Patents by Inventor Masakazu Washizuka

Masakazu Washizuka 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: 10195907
    Abstract: A tread portion (2) has a pair of center main grooves (11) extending zigzag and continuously in a tire circumference direction, a pair of shoulder main grooves (12), a center land portion (13), a pair of middle land portions (14), and a pair of shoulder land portions (15). The center main groove (11) has a first groove edge (11a) on the tire equator side and a second groove edge (11b) on the tread edge side. The shoulder main groove (12) has a third groove edge (12a) on the tire equator side and a fourth groove edge (12b) on the tread edge side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Masakazu Washizuka, Daisuke Todoroki, Atsushi Maehara
  • Patent number: 10183533
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a heavy-duty tire compatible with wear resistance, uneven wear resistance, and wet performance. In the present disclosure, by providing, to a tread section, a pair of center primary grooves, a pair of shoulder primary grooves, a plurality of center lateral grooves, a plurality of middle lateral grooves, and a plurality of shoulder lateral grooves, the tread section is divided into a center block, a middle block, and a shoulder block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 22, 2019
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Masakazu Washizuka, Makoto Igarashi
  • Publication number: 20160272010
    Abstract: In the present invention, by providing, to a tread section, a pair of center primary grooves, a pair of shoulder primary grooves, a plurality of center lateral grooves, a plurality of middle lateral grooves, and a plurality of shoulder lateral grooves, the tread section is divided into a center block, a middle block, and a shoulder block. In the center primary grooves, a long-side section, and a short-side section inclined in the reverse orientation from the long-side section are provided in an alternating manner. The center lateral grooves connect between the long-side sections of the pair of center primary grooves, and the middle lateral grooves connect between the outside zigzag peak of the center primary grooves and the inside zigzag peak of the shoulder primary grooves. The middle block has an inclined slot of which the depth gradually increases toward the center primary groove at a position opposing the center lateral groove with the center primary groove sandwiched therebetween.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2014
    Publication date: September 22, 2016
    Applicant: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Masakazu WASHIZUKA, Makoto IGARASHI
  • Publication number: 20160159158
    Abstract: A tread portion (2) has a pair of center main grooves (11) extending zigzag and continuously in a tire circumference direction, a pair of shoulder main grooves (12), a center land portion (13), a pair of middle land portions (14), and a pair of shoulder land portions (15). The center main groove (11) has a first groove edge (11a) on the tire equator side and a second groove edge (11b) on the tread edge side. The shoulder main groove (12) has a third groove edge (12a) on the tire equator side and a fourth groove edge (12b) on the tread edge side.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2014
    Publication date: June 9, 2016
    Applicant: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Masakazu WASHIZUKA, Daisuke TODOROKI, Atsushi MAEHARA
  • Patent number: 9221305
    Abstract: Heavy duty pneumatic tire with a tread portion having a zigzag crown main groove and a pair of zigzag shoulder main grooves forming two crown land portions between the crown main groove and two shoulder main grooves. The crown land portion is divided by crown lateral grooves into circumferentially arranged crown blocks. The crown lateral grooves in each crown land portion extend from alternate axially inside zigzag vertices of the shoulder main groove to zigzag vertices of the crown main groove, while inclining with respect to the tire circumferential direction. The crown block has a crown auxiliary groove narrower in width than the crown main groove and extending to one of the zigzag vertices of the crown main groove to which none of the crown lateral grooves are connected, from one of the inside zigzag vertices of the shoulder main groove, while inclining with respect to the tire axial direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Masakazu Washizuka
  • Publication number: 20150343848
    Abstract: A heavy-duty pneumatic tire includes a tread having main grooves and lateral grooves connecting the main grooves such that each main groove has zigzag pattern extending continuously in tire circumferential direction and that the lateral grooves divide portion between the main grooves into blocks. Each main groove has a groove periphery on block side such that the groove periphery has inward crests protruding toward the block side and outward crests protruding in the opposite direction and alternating with the inward crests, the lateral grooves connect the inward crests and incline at angle ? in range of 10 to 20 degrees with respect to tire axial direction, and each block is formed to have a ground-contact surface which has substantially hexagonal shape and ratio W2/W1 in range of 0.85 to 0.95 where W2 represents tire axial minimum width and W1 represents tire axial maximum width in the ground-contact surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Applicant: SUMITOMO RUBBER INDUSTRIES LTD.
    Inventor: Masakazu WASHIZUKA
  • Patent number: 7469731
    Abstract: In a ground-contact surface shape of a tire, when a tangent angle formed between an axial direction of the tire and a tangent X at each point P on a profile line of the tire is defined as ?, a tangent angle ?1 in a ground-contact end point Pd is 25° or smaller. When a minimum value of the tangent angle ? in a region Y which is separated away from a tire equator C by a distance in a range of not less than 0.4 times but not more than 0.7 times a half of the ground-contact width of the tread is defined as ?2, and a tangent angle at a 0.9 times point Pq which is separated away from the tire equator C by a distance of 0.9 times the half of the ground-contact width of the tread is defined as ?3, a difference (?3??2) is set in a range of not less than ?10° but not more than +10°.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2008
    Assignee: Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takeshi Kuroki, Minoru Nishi, Takahiro Kimishima, Satoshi Tsuda, Jyunji Ohira, Mitsuharu Koya, Masakazu Washizuka
  • Publication number: 20050016656
    Abstract: In a ground-contact surface shape of a tire, when a tangent angle formed between an axial direction of the tire and a tangent X at each point P on a profile line of the tire is defined as ?, a tangent angle ?1 in a ground-contact end point Pd is 25° or smaller. When a minimum value of the tangent angle ? in a region Y which is separated away from a tire equator C by a distance in a range of not less than 0.4 times but not more than 0.7 times a half of the ground-contact width of the tread is defined as ?2, and a tangent angle at a 0.9 times point Pq which is separated away from the tire equator C by a distance of 0.9 times the half of the ground-contact width of the tread is defined as ?3, a difference (?3??2) is set in a range of not less than ?10° but not more than +10°.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2002
    Publication date: January 27, 2005
    Inventors: Takeshi Kuroki, Minoru Nishi, Takahiro Kimishima, Satoshi Tsuda, Jyunji Ohira, Mitsuharu Koya, Masakazu Washizuka