Patents Examined by Steven D. Maki
  • Patent number: 11958319
    Abstract: A heavy truck tire directional tread is provided that has two successive asymmetrical sipes (14) in the longitudinal direction that share at least some of the same offset from a tread edge in the lateral direction. Each of the two asymmetrical sipes (14) has a body (28) and a tear drop (30). The surface of the bottom of the sipe (14) has a radius of curvature that is not the same along the entire surface of the bottom. The geometry of the sipes resists crack initiation and propagation and is governed by the equation RA.B-avg>1-4×Rref, wherein Ra.B-avg is the average radius of a particular portion of the bottom of the sipe, and Rref is a reference radius of the bottom of the sipe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin
    Inventor: Victor Abarotin
  • Patent number: 11904637
    Abstract: A tread portion of a tire includes at least one land portion. The land portion includes an outer region disposed inwardly of a tread surface in a tire radial direction, an inner region disposed on an inner side in the tire radial direction, and at least one sipe. The sipe includes one outer sipe element extending in the outer region in a tire axial direction, and a plurality of inner sipe elements extending in the inner region. The inner sipe elements include a component extending in a tire circumferential direction, and is connected to the outer sipe element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Kazuma Mori
  • Patent number: 11897286
    Abstract: As viewed in a tire circumferential direction, a maximum value of an amount by which a first inner portion protrudes toward the exterior in a tire width direction beyond a second inner portion is greater than a maximum value of an amount by which the second inner portion protrudes toward the exterior in the tire width direction beyond a first inner portion, and as viewed in the tire circumferential direction, a maximum value of an amount by which a second outer portion protrudes toward the exterior in the tire width direction beyond a first outer portion is greater than a maximum value of an amount by which the first outer portion protrudes toward the exterior in the tire width direction beyond the second outer portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: Toyo Tire Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshiki Sato, Toshiyuki Ohashi
  • Patent number: 11890897
    Abstract: A tread pattern of a pneumatic tire includes circumferential main grooves, a land portion defined by the circumferential main grooves in the lateral direction, and sipes at intervals in a circumferential direction, the sipes connecting the circumferential main grooves with each other. Each of the sipes has a peak-like shape protruding to a first side in the circumferential direction. When, in a profile cross-section of the tread portion taken along the lateral direction, an arc passing through two land portion edge points at which a tread surface of the land portion is connected with groove wall surfaces of the circumferential main grooves and having a center point positioned on the equator line is set to a standard profile line, a profile line formed by the tread surface of the land portion is a swelling profile line protruding outward of the standard profile line in a radial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Toyoaki Endo
  • Patent number: 11884106
    Abstract: Tire (1) for an off-road vehicle, comprising a crown and a tread (22) having a width W and a thickness E of wearable material, this tread (22) having a superposition of at least two layers of materials, a first layer (221) radially on the inside and a second layer (222) radially on the outside of the first layer (221) to contact the ground when the tire is new, this second layer (222) having a thickness E2 relative to the thickness E of wearable material, the tread (22) being provided with at least two narrow grooves (4, 5) running all around the tire which have a zigzagging shape of wavelength L and amplitude A, the wavelength L being between 10% and 120% of the axial width W of the tread (22), and the amplitude A being between 10% and 75% of axial width W. The material of the first layer (221) is chosen with low hysteresis; with a measured tan(?) value at most equal to 0.30.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2024
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Franck Nugier, Valérie Feuardent
  • Patent number: 11878554
    Abstract: A tyre includes a crown land portion, an outboard middle land portion, an outboard shoulder land portion, an outboard crown circumferential groove, an outboard shoulder circumferential groove, an inboard middle land portion, an inboard shoulder land portion, an inboard crown circumferential groove, and an inboard shoulder circumferential groove. The outboard middle land portion is provided with full-opened outboard middle sipe that are inclined to a tyre axial direction. The outboard middle sipes each have two opposite sipe-edge portions provided with chamfer portions. In each chamfer portion of each outboard middle sipe, chamfer widths at both ends of the outboard middle sipe are larger than a chamfer width of a central portion of the outboard middle sipe. The outboard shoulder land portion is provided with outboard shoulder sipes that are inclined in the same direction as the outboard middle sipes to the tyre axial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2024
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Takashi Okada, Saori Yoshida, Shunta Kokatsu
  • Patent number: 11872849
    Abstract: In a stud pin, a flange contour shape of a lower flange is an anisotropic shape in which, among imaginary rectangles circumscribing the contour shape, the smallest rectangle includes short sides and long sides having different lengths. The flange contour shape includes first recess portions on each of portions of the flange contour shape extending along the short sides, the first recess portions being curved toward a centroid of the flange contour shape, and the flange contour shape includes a second recess portion on portions of the flange contour shape extending along the long sides, the second recess portions being curved toward the centroid of the flange contour shape. A body contour shape of a body portion is a polygonal shape including vertex angles in a same number as the first and second recess portions, and the vertex angles are disposed facing the first and second recess portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2024
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Isamu Kishizoe
  • Patent number: 11865872
    Abstract: Electrical connector assemblies mountable on a tire of a wheel of a vehicle are described. An electrical connector assembly may include one or more electrical conductors, a respective electrical conductor extending from an inside surface of the tire to an outside surface of the tire. Tire assemblies including at least partially embedded electrical connector assemblies and wheel assemblies including such tire assemblies are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Vibhu Vivek, Rakesh Sethi, Ishita Jain, John Sze
  • Patent number: 11865867
    Abstract: A motorcycle tire includes a tread rubber that includes a base rubber layer and a cap rubber layer disposed outward in the tire radial direction of the base rubber layer to form a ground contact surface. The cap rubber layer includes a crown cap portion disposed in a middle region in the tire axial direction of a tread portion and a pair of shoulder cap portions disposed in both sides in the tire axial direction of the crown cap portion. The crown cap portion has a loss tangent tan ?c, the shoulder cap portions have a loss tangent tan ?s, and the base rubber layer has a loss tangent tan ?b, wherein the loss tangents tan ?c, tan ?s and tan ?b satisfy the following equation (1): tan ?c<tan ?s?tan ?b . . . (1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Kenji Nonaka
  • Patent number: 11827061
    Abstract: A stud pin includes a tip including an end surface configured to come into contact with a road surface, a body portion configured to support the tip, and a lower flange. The flange profile shape of the lower flange is an anisotropic shape. The flange profile shape includes four or more first flange protrusion portions that project in the longitudinal direction and two second flange protrusion portions that project in the lateral direction. A tip profile shape of the tip is a shape including tip linear portions extending in a linear manner. At least one of the tip linear portions extends along a portion of the flange profile shape between two adjacent protrusion portions of the first flange protrusion portion and the second flange protrusion portion along the outer circumference of the flange profile shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Masakazu Mori
  • Patent number: 11801716
    Abstract: Each sipe wall surface of a sipe in a tread portion of a pneumatic tire includes, along a sipe depth direction, multiple ridge portions and at least one valley portion bending like waves. Where viewed along the sipe depth direction, a recess depth of the valley portion with respect to the ridge portion on one wall surface varies depending on a position in the extension direction, the valley portion extends from a position at which the recess depth is maximized toward a position at which the recess depth is minimized, and the recess depth decreases as the valley portion extends from the side of the maximum-depth valley portion toward the maximum ridge portion. The sipe is provided in at least one of a first half-tread region on a first side or a second half-tread region on a second side in a tire width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Yuta Uchida
  • Patent number: 11794527
    Abstract: A tire with a resonator for noise reduction includes: a main groove unit which has a plurality of main grooves formed to extend along a circumferential direction of the tire; a resonance unit which is formed between a pair of the main grooves; a neck unit which is provided to communicate the resonance unit with one of the pair of main grooves; and a cuff unit which is provided to connect the resonance unit and the other of the pair of main grooves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Inventors: Il Sik Kim, Jeong Eun Cho, Su Jin Son, Kang Il Jung, Chang Hyo Hong, Jae Wook Ihm
  • Patent number: 11794524
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire comprises a carcass layer, a belt layer disposed on the outer side in the tire radial direction of the carcass layer, and tread rubber disposed on the outer side in the tire radial direction of the belt layer. The belt layer is formed by laminating a pair of cross belts having belt angles with an absolute value from 10° to 45° both inclusive and mutually opposite signs, and a circumferential reinforcing layer having a belt angle within a range of ±5° relative to the tire circumferential direction. The distance (Gcc) from the tread profile to the tire inner circumferential surface along the tire equatorial plane and the distance (Gsh) from the tread edge to the tire inner circumferential surface have a relationship satisfying 1.10?Gsh/Gcc. The groove depth (Dsh) and under-groove gauge (UDsh) of the outermost circumferential main groove have a relationship satisfying 0.20?UDsh/Dsh.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yukihito Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 11766900
    Abstract: A tire includes at least one annular structure configured to interface with a wheel. The tire also includes a circumferential tread disposed in a crown region of the tire and an intermediate elastomeric layer having a conductive bleeder cord. The conductive bleeder cord extends from the annular structure to at least a middle third of a tread width and includes a metallic component that conducts electric charge and a textile component that permits gas evacuation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC
    Inventors: Christopher R. Baker, Ruben L. Madrid, Justin M. Gehres, Kathleen A. Clemmer
  • Patent number: 11752802
    Abstract: A tire having an axis of rotation and a median plane (CP) perpendicular to the axis of rotation, and comprising: a crown reinforcement, a tread positioned radially on the outside of the crown reinforcement and axially between two shoulders, comprising a contact face intended to come into contact with the roadway while the tire is being driven on, wherein the tread is primarily made up of at least one rubber compound of given dynamic shear modulus M and comprises a plurality of furrows oriented substantially circumferentially, each furrow having a furrow bottom, and a sub-layer disposed radially on the outside of the crown reinforcement and radially on the inside of the tread, wherein the sub-layer is made up of at least one rubber compound of given dynamic shear modulus A is flush with each furrow bottom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Christopher Careme, Pascal Prost
  • Patent number: 11738601
    Abstract: A tire having a tread with a plurality of blocks 12 provided with at least one sipe 22 extending from the contact face of said block, and having a width that can vary in the direction of its depth, and known as a complex sipe. The tread has a first layer of material 38 and at least one second layer of material 40 radially on the inside of the first layer, the first layer being formed in a first rubber composition and the second layer being formed in a second rubber composition different from the first composition. The complex sipe 22 and the grooves separating the blocks are formed entirely in the first layer of material 38. Laterally on each side of the complex sipe, the second layer of material 40 extends, when viewed in transverse section in the block, beyond the bottom 30 of the complex sipe in the direction of the contact face of the block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Damien Blouin, Quentin Bonneton
  • Patent number: 11731464
    Abstract: It is provided a pneumatic tyre, the tyre having a circumferential direction, an axial direction and an equatorial plane, and the tyre comprising: a tread extending in a tyre circumferential direction, said tread comprising at least one circumferential groove running continuously in the circumferential direction, and a plurality of axial grooves or transverse grooves running at an angle to the axial direction, and a plurality of blocks defined by the circumferential groove and the axial grooves or transverse grooves, said blocks extending radially between an inner surface of the tread and a tread surface to come into contact with the ground, wherein at least some of the blocks comprise at least one wavy groove that extends from a circumferential groove inwardly into the block, and wherein the wavy groove has a depth extending radially from the tread surface to come into contact with the ground towards the inner surface that ends above the inner surface (26) of the tread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Apollo Tyres Global R&D B.V.
    Inventors: Mihar Ved, Sanjay Patel, Jelin Fatima, Marko Veselinovic
  • Patent number: 11724547
    Abstract: A heavy duty pneumatic tire 1 has provided in a buttress region 10 thereof a protrusion 11 extending in the tire circumferential direction. In a tire meridian cross-section, the maximum protrusion height hmax of the protrusion 11 from an imaginary buttress surface J is 3.0 mm or greater and is in the range of 0.025-0.050 times a half tread width Wt. The cross-sectional area Sa of the protrusion 11 protruding from the imaginary buttress surface J is 20 mm2 or greater.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Kenichiro Tanada
  • Patent number: 11724546
    Abstract: In a pneumatic tire, a tread portion is provided with center blocks and shoulder blocks, and sidewall portions are each provided with side blocks. Surfaces of the blocks are provided with groove elements each including a narrow groove and/or a sipe. The first groove elements provided in the side blocks, the second groove elements provided in the shoulder blocks, and the third groove elements provided in the center blocks form a set of lateral groove group extending continuously from the side block on a first side to the side block on a second side in the tire lateral direction along the blocks across a main groove or an auxiliary groove.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Yousuke Sakamoto
  • Patent number: 11724549
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes two circumferential main grooves disposed in an inner half of a tread developed width in a tire lateral direction; shoulder lug grooves that divide shoulder land portions into shoulder block portions and that each include a see-through portion in the tire lateral direction; center lug grooves dividing a center land portion into a plurality of center block portions; and center sipes having both ends terminated in the center block portions. The center sipe includes at least two sipe portions having different angles via at least one bent portion. An angle ?1 of at least one sipe portion with respect to a tire equator line satisfies 0°??1?15°, and an angle ?2 of at least the other sipe portion with respect to the tire equator line satisfies 35°??2?60°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hideki Hamanaka