Tire
AssigneeBridgestone Corporation
InventorYasuo Ohsawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire capable of reducing a resistance to a fluid in a groove to improve the wet performances. By forming smaller grooves (or riblets 20) having a depth set within a range of 0.01 to 0.5 mm at a pitch within a range of 0.01 to 0.5 mm in the walls of a circumferential groove and a transverse groove, more specifically, the resistance to the water flowing in the groove is reduced to improve the drainage efficiency of the groove. By arranging a turbulence generating zone having a number of pointed projections at the groove side faces at the confluence between the circumferential groove and the transverse groove, on the other hand, there is suppressed the separation of the water flow in the vicinity of the confluence. With these constructions, it is possible to improve the wet performances of the tire better than the prior art.
Claims24
A tire comprising:
- a tread;
- at least one groove formed in said tread;
- and
- a plurality of smaller grooves formed in the walls of said groove so as to extend in the longitudinal directions of said groove,
- wherein said smaller grooves have a depth set within a range of 0.01 to 0.5 mm and a pitch set within a range of 0.01 to 0.5 mm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.