Patents Examined by Adrienne C. Johnstone
  • Patent number: 12291060
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes a tread portion, sidewall portions, a pair of bead portions embedded with bead cores, and a carcass. The carcass includes a turned up ply including a main body portion extending between the bead cores, and a pair of turned up portions turned up around the bead cores from axially inside to outside. Each bead portion is provided with an inner apex rubber extending radially outward from the bead core between the main body portion and the turned up portion and an outer apex rubber arranged axially outside the turned up portion. The inner apex rubber has a radial height of from 18 to 30 mm. A buttress thickness D, a maximum width thickness E, and a bead thickness F satisfy expressions E?4.5 mm, F?9.0 mm, E/D=0.6 to 0.9, and F/E=1.7 to 2.2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2025
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Masahiro Yao
  • Patent number: 12280621
    Abstract: A tire comprising a continuous channel defined by spaced apart sidewalls coupled at a first end to a bridging member and at a second end to a contact member that is coupled to a disc contact portion, said tire being formed by rotational molding of a polyurethane and configured for mounting on a wheel rim.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2025
    Assignee: Superior Tire and Rubber Corp.
    Inventors: Kyle Robert Knotowicz, Joseph J. Peterson
  • Patent number: 12246565
    Abstract: The invention relates to a tyre (10) comprising a hooping ply (19) comprising at least one textile wire-like hoop reinforcer element making an angle strictly less than 10° with the circumferential direction (Z) of the tyre (10). The bonded textile wire-like reinforcer element has, before the step of production of the hooping ply (19), a tangent modulus less than or equal to 5 cN/tex/% for any elongation less than or equal to 3%. The textile wire-like hoop reinforcer element has, once extracted from the tyre (10), a tangent modulus greater than or equal to 5 cN/tex/% for any elongation greater than or equal to 4%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2025
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Sabrina Rih, Richard Cornille, Herve Ferigo
  • Patent number: 12227038
    Abstract: Pneumatic tyre having a toroidal carcass, which has a body ply that is partially folded onto itself and therefore having two lateral flaps; two annular beads, each of which is surrounded by the body ply and has a bead core and a bead filler; an annular tread; a pair of sidewalls; a pair of abrasion gum strips; an innerliner which is impermeable to air and is arranged within the body ply; and a transponder which is arranged between the body ply and the innerliner at a flap of the body ply and is arranged at a distance of less than 7 mm from an edge of the body ply.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2025
    Assignee: Bridgestone Europe NV/SA
    Inventors: Marco Pedrinelli, Emiliano Sabetti, Mauro Mirabile, Emanuele Rosa, Robin Arends, Cristiano Pomposini
  • Patent number: 12214628
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes a run-flat reinforcing layer disposed on an inner side in a width direction of a carcass layer, and a second filler disposed between a turned back portion of the carcass layer and a rim cushion rubber. Additionally, a point on a tire outer circumferential surface is defined, the point is located at a position corresponding to 150% of a rim flange height from a measurement point of a rim diameter of a specified rim, a perpendicular line is defined, and the perpendicular line is drawn from the point to a tire inner circumferential surface. A rubber gauge (G1) of the run-flat reinforcing layer on the perpendicular line, and a rubber gauge (G2) of a region from the turned back portion of the carcass layer to a tire outer surface have the relationship 0<G1/G2?0.65.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Saiko Uchizawa
  • Patent number: 12214629
    Abstract: Provided is a pneumatic tire. A band-like sound absorptive member is fixed to the inner surface of a tread portion along the tire circumferential direction. An end portion in the tire width direction of the sound absorptive member is located on the outer side in the tire width direction with respect to a shoulder main groove located on the outermost side in the tire width direction. A width W1 of the sound absorptive member in the tire width direction and a tread development width TDW of the tread portion satisfy a relationship of 0.65?(W1/TDW)?0.90. The width W1 of the sound absorptive member and a belt width W2 of a first belt ply having the maximum width of a belt layer satisfy a relationship of 0.70?(W1/W2)?0.95.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuki Nagahashi, Noriyoshi Koyama
  • Patent number: 12151524
    Abstract: A motorcycle tire that includes a carcass as a skeleton composed of at least one carcass ply extending toroidally between a pair of bead portions and folded and engaged around a pair of bead cores embedded in each of the pair of bead portions and a belt composed of at least one belt layer arranged on the outer side of the carcass in the tire radial direction. A flipper is arranged between the carcass and a bead core, which wraps the bead core from the inside in the tire radial direction, and the outer side end portion of the flipper in the tire width direction extends to the inside in the tire width direction from the end portion of the belt in the tire width direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Mitsuyuki Matsuda
  • Patent number: 12134239
    Abstract: The present invention is directed to a plug for sealing a puncture in a tyre, whereby the plug comprises a head portion and a tail portion, the head portion comprising: a porous material that comprises open pores and capable of absorbing >0.02 grams of water per gram of porous material; and an accelerant selected from the group consisting of a salt, a polar solvent, an acid, and any combinations thereof, wherein the accelerant is retained in the pores of the porous material and is configured to react on contact with a curable sealant selected from the group consisting of anionic stabilized sealants, steric stabilized sealants and anionic colloidal dispersions thereby reducing curing time of the sealant, and wherein the porous material does not comprise the sealant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignee: Tyre Tuft Pty Ltd
    Inventor: Owen Matthews
  • Patent number: 12109855
    Abstract: A multi air chamber tire 1 includes a partition wall 30 configured to define and form a plurality of air chambers 20 disposed adjacent to each other in an inner cavity of a tire, and a ventilation member 10 provided to the partition wall 30, and configured to connect the plurality of air chambers 20 in a state where ventilation is allowed. The ventilation member 10 allows ventilation between the plurality of air chambers 20 when a predetermined condition is satisfied indicating that fluid is being injected into at least one of the plurality of air chambers 20 from outside of the tire, and the ventilation member 10 shuts off the ventilation between the plurality of air chambers 20 when the predetermined condition is not satisfied.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shogo Wada
  • Patent number: 12109846
    Abstract: A tire comprises a crown zone comprising a crown reinforcement surmounted radially on the outside by a tread formed from at least one material that is not a conductor of electricity, the crown reinforcement comprising a plurality of layers superposed on one another, each layer of the crown reinforcement comprising two ends in the circumferential direction, these two ends being joined together in an abutment region, the tread comprising a weld region circumferentially offset by an angle of 180 degrees with respect to the region at which the radially outermost layer of the crown reinforcement is superposed. The tire comprises at least one conducting strip positioned between the tread and the crown reinforcement and located circumferentially as to be positioned at equal angular distances between the tread weld region and the region at which the radially outermost reinforcing layer is butted together, these two regions being diametrically opposite.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2024
    Assignee: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventor: Stéphanie Cambon
  • Patent number: 12103337
    Abstract: One aspect of the tire of the present invention is a tire including a tread portion (11), a sidewall portion (12), a bead portion (13), a bead core (60) provided in the bead portion (13), and a carcass ply (51) covering at least a portion around the bead core (60), in which the carcass ply (51) includes a sewn portion (80) in which a conductive thread (81, 82) is sewn.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Kazuyuki Fukuzawa
  • Patent number: 12083833
    Abstract: A pneumatic radial tire for passenger vehicles of the present disclosure includes a carcass toroidally spanning between a pair of bead portions and including plies of radially arranged cords. A sectional width SW (mm) and an outer diameter OD (mm) of the tire satisfy a predetermined relational expression. At least one noise reducer is provided on an inner surface of the tire. The noise reducer is provided at least in the center region and the shoulder region. Among thicknesses of the noise reducer measured in a direction perpendicular to the inner surface of the tire, a maximum thickness Ts in the shoulder regions is larger than a maximum thickness Tc in the center region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2024
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Isao Kuwayama
  • Patent number: 12011957
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes a tread portion, a pair of sidewall portions, a pair of bead cores, a carcass layer, a pair of first bead apex rubber components, and a belt layer disposed outward of the carcass layer. In an unloaded condition where the tire is mounted onto a standard rim and inflated with an internal pressure at 50 kPa, the carcass layer has a profile that includes an outer side portion extending from a position (A) where the carcass layer separates from the belt layer to a maximum width position (B) of the carcass layer, and the pair of outer side portion is located outside a virtual arc (C0) having a single radius (R0) of curvature passing through the position (A), the maximum width position (B), and an outermost ends in the tire radial direction of one of the pair of first bead apex rubber components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 18, 2024
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 11999203
    Abstract: A pneumatic vehicle tyre of radial type of construction, having a tread (1), having a carcass inlay (3), having electrically nonconductive sidewalls (7) and having at least one electrically conductive component (8) or element in a bead region, which component or element, in the case of a tyre mounted on a wheel rim, comes into contact with said wheel rim, wherein either the tread (1) is electrically conductive or, in the tread region, at least one electrically conductive component (10) is provided which is overlapped on the outside by the sidewalls (7) and which is connected in electrically conductive fashion to the tread outer surface, and wherein filaments provided with an electrically conductive coating are incorporated at least in a sidewall region, the coating of which filaments forms electrically conductive passages between the tread (1) or the component (10) and the at least one electrically conductive component (8) or element in the bead region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: Continental Reifen Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Norbert Kendziorra, Christian Weber
  • Patent number: 11970030
    Abstract: A multi air chamber tire 1 includes a tread portion 4, a pair of bead portions 2, a pair of sidewall portions 3, and partition walls 30 respectively provided to half portions of a tire which are defined with respect to a tire equator plane, the partition walls 30 partitioning an inner cavity of the tire to form a plurality of air chambers disposed adjacent to each other. Each of the partition walls 30 includes a first coupling portion 9a and a second coupling portion 9b coupled with a tire inner wall surface. When the tire 1 is filled with fluid, a first air chamber 20 is formed in a space inward of the partition walls 30 in a tire width direction, and a second air chamber 21 is formed in each space between a partition wall 30 and the tire inner wall surface of a sidewall portion 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Shogo Wada
  • Patent number: 11964517
    Abstract: A tire 12 includes: a tread surface 34; seat contact surfaces 58 each to be in contact with a seat S of a rim R; and side surfaces 60 extending on and between the tread surface 34 and the seat contact surfaces 58. Each side surface 60 includes a flange contact surface 62 to be in contact with a flange F of the rim R, and a flange opposed surface 64 which is located radially outward of the flange contact surface 62 and is to be opposed to the flange F. The flange opposed surface 64 is formed to be a surface having a diameter increasing outward in an axial direction. A shape of the flange opposed surface 64 is represented by a circular arc, and a radius of the circular arc is not less than 11.0 mm and not greater than 20.0 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keiji Higuchi, Kenji Kodama, Kazuma Ujigawa, Kiyotaka Ueyama
  • Patent number: 11932059
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire (1) having: a toroidal carcass (2), which consists of a body ply (3) partially collapsed onto itself and therefore having two lateral flaps; two annular beads (4), each of which is surrounded by the body ply (3) and has a bead core (5) and a bead filler (6); an annular tread (7); a pair of sidewalls (11) arranged externally to the body ply (3) between the tread (7) and the beads (4); a pair of abrasion gum strips (12) arranged externally to the body ply (3) under the sidewalls (13) and at the beads (4); and a transponder (13) which is arranged in contact with the body ply (3) at a flap of the body ply (3) and is located below an edge (19) of the body ply (3) between the edge (19) of the body ply (3) and the bead (4).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Bridgestone Europe NV/SA
    Inventors: Marco Pedrinelli, Emiliano Sabetti, Mauro Mirabile, Emanuele Rosa
  • Patent number: 11858297
    Abstract: With a pneumatic tire not mounted on a rim, in a meridian cross-section a first line is parallel with an innermost bottom side of a bead core in a radial direction and passes through an outermost projection of the bead core in a lateral direction, a second line is orthogonal with the first line at the outermost projection, a third line is orthogonal with the first line and passes through an intersection of a rim cushion rubber, a distance between the second and third lines is 2.0 to 4.0 mm, a shortest distance between an innermost projection of the bead core in the lateral direction and a cord of a carcass layer is 0.6 to 1.4 mm, and a shortest distance between an innermost end of the bottom side of the bead core in the lateral direction and the cord of the carcass layer is 1.2 to 2.2 mm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Koji Nishio
  • Patent number: 11813897
    Abstract: A tire has a tire center in the tire width direction. An intersection point of a carcass outer surface with a parallel line extending parallel with a rotation axis and passing through a tire maximum width position is denoted as P1. An intersection point of the parallel line LP with a side surface is denoted as P2. An intersection point of the parallel line with a protrusion portion outer surface of a protrusion portion is denoted as P3. A distance between the tire center and the intersection point P1 is denoted as W1. A distance between the tire center and the intersection point P3 is denoted as W3. A distance between the intersection point P1 and the intersection point P2 is denoted as G1. A distance between the intersection point P2 and the intersection point P3 is denoted as G2. 0.80?W1/W3?0.95 and 0.1?G1/G2?1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Masatoshi Kuriyama
  • Patent number: 11794529
    Abstract: A run-flat tire includes side reinforcing rubber between a carcass layer and an innerliner layer in sidewall portions, first bead filler rubber arranged inside folded back portions of the carcass layer, and second bead filler rubber arranged outward of the folded back portions of the carcass layer in a lateral direction and along the carcass layer. In a meridian cross-section, a radial-direction height of the first bead filler rubber is 15% or greater and 40% or less of a cross-sectional height, a radial-direction height of the second bead filler rubber is 35% or greater and 55% or less of the cross-sectional height, a linear distance from a radial-direction outer end to a radial-direction inner end of the second bead filler rubber is 20% or greater and 45% or less of the cross-sectional height, and the second bead filler rubber has a larger cross-sectional area than the first bead filler rubber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 31, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: he Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Norifumi Kameda