Mold segment irregular wear and noise countermeasure
AssigneeBridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC
InventorsAdam D. Singer, David M. Severyn, Andrew C. Budd
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire mold segment containing a mold surface with a plurality of groove forming and sipe forming protrusions arranged to form tread portions of tires. At the end faces of the tire mold segment, the portion of sipe forming protrusions with an end that terminates at or near the mold segment end face have an increased width to provide a countermeasure against irregular tread wear and tire noise. The sipe forming protrusions having an end that terminates at or near a tire mold segment end face have a width of about 0.7 mm or more. The remaining sipe forming protrusions positioned on the tire mold segment can a reduced thickness to accommodate high sipe density tread designs.
Claims10
A tire mold segment comprising:
- a. an inner mold surface and a first and second mold segment end face, the inner mold surface terminates at the first and second mold segment end faces;
- b. the first mold segment end face and the second mold segment end face comprising a plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions spaced along an entire length of the first mold segment end face and the second mold segment end face, the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions comprising a width in the range of about 0.7 to about 1.2 mm, the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions comprising a first end and a second end, the first end of the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions terminates at the first mold segment end face or the second mold segment face;
- c. a plurality of interior sipe forming protrusions, all of the plurality of interior sipe forming protrusions comprising a width in the range of about 0.6 mm or less.
A tire mold segment comprising:
- a. an inner mold surface and a first and second mold segment end face, the inner mold surface terminates at the first and second mold segment end faces;
- b. the first mold segment end face and the second mold segment end face comprising a plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions, all of the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions comprising a width in the range of about 0.7 to about 1.2 mm, the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions comprising a first end and a second end, the first end of the plurality of edge sipe forming protrusions terminates at the first mold segment end face or the second mold segment face;
- c. a plurality of interior sipe forming protrusions, all of the plurality of interior sipe forming protrusions comprising a width in the range of about 0.6 mm or less.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.