Patents by Inventor Hiroshi Furusawa

Hiroshi Furusawa 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: 11364748
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes lug grooves in a tread surface of a shoulder land, the lug grooves crossing a circumferential direction and terminating at a first side within the shoulder land and passing through a contact edge at a second side; and a notch formed on an opening edge of the lug grooves, the notch being cutout from the tread surface cut radially inward. The lug grooves have a width decreasing from the first to the second side, an end position of the lug grooves is disposed from a main groove from 5% to 35% of a lateral dimension from the main groove to the ground contact edge, and a maximum groove width position is disposed from the main groove 40% or less of the lateral dimension from the main groove to the ground contact edge; and the notch has a width that increases from the first to the second side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2022
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 11331957
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes lug grooves arranged in a circumferential direction in a tread surface of a land portion defined by two main grooves adjacent in a lateral direction, the lug grooves each crossing the circumferential direction and communicating at both ends with the main grooves, defining the land portion in the circumferential direction. A notch portion is formed on an opening edge of the lug grooves. The notch portion is cutout from the tread surface inward in a radial direction. The lug grooves have a maximum groove width at a position from 30% to 70% of a lateral direction dimension of the land portion from one of the main grooves and a groove width that decreases from the maximum groove width to the main grooves. The notch portion has a notch width that increases from a position of the maximum groove width of the lug grooves to the main grooves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20210129594
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes lug grooves in a tread surface of a shoulder land, the lug grooves crossing a circumferential direction and terminating at a first side within the shoulder land and passing through a contact edge at a second side; and a notch formed on an opening edge of the lug grooves, the notch being cutout from the tread surface cut radially inward. The lug grooves have a width decreasing from the first to the second side, an end position of the lug grooves is disposed from a main groove from 5% to 35% of a lateral dimension from the main groove to the ground contact edge, and a maximum groove width position is disposed from the main groove 40% or less of the lateral dimension from the main groove to the ground contact edge; and the notch has a width that increases from the first to the second side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20210122192
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, land portions that include a plurality of blocks. The land portions are provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions in a contact patch. The opening area ratio Se? of the recessed portions in the end portion regions in the tire circumferential direction of one continuous contact patch and the opening area ratio Sc? of the recessed portions in the central portion region in the tire circumferential direction have the relationship Sc?<Se?, where the central portion region is defined as the region in the central portion in the tire circumferential direction occupying 50% of the continuous contact patch, and the end portion regions are defined as the regions in the front and back end portions in the tire circumferential direction occupying 25%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2020
    Publication date: April 29, 2021
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 10875361
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, land portions that include a rib or a plurality of blocks. The land portions are provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions in a contact patch. The opening area ratio Se of the recessed portions in the end portion regions in the tire lateral direction of one continuous contact patch and the opening area ratio Sc of the recessed portions in the central portion region in the tire lateral direction have the relationship Sc<Se, where the central portion region is defined as the region in the central portion in the tire lateral direction occupying 50% of the continuous contact patch of the land portions, and the end portion regions are defined as the regions in the left and right end portions in the tire lateral direction occupying 25%.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 10576789
    Abstract: There is provided a pneumatic tire, in which a first set of blocks that is partitioned and formed by two first circumferential grooves and a plurality of first lateral grooves is provided in the center region that includes the tire equatorial plane, a second set of blocks that is partitioned and formed by one second circumferential groove and a plurality of second lateral grooves is provided in the outermost portion in the tire width direction on each side in the tire width direction, a rib is provided between the first set of blocks and the second sets of blocks, the rib is divided by at least one third circumferential groove, and a plurality of sipes is formed in the first set of blocks, the second set of blocks, and the rib.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Masaaki Miyoshi
  • Publication number: 20200023688
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire includes lug grooves arranged in a circumferential direction in a tread surface of a land portion defined by two main grooves adjacent in a lateral direction, the lug grooves each crossing the circumferential direction and communicating at both ends with the main grooves, defining the land portion in the circumferential direction. A notch portion is formed on an opening edge of the lug grooves. The notch portion is cutout from the tread surface inward in a radial direction. The lug grooves have a maximum groove width at a position from 30% to 70% of a lateral direction dimension of the land portion from one of the main grooves and a groove width that decreases from the maximum groove width to the main grooves. The notch portion has a notch width that increases from a position of the maximum groove width of the lug grooves to the main grooves.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2017
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20190084351
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, a land portion that is a rib or a plurality of blocks. The plurality of blocks are each provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions that communicate with the plurality of narrow shallow grooves in a contact patch. The recessed portions are disposed across separate adjacent narrow shallow grooves. The narrow shallow grooves each have a groove width of from 0.2 mm to 0.7 mm and a groove depth from 0.2 mm to 0.7 mm. The recessed portions each have the same depth as the narrow shallow grooves.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: March 21, 2019
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 10160266
    Abstract: The present technology relates to a pneumatic tire in which a plurality of small blocks is delineated and formed by a plurality of rectilinear circumferential narrow grooves and a plurality of widthwise narrow grooves that communicate with the circumferential narrow grooves, and small block rows with the small blocks aligned along a tire circumferential direction are formed between adjacent circumferential narrow grooves. Each of the small blocks has a surface area differing from that of at least one small block that belongs to an adjacent small block row on at least one side with respect to a tire width direction and has an overlapping tire circumferential directional region. The small blocks have surface areas of no less than 20 mm2 and no more than 400 mm2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 25, 2018
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20180333990
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, a land portion, which is a row of blocks. The land portion is provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions in a contact patch. Additionally, in the continuous contact patch of the land portion, four recessed portions are arranged in a row along an arc, with at least one of the four recessed portions being disposed in a central region and left and right end portion regions in a tire lateral direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20180312010
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, land portions that include a rib or a plurality of blocks. The land portions are provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions in a contact patch. The opening area ratio Se of the recessed portions in the end portion regions in the tire lateral direction of one continuous contact patch and the opening area ratio Sc of the recessed portions in the central portion region in the tire lateral direction have the relationship Sc<Se, where the central portion region is defined as the region in the central portion in the tire lateral direction occupying 50% of the continuous contact patch of the land portions, and the end portion regions are defined as the regions in the left and right end portions in the tire lateral direction occupying 25%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20170368884
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided with, in the tread surface, land portions that include a rib or a plurality of blocks. The land portions are provided with a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions in a contact patch. Additionally, the opening area ratio Sc of the recessed portions in the central portion region in the tire lateral direction of one continuous contact patch and the opening area ratio Se of the recessed portions in the end portion regions in the tire lateral direction have the relationship Se<Sc, where the central portion region is defined as the region in the central portion in the tire lateral direction occupying 50% of the continuous contact patch of the land portions, and the end portion regions are defined as the regions in the left and right end portions in the tire lateral direction occupying 25%.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Applicant: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20170361660
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire comprises in a tread surface thereof a land portion that comprises a plurality of blocks. Each of the blocks comprises in a contact patch thereof a plurality of narrow shallow grooves and a plurality of recessed portions disposed separated from the narrow shallow grooves. The narrow shallow grooves have a groove width of from 0.2 mm to 0.7 mm and a groove depth of from 0.2 mm to 0.7 mm. The recessed portions have the same depth as the narrow shallow grooves.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Publication date: December 21, 2017
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20170305200
    Abstract: A pneumatic tire is provided that improves braking performance on ice, turning performance on ice, and water drainage performance in a well-balanced manner. A plurality of small blocks each having a contour consisting of four line segments is arranged while curving in a tire width direction to form medium blocks. The medium blocks are arranged in a plurality of rows in a tire circumferential direction to form large blocks. The large blocks are formed adjacent to the circumferential main groove in the tire circumferential direction on both sides in the tire width direction across the circumferential main groove.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2014
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Inventor: Hiroshi Furusawa
  • Patent number: 9539863
    Abstract: In a pneumatic tire, a single block includes a first sipe and a second sipe each extending in a tire width direction and disposed at a predetermined pitch in a tire circumferential direction. The first sipe and the second sipe include a first sipe portion that has a linear form when the block is viewed planarly, and a second sipe portion that has a zigzag shape when the block is viewed planarly and that connects to the first sipe portion. The first sipe portion includes a pair of sipe wall faces that face each other and have a linear form when viewed as a cross-section from a direction perpendicular to a sipe length direction, and includes a protrusion disposed on a first face of the sipe wall faces and a recess disposed on a second face of the sipe wall faces so as to mate with the protrusion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: The Yokohama Rubber Co., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Masaaki Nagayasu
  • Publication number: 20160229231
    Abstract: There is provided a pneumatic tire, in which a first set of blocks that is partitioned and formed by two first circumferential grooves and a plurality of first lateral grooves is provided in the center region that includes the tire equatorial plane, a second set of blocks that is partitioned and formed by one second circumferential groove and a plurality of second lateral grooves is provided in the outermost portion in the tire width direction on each side in the tire width direction, a rib is provided between the first set of blocks and the second sets of blocks, the rib is divided by at least one third circumferential groove, and a plurality of sipes is formed in the first set of blocks, the second set of blocks, and the rib.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2014
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Masaaki Miyoshi
  • Patent number: D788686
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masaaki Nagayasu, Yoshimasa Hashimoto, Hiroshi Furusawa, Kenichirou Endou, Kenichi Sato
  • Patent number: D848359
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Makoto Ishii
  • Patent number: D856913
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 20, 2019
    Assignee: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Daisuke Watanabe
  • Patent number: D876328
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: THE YOKOHAMA RUBBER CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusawa, Daisuke Watanabe