Patents by Inventor Rik Mullebrouck

Rik Mullebrouck has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10487448
    Abstract: A steel cord for reinforcing a breaker or belt ply in a rubber tire having a core group and a sheath group. The core group consists of two to four core steel filaments with a first diameter dc and the sheath group consists of one to six sheath steel filaments with a second diameter ds. The ratio dc/ds of the first diameter dc to the second diameter ds ranges from 1.10 to 1.70. The two core steel filaments are untwisted or have a twisting step greater than 300 mm. The sheath group is twisted around the core group with a cord twisting step in a cord twisting direction. The ratio of the difference in residual torsions of the core group and the sheath group to the difference in saturation level between the core group and the sheath group ranges from 0.10 to 0.65, preferably from 0.10 to 0.60.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: NV BEKAERT SA
    Inventors: Jan Gallet, Rik Mullebrouck, Ghislain Doornaert
  • Publication number: 20170073888
    Abstract: A steel cord for reinforcing a breaker or belt ply in a rubber tire having a core group and a sheath group. The core group consists of two to four core steel filaments with a first diameter dc and the sheath group consists of one to six sheath steel filaments with a second diameter ds. The ratio dc/ds of the first diameter dc to the second diameter ds ranges from 1.10 to 1.70. The two core steel filaments are untwisted or have a twisting step greater than 300 mm. The sheath group is twisted around the core group with a cord twisting step in a cord twisting direction. The ratio of the difference in residual torsions of the core group and the sheath group to the difference in saturation level between the core group and the sheath group ranges from 0.10 to 0.65, preferably from 0.10 to 0.60.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2015
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Applicant: NV BEKAERT SA
    Inventors: Jan GALLET, Rik MULLEBROUCK, Ghislain DOORNAERT
  • Patent number: 8387353
    Abstract: A steel cord (10) adapted for the reinforcement of rubber products, the steel cord (10) comprises a core (12) and three or more outer strands (14) twisted around the core (12) in a cord twisting direction. The outer strands (14) comprise outer filaments (16) twisted in a strand twisting direction which is the same as the cord twisting direction. The outer strands (14) have a wavy form which makes spaces between the core (12) and the outer strands. The steel cord (10) has improvements on elongation at break and impact resistance capacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: NV Bekaert SA
    Inventors: Rik Mullebrouck, Zhichao Cheng
  • Publication number: 20110240626
    Abstract: A new metal fiber yarn and methods for obtaining such a yarn are provided. The metal fiber yarn constitutes a construction comprising continuous metal fibers forming a metal fiber yarn. The construction comprises at least 5 bundles of continuous fibers, whereof at least one bundle is a bundle of metal fibers, preferably bundle drawn metal fibers. The bundles of continuous fibers are twisted together to form a yarn. Each bundle of metal fibers comprises at least 30 metal fiber filaments. The length of the continuous fiber bundles is substantially equal per unit length of the metal fiber yarn and the length of the fiber bundles per unit length of the metal fiber yarn is larger than the unit length of the metal fiber yarn itself.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 24, 2009
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Inventors: Rik Mullebrouck, Hendrik Rommel, Lisa Le Percq
  • Publication number: 20110225944
    Abstract: A steel cord (10) adapted for the reinforcement of rubber products, the steel cord (10) comprises a core (12) and three or more outer strands (14) twisted around the core (12) in a cord twisting direction. The outer strands (14) comprise outer filaments (16) twisted in a strand twisting direction which is the same as the cord twisting direction. The outer strands (14) have a wavy form which makes spaces between the core (12) and the outer strands. The steel cord (10) has improvements on elongation at break and impact resistance capacity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Publication date: September 22, 2011
    Inventors: Rik Mullebrouck, Zhichao Cheng
  • Patent number: 7185838
    Abstract: A spool filled with two or more elongated elements such as steel cords wound in parallel and in several windings upon the spool. The distances between two neighboring elongated elements, as measured along a line parallel to the axis of the spool, is not more than 10 mm along 90% of the length of each elongated element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2007
    Assignee: NV Bekaert SA
    Inventors: Rik Mullebrouck, Luc Sabbe, Stijn Vanneste
  • Publication number: 20050139706
    Abstract: A spool (10) filled with two or more elongated elements (14, 16) such as steel cords wound in parallel and in several windings upon the spool is provided. The distance s between two neighboring elongated elements, as measured along a line parallel to the axis (18) of the spool (10), is not more than 10 mm along 90% of the length of each elongated element. The advantage is that unwinding problems such as sags and downstream processability problems are avoided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2002
    Publication date: June 30, 2005
    Applicant: N.V. BEKAERT S.A.
    Inventors: Rik Mullebrouck, Luc Sabbe, Stijn Vanneste