Patents Examined by Justin Fischer
  • Patent number: 9067464
    Abstract: It is an object to ensure the strength of a carcass line, enhance durability with respect to high applied loads, and be able to suppress the input of compressive force with respect to a carcass ply without increasing mass and cost. When W denotes a distance from a tire equatorial plane (CL) to a tire axial direction outermost point (P) of a carcass body portion (22C) and D denotes a tire radial direction height from bead base portions (30) to a carcass body portion (22A) at the tire equatorial plane (CL), a radius of curvature (R1) of a carcass ply (12) in a range from the tire equatorial plane (CL) to a position (P1) located 0.6 W away from the tire equatorial plane (CL) in the tire axial direction, a radius of curvature (R2) of a carcass body portion (22B) in a range from the position (P1) to a position (P2) located 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masataka Uchiyama
  • Patent number: 9061549
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire comprises a sidewall portion provided in the outer surface thereof with an embossed mark. The embossed mark has a top surface axially outwardly away from the outer surface, a side surface extending from the outer surface to the top surface, an outside edge at which the side surface intersects with the top surface to form an outside corner, and an inside edge at which the side surface intersects with the outer surface to form an inside corner. The outside edge has a circumferential segment extending parallel with the tire circumferential direction, and the inside edge has a nearly-circumferential segment positioned oppositely to the circumferential segment and extending at an angle of from 0.5 to 2.5 degrees so that a warped plane is formed between the circumferential segment and nearly-circumferential segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Daisuke Kudo
  • Patent number: 9061552
    Abstract: A tread portion 2 of a pneumatic tire is divided by a center longitudinal groove and a shoulder longitudinal groove into a center land portion 6, an outer middle land portion 7A, an inner middle land portion 7B, an outer shoulder land portion 8A, and an inner shoulder land portion 8B. The outer shoulder land portion 8A includes an array of outer shoulder blocks 22 which are sectioned by outer shoulder lateral grooves 5A. The inner shoulder land portion 8B includes inner shoulder lateral grooves 26 having an inner end 26i and an outer end 26o in the land portion 8B, and inner shoulder auxiliary grooves 28 disposed between the inner shoulder lateral grooves 26, 26 which are circumferentially adjacent to each other and having inner ends 28i and outer ends 28o in the land portion 8B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2015
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Hada
  • Patent number: 9056529
    Abstract: A technique for comprising the compression fatigue rupture strength of the carcass reinforcement external layer (3) of an aeroplane tire in the region of bending on the rim (7). The distance (d) between a point (A) on the bead external face (6) and the carcass reinforcement external layer (3), measured along the straight line perpendicular at this point to the bead external face, is at a maximum at the point (M) on the bead external face that is the orthogonal projection of the radially external end (E) of the filling element (5) onto the bead external face, and the distance (dmax) between the orthogonal projection (M) of the radially external end (E) of the filling element (5) onto the bead external face (6) and the carcass reinforcement external layer (3) is at least equal to 1.3 times the distance (d1) between the orthogonal projection (L) of the center (O) of the bead wire core (4) onto the bead external face and the carcass reinforcement external layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignees: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, Michelin Recherche et Technoque S.A.
    Inventors: Michael Cogne, Jean-Luc Dendievel
  • Patent number: 9056531
    Abstract: Stud (30) for a tire (10), the tire comprising a tread (20) made of rubber mix, the stud having an axis (A-A) and two axial ends and comprising: a first part (60) configured to come into contact with the ground when the stud is fitted to the tire and the tire is rolling along the ground, this first part being positioned at one of the axial ends of the stud; a head (70) configured to anchor the stud into the tread of the tire, the head being positioned at the other axial end of the stud; and a body (80) connecting the said first part and the head of the stud, the mean diameter of the body being smaller than the mean diameter of the head of the stud, these diameters being measured at right angles to the axis of the stud; in which the head comprises at least one recess (100) opening onto the surface of the head, the recess being configured to be filled with rubber mix of the tread so as to provide additional anchorage for the stud in the tread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignees: Michelin Recherche et Technique S.A., COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN
    Inventors: Matthieu Durat, Cyril Guichon
  • Patent number: 9050857
    Abstract: A cord fabric is structured by weaving a weft yarn into a large number of warp yarn (2) disposed in parallel so that the weft yarn crosses the warp yarn at a coarse density. In the cord fabric, the warp yarn is a composite cord constituted of at least one aramid first twist yarn and one aliphatic polyamide first twist yarn, and the weft yarn is a spun yarn of meta system aramid fiber. The cord fabric is used as a strip material of a belt cover layer which is wound in a spiral pattern around an outer circumference of a belt layer of a pneumatic tire in a radial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Miyuki Nakajima
  • Patent number: 9045005
    Abstract: A tire assembly includes a tire having a pneumatic cavity, first and second sidewalls, a sidewall groove, an air passageway, and a pressure regulator mounted to an inner surface of the pneumatic tire cavity. The pressure regulator controls air pressure within the pneumatic tire cavity. The first and second sidewalls extend respectively from first and second tire bead regions to a tire tread region. The first sidewall has at least one bending region operatively bending when circumferentially within a rolling tire footprint. The sidewall groove defining groove sidewalls positioned within the bending region of the first tire sidewall. The groove and air passageway deform segment by segment between a non-deformed state and a deformed, constricted state in response to the bending of the first sidewall bending region circumferentially within the rolling tire footprint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2015
    Assignee: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Inventors: Thulasiram Gobinath, Carolin Anna Welter, Cheng-Hsiung Lin
  • Patent number: 9038684
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire unit comprises a front tire to be mounted on a leading side of a vehicle, and a rear tire to be mounted on a trailing side of the vehicle. A plurality of recesses is provided in at least one tire side portion of the front tire, and a plurality of protrusions is provided on at least one tire side portion of the rear tire. A negative pressure region that can be generated at a back surface side of the vehicle is reduced and, therefore, air resistance of the vehicle is reduced and fuel economy is enhanced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2015
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Masataka Kubota, Masatoshi Kuwajima, Masataka Koishi
  • Patent number: 9033014
    Abstract: This invention relates to a rubber composition including a polyisoprene rubber having a very high cis-1,4-bond content and having an excellent balance between dynamic properties and processability, and more particularly to a rubber composition comprising as a rubber component (A) a synthetic polyisoprene rubber having a cis-1,4-bond content of not less than 99.0%, a 3,4-bond content of not more than 0.5% and a Mooney viscosity ML1+4 (100° C.) of 20-110 and (B) a natural rubber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventors: Eiju Suzuki, Yoichi Ozawa
  • Patent number: 9033015
    Abstract: A rubber-steel hybrid cord of the present invention is characteristically formed by twisting a plurality of sheath filaments or sheath strands around a core in which a periphery of and space surrounded by one or a plurality of core filaments or a core strand are coated or filled with a filler rubber (A) containing an adhesion promoter, thereby forming a multilayer-twist steel cord or a multi-twist steel cord, and coating an outer surface of the multilayer-twist steel cord or the multi-twist steel cord with a coating rubber (C). Further, an amount of an adhesion promoter contained in the coating rubber (C) is equal to or more than an amount of the adhesion promoter contained in the filler rubber (A).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventor: Mitsuhiro Nishimura
  • Patent number: 9033017
    Abstract: Provided is a pneumatic tire whose safety factor and durability are improved without generating a problem of an increase in the weight of a tire and an increase in the inner surface cord protrusion failure. Provided is a pneumatic tire including one or more carcasses 2 extending toroidally between bead cores 1 embedded in a pair of bead portions 11 respectively. A polyester fiber cord whose total decitex as a twisted cord is 4300 to 5100 dtex, whose cord strength as a dip treated cord is 6.5 to 7.2 cN/dtex and whose cord elongation at a stress loading of 2 cN/dtex is 3.5 to 4.0% is used as a reinforcing cord of the carcass 2, and the tenacity of a treat which is the reinforcing cord covered with rubber per unit width is 2.9 to 3.2 kN/cm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: BRIDGESTONE CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takuya Yoshimi
  • Patent number: 9033016
    Abstract: A tire with a radial carcass reinforcement made up of at least one layer of metal reinforcing elements, the tire comprising a crown reinforcement itself capped radially with a tread, the tread being connected to two beads via two sidewalls. At least 70% of the metal reinforcing elements of at least one layer of the carcass reinforcement are non wrapped cables which, in what is known as the air-wicking test, display a flow rate of less than 2 cm3/min, and at least 10% of the metal reinforcing elements of the at least one layer of the carcass reinforcement are cables which, in what is known as the air-wicking test, display a flow rate of greater than 4 cm3/min.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignees: COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENT MICHELIN, Michelin Recherche et Technique S.A
    Inventors: Alain Domingo, Christelle Chaulet, Sébastien Noel, Michael Cogne
  • Patent number: 9027618
    Abstract: A mounted assembly of a wheel and a tire. The tire inflation pressure is greater than 9 bar, and a relative deflection of the tire greater than 30%. The rim comprises a drop-center functionality and is of monobloc type. A carcass reinforcement includes a circumferential alignment of carcass reinforcement elements anchored in the beads by a stack of circumferentially oriented reinforcement elements, and by an anchoring rubber mix having an elasticity modulus of less than 30 MPa at 10% deformation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignees: Compagnie Generale des Etablissement Michelin, Michelin Recherche et Technique, S.A.
    Inventor: Christian Monnerie
  • Patent number: 9027620
    Abstract: A tire containing a pair of beads, at least one carcass ply extending from one bead to the other bead forming a pair of sidewall areas of the tire and a tread area of the tire, and at least one layer of a knit fabric in the sidewall area of the tire, where the knit fabric has a warp and weft direction and is a double cord stitch knit fabric. A method of making the fabric and tire are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Milliken & Company
    Inventors: Dominique Cinget, Purushothama Kini Ullal, Johann Peschek, Franck Catteau
  • Patent number: 9027616
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to provide a tire tube which has excellent air impermeability and such excellent durability that the occurrence of cracks in the tube main body is prevented in a contact surface between the tube main body and an inner circumferential surface of the tire. The tire tube of the invention includes a tube main body having a multilayer structure in which at least one rubber layer and at least one thermoplastic resin layer made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition obtained by blending an elastomer in a thermoplastic resin are laminated together. In at least a region where the tube main body is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the tire tread part, the rubber layer is placed as the outermost layer of the multilayer structure, and the thermoplastic resin layer is placed inside the outermost layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Iizuka
  • Patent number: 9027617
    Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a pneumatic tire of which rolling resistance is reduced without impairing wear resistance. Specifically, the pneumatic tire of the present invention comprises: a tread portion; a pair of side wall portions; a pair of bead portions; a carcass constituted of at least one carcass ply extending in a toroidal shape between bead cores in the respective bead portions; a belt disposed on the outer peripheral side of a crown region of the carcass and formed by at least one inclined belt layer made of cords extending to be inclined with respect to the equatorial plane of the tire; and a tread rubber disposed on the radially outer side of the belt, wherein a ratio of BD/BW satisfies the following formula: (0.062×tire aspect ratio?0.01)<BD/BW<(0.062×tire aspect ratio+0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: Bridgestone Corporation
    Inventor: Souto Nakayama
  • Patent number: 9027619
    Abstract: An intermediate article of manufacture formed as a first stage bead area subassembly for a split ply pneumatic tire carcass is disclosed. The bead area subassembly has an annular bead core; a bead apex; a ply strip; and preferably a sidewall affixed to the ply strip. The subassembly is formed into a disk-shaped bead area monocomponent. The ply strip is wrapped about the bead core and the apex to form a ply turnup and both the ply strip and the ply turnup extend radially outwardly from the bead core. The bead area subassembly when formed into the disk-shaped bead area monocomponent is placed on an annular holder device. The combination of the bead area monocomponent on the holder device can be stacked for storage and latter assembly into a split ply carcass. Preferably, the ply turnup can be oriented extending inside or axially inward of the bead core on final assembly to form a split ply tire having axially inside turnups.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Inventors: Douglas Raymond Weaver, Steven Leonard Kitz
  • Patent number: 9022083
    Abstract: Particular embodiments of the present invention include a multi-stage tire tread having a plurality of wear layers, each said layer being located at a different depth of the tire tread, the tread including one or more tread elements including a contact surface and having a first wear layer and a second wear layer, wherein the second wear layer is located below the first wear layer. The tire tread also includes a longitudinal groove extending in a longitudinal direction within the second wear layer of the tread element, wherein said longitudinal groove becomes exposed after a depth of the first wear layer has been worn. The tire tread further includes one or more lateral grooves extending from the longitudinal groove in a lateral direction within the second wear layer of the tread element. The invention also provides a mold element for forming portions of the multi-stage tread.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: Michelin Recherche et Technique S.A.
    Inventors: Stefan Voss, Jean-Marc D'Harcourt, Jeff Godsey
  • Patent number: 9022086
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire that is provided with a first fastener of a separatable pair of mechanical fasteners on a tire inner surface, wherein, even in cases where a desired object is engaged/fixed using only one fastener, the object does not rotate having the fastener as a central axis when the tire is in use. A first fastener of the pair of mechanical fasteners is provided on a tire inner surface, and the mechanical fasteners are provided with a rotation preventing mechanism for preventing the fasteners from mutually rotating when the pair of mechanical fasteners are engaged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Tanno, Daisuke Kanenari
  • Patent number: 9016341
    Abstract: Bicycle tires with at least one reinforcement layer that contains strength supports and that is arranged between carcass and tread rubber and/or between carcass layers below the tread rubber and/or within the tread rubber. For a high resistance to puncturing with low weight, the reinforcement layer contains multifilament threads of more than 30 polyester/polyarylate filaments, and the filaments are spun from molten liquid-crystal polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2015
    Assignee: Continental Reifen Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: Wolfgang Klapp, Wolfgang Bende