembly in a plane unchanged with respect to that determined by the stretching means in order to permit the collection of the various filler/bead-core assemblies one after the other.