Abstract: This invention provides a tire (10) equipped with a sensor (14), attached to a rubber member (15) in the surface of the tire (10), for detecting deformation of the tire (10). The sensor (14) is adhered to the rubber member (15) with the aid of an elastic adhesive formed of a room-temperature moisture cure adhesive agent composed mainly of an acryl modified silicone resin or the like. The adhesive between the sensor (14) and the rubber member (15) is cured to form an elastic adhesive layer (16). According to the above constitution, the deformation of the rubber member (15) in the tire surface can be transmitted to the sensor (14) with high accuracy, and, at the same time, the durability of the sensor (14) can be improved.

Abstract: Minute surface unevenness formed on the surface of an object under inspection is detected, thereby improving the accuracy of an appearance inspection. A target surface in the sidewall region (21) of a tire (20) is illuminated by a red slit light from a first illuminating means (11) disposed in the direction of 45 degrees with respect to the normal line to the target surface. At the same time, the target surface is illuminated by a blue slit light from a second illuminating means (12) disposed in the direction of ?45 degrees with respect to the normal line. The illuminated surface is shot by a line camera (13) from the direction of the normal line. An R-component image and a B-component image are produced from the original image, and their respective luminance distribution waveforms are obtained. The surface unevenness formed on the target surface is detected on the basis of the luminance distribution waveforms.

Abstract: The degree of tire wear is estimated with constancy and accuracy even when the road surface becomes rough during a vehicular run. The deformation speeds Vtf and Vtk of the tread of the tire are obtained respectively by calculating the levels of peaks Pf and Pk at contact edges appearing in the differentiated waveform of radial acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor 11 installed on the inner surface in the inner liner region of the tire. An average standardized deformation velocity Vnt is calculated as the average of the absolute values of leading-edge-side standardized deformation speed Vntf and trailing-edge-side standardized deformation speed Vntk, which are obtained by standardizing the Vtf and Vtk using the rotation time Tr of the tire. At the same time, an extra-contact-patch vibration level v of the tread is detected from the radial acceleration having passed through a bandpass filter 16.

Abstract: A measuring apparatus for automatically measuring the height, the dimensions of the inner and outer surfaces, and the shape of a cylindrically-shaped object. The measuring apparatus includes a measuring head vertically moving along a positioning guide supported by a support post integral with a measuring table, a height displacement measuring device, which comprises a laser distance meter provided on the measuring table, and an arithmetic processing unit. The measurement starts as the measuring head is raised by a weight from a measuring start position of the measuring table. The inner and outer surfaces of a tire are measured based on the measurements by an inner surface measuring device provided with three laser distance meters mounted to the measuring head and an outer surface measuring device having a laser distance meter and the displacement change measurement of the measuring head by the height displacement measuring device.

Abstract: A belt monitoring system which can accurately monitor the condition of a conveyor belt by correcting it for the effect of belt deviation. Wear detecting magnets (11), which are rubber magnets spanning the entire belt width, are embedded at intervals along the circumferential direction of the conveyor belt (2). Also, position determining magnets (12, 12z) are embedded in positions a predetermined distance apart from the wear detecting magnets (11). In addition, a plurality of magnetic field detecting means (13: 13A-13G) for detecting the magnetic fields from the magnets (11, 12, 12z), which are arranged at predetermined intervals in the width direction of the conveyor belt (2), are disposed in a position spaced apart from the surface of the conveyor belt (2).

Abstract: A pneumatic tire capable of reducing air column resonance arising from circumferential grooves without changing the shape of unilaterally open-ended lug grooves. Lug grooves 20 are formed in land portions 15, which are defined by the circumferential grooves, and each of the lug grooves 20 consists of a lateral groove portion 21, which extends axially to open at one end into the circumferential groove and communicate at the other end with a sub-groove 12 provided in the land portion 15, and an oblique groove portion 22, which extends in a direction intersecting with the tire axial and circumferential directions to communicate at one end with the sub-groove 12 and terminate at the other end within the land portion 15. Also, the lateral groove portion 21 of the lug groove 20 is provided with a projection 23 protruding toward the tread surface from the bottom of the lug groove 20 and having a height smaller than the height H of the land portion 15 as measured from the bottom of the lug groove 20.

Abstract: A wire drawing apparatus (10) is used in a final drawing process to ensure adequate initial performance of adhesion between brass-plated steel wire and rubber without a drop in productivity. At least one of the die (14z) disposed in the most downstream position, the die (14y) disposed in the second most downstream position, and the die (14x) disposed in the third most downstream position is a drawing die having a friction coefficient ? of 0.12 to 0.41 with the brass-plated steel wire. The other dies (14) are drawing dies each having a friction coefficient ? of 0.1 or below. By using these drawing dies, brass-plated steel wire (13) is drawn, and a noncrystalline portion of high lattice defect density is formed on the surface of the crystalline portion of the brass-plating layer of the brass-plated steel wire (13).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for accurately detecting the shape of a tire side by performing an image processing of removing a knurled region from the tire side. An actual image of a tire side having a knurled region obtained by a light-section method is Fourier-transformed into a Fourier-transformed image by a Fourier-transformed image creating unit of an image processing means. Cross-shaped peaks appearing discretely at predefined frequency intervals on a straight line in the Fourier-transformed image are identified as peaks attributable to the knurled region by a knurled component identifying unit. The cross-shaped peaks are removed from the Fourier-transformed image by a knurl component removing unit, and the Fourier-transformed image from which the peaks are removed is inverse-Fourier-transformed into an actual image by an inverse-Fourier-transforming unit. And the acceptability of the shape of the tire side is determined using the actual image.

Abstract: This invention provides a pneumatic tire for a two-wheeled vehicle with improved lateral grip at cornering, controlled tread wear in the shoulder regions, ensured uniformity of wear on the left and the right, and secured heat generation in the tread on an actual vehicle. The pneumatic tire has left and right dissimilar rubber layers (15b, 15c) disposed in an inner layer of the tread in the left and right shoulder regions (16), respectively.

Abstract: A screw 12 for an extruder 10 rotatably supported on the cylinder of the extruder and carrying roll-heated rubber material supplied from a hopper port 13s provided at the rear part of the cylinder 11, wherein the height of the portion of the flight portion 12z of the screw 12 located below the hopper port 13s is set lower than the height of the flight portion 12a on the downstream side of the screw 12, whereby the pulsation of extruded matter can be reduced while maintaining a high discharge rate.

Abstract: A pneumatic tire (1) having a sound absorption effect by lateral grooves is provided. The tire tread (2) has circumferential grooves formed continuously in the circumferential direction and lateral grooves extending from a circumferential groove. One end of each lateral groove is connected to the circumferential groove and the other end is a dead end. Each of the lateral grooves (7) includes a one-directional groove (11) extending in one direction from the circumferential groove (5) toward a side edge of the tire and an another-directional groove (14) extending in another direction from the circumferential groove toward the side edge of the tire. A root section (11a), which is close to the circumferential groove, of the one-directional groove (11) and a root section (14a), which is close to the circumferential groove (5), of the another-directional groove (14) are formed by a common groove (15).

Abstract: A method and apparatus for detecting the state of wear of the tire tread with accuracy and durability are provided. Acceleration of the inner surface of the tire tread is detected by an acceleration sensor installed in an inner liner region of the tire. From a thus detected time-series waveform of acceleration, an acceleration waveform in the leading edge region including a leading peak which occurs when the block engages with the road surface or an acceleration waveform in the trailing edge region including a trailing peak which occurs when the block disengages from the road surface is extracted. A frequency band value Pf is calculated which is the magnitude of acceleration in a predetermined frequency region of a frequency spectrum obtained through a frequency analysis of the extracted acceleration waveform. And the degree of tire wear is determined by comparing the frequency band value Pf with a preset threshold K(v).

Abstract: A vehicle having in-wheel motors, wherein when the in-wheel motors are mounted on the vehicle driven by the torque of an internal combustion engine, the in-wheel motors are mounted on wheels on one side of the vehicle opposite to the other side on which the internal combustion engine is mounted. The non-rotating side of the motor and the knuckle are supported by a buffer mechanism having plates connected to each other by a direct-acting guide with springs composed of a direct-acting guide having a linear bearing and a rod and spring members moving in the vertical direction of the vehicle and mated with the direct-acting guide and a damper for interconnecting the plates, moving in the vertical direction of the vehicle to support the motor to either one or both of the unsprung mass of the vehicle and the car body by the buffer mechanism. Thus, the running ability and riding comfort of the vehicle having in-wheel motors can be improved.

Abstract: The degree of wear of a tire is estimated with constant accuracy. An acceleration sensor (11) is installed on the inner surface in the inner liner region of a tire to detect the acceleration of the tread in the radial direction of the tire. The peak level on the leading edge side or the trailing edge side of the tread appearing in the differentiated waveform of the detected acceleration is calculated and used as an index V of deformation speed of the tread. The degree of wear of the tire is estimated on the basis of the calculated index V of deformation speed and an M-V map (16B) showing a predetermined relationship between the degree M of tire wear and the index V of deformation speed.

Abstract: Provided is a tire contact state estimating method using a tire for estimating a contact state (20) having a block row, in which a plurality of blocks having different lengths in a tire circumference direction are arrayed in the tire circumference direction, and having a tread pattern, in which the kicking ends of two adjacent blocks of the block row are formed at a constant period. The method detects the periodic vibrations, which are generated when the kicking ends to be propagated from the tire (20) to the knuckle (23) leave the road surface sequentially, by an acceleration sensor (11) attached to a knuckle (23), thereby to determine the frequency waveform of the vibrations. The method detects such a vibration level of the frequency waveform in a detection frequency band as is calculated from both a wheel speed (V) measured by a wheel speed sensor (12) and that period, thereby to estimate the grounding state of the tire from the magnitude of that vibration level.

Abstract: A tire sensor device comprising sensor modules 20A to 20D, each comprising a sensor, a communication module having a communication function and a power regenerating circuit, and an antenna; and a base station comprising an internal communication device for communication with the sensor modules 20A to 20D, an information processing device for processing tire information signals from the sensor modules, an external communication device for communicating with a car control device 40 on the car body side and a power source. The sensor modules 20A to 20D and the base station 30 are arranged in the tire and constitute an intra-tire LAN. Tire information signals transmitted from the sensor modules 20A to 20D are processed by the base station 30 and transmitted to the car control device 40 so that appropriate tire information can be obtained and the size and power consumption of the sensor device can be reduced.

Abstract: A belt reinforcement layer 16 disposed on a out side of a crossing belt 15 of the pneumatic tire across the full width of the crossing belt 15 comprises a first spiral reinforcement layer 17 covering the crossing belt 15 in wide range as a tread center portion is a center, being narrower than a tread width and being composed of an aromatic polyamide, a second spiral reinforcement layer 18 covering both end of two belt layer 15a and 15b of the crossing belt 15 and having a cord that a diameter thereof composed of a nylon is finer than a cord of the first spiral reinforcement layer 17 and a overlap portion 18z that a reinforcement layer overlaps is provided on a part of the second spiral reinforcement layer 18 so that separation between the belt layer and belt reinforcement layer can be controlled strongly and effective hoop effect is exhibited at the tread end portion so as to improve driving stability and durability at high-speed driving.

Abstract: A vehicle velocity detector 15 is provided, velocity V is detected from position data of the vehicle calculated by using signal from satellites, which is received by a GPS receiver 11 installed to a vehicle body, wheel rotation velocity Vw0 detected by a wheel velocity sensor 12 is corrected in accordance with tire inner pressure detected by a pressure sensor 13 so as to obtain wheel rotation velocity (correction value) Vw, velocity ratio R=(Vw/V), which is ratio of the corrected wheel rotation velocity Vw and the detected wheel velocity V, is calculated and tire wear amount is estimated in accordance with velocity ratio R so that tire wear amount can be measured precisely without processing the tire tread portion.

Abstract: This invention provides a tire (10) equipped with a sensor (14), attached to a rubber member (15) in the surface of the tire (10), for detecting deformation of the tire (10). The sensor (14) is adhered to the rubber member (15) with the aid of an elastic adhesive formed of a room-temperature moisture cure adhesive agent composed mainly of an acryl modified silicone resin or the like. The adhesive between the sensor (14) and the rubber member (15) is cured to form an elastic adhesive layer (16). According to the above constitution, the deformation of the rubber member (15) in the tire surface can be transmitted to the sensor (14) with high accuracy, and, at the same time, the durability of the sensor (14) can be improved.

Abstract: A developing blade 10 is insert molded by forming a rib portion 13 which projects from an end portion in the longitudinal direction of a blade body 12 in the transverse direction of the blade body 12, opposite to the contact surface 12a side of the blade body 12, on the blade body 12 in contact with the developing roll of the developing blade 10 and forming the gate 21G of a metal mold 20 in which a metal plate 11 as an insert member has been installed only in a cavity 21b corresponding to the above rib portion 13. Therefore, a developing blade 10 without burrs and recesses on its contact surface with the developing roll or without welds can be easily manufactured.