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US 2005/0183809 A1Published application
Tire for two-wheeled vehicles
AssigneeMichelin Recherche et Technique S.A.
InventorsPascal Prost, Alain Valle, Yann Chaylard
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AssigneeMichelin Recherche et Technique S.A.
InventorsPascal Prost, Alain Valle, Yann Chaylard
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a tire for a two-wheeled motorized vehicle and more particularly a motorcycle. Such a tire comprises at least one carcass-type reinforcement structure, formed of reinforcement elements, anchored on either side of the tire to a bead whose base is intended to be mounted on a rim seat, each bead being extended radially towards the outside by a sidewall, the sidewalls meeting up radially towards the outside with a tread, and comprising under the tread a crown reinforcement structure consisting of at least one layer of circumferential reinforcement elements; according to the invention, in accordance with the profile of the tire in a radial plane, said layer of circumferential elements is at least in part radially to the inside of the part of at least one carcass-type reinforcement structure radially to the outside of the two points of tangency of the curvilinear abscissa of the carcass-type reinforcement structure with perpendiculars to the axis of rotation and said circumferential reinforcement elements are distributed in the transverse direction with a variable pitch.
1- A tire comprising at least one carcass-type reinforcement structure, formed of reinforcement elements, anchored on either side of the tire to a bead whose base is intended to be mounted on a rim seat, each bead being extended radially towards the outside by a sidewall, the sidewalls meeting up radially towards the outside with a tread, and comprising under the tread a crown reinforcement structure consisting of at least one layer of circumferential reinforcement elements, wherein, in accordance with the profile of the tire in a radial plane, said layer of circumferential elements is at least in part radially to the inside of the part of at least one carcass-type reinforcement structure radially to the outside of the two points of tangency of the curvilinear abscissa of the carcass-type reinforcement structure with perpendiculars to the axis of rotation and wherein said circumferential reinforcement elements are distributed in the transverse direction with a variable pitch.
2- A tire according to claim 1, wherein said distribution pitch for the circumferential reinforcement elements at the centre (crown) of the tread is smaller than at the edges of said layer of circumferential reinforcement elements.
3- A tire according to claim 1, wherein said distribution pitch for the circumferential reinforcement elements at the centre (crown) of the tread is greater than at the edges of said layer of circumferential reinforcement elements.
4- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the value of the pitch in the transverse direction follows a mathematical progression increasing over at least part of the axial width of said layer.
5- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the value of the pitch follows an arithmetic progression of the type U(n)=Uo+nr, with Uo being between 0.4 mm and 2.5 mm and r being the difference of consecutive terms of the progression, said difference being between 0.001 and 0.1.
6- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the value of the pitch follows a geometric progression of the type U(n)=Uo×rn, with Uo being between 0.4 mm and 2.5 mm and r being the difference of consecutive terms of the progression, said difference being between 1.001 and 1.025.
7- A tire according to claim 1, comprising a layer of circumferential reinforcement elements extending in the sidewalls beyond the points of tangency of the curvilinear abscissa of the carcass-type reinforcement structure with perpendiculars to the axis of rotation, wherein, in accordance with the profile of the tire in a radial plane, the part of the layer of circumferential elements, radially to the inside of the two points of tangency of the curvilinear abscissa of the carcass-type reinforcement structure with perpendiculars to the axis of rotation is radially to the inside of the carcass-type reinforcement structure, radially to the inside of the two points of tangency of the curvilinear abscissa of the carcass-type reinforcement structure with perpendiculars to the axis of rotation.
8- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcement elements of the carcass-type reinforcement structure form an angle of between 65° and 90° with the circumferential direction.
9- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the crown reinforcement structure comprises at least one working layer consisting of reinforcement elements and wherein, at least in the central zone of said working layer, said reinforcement elements form an angle of between 10 and 80° with the longitudinal direction.
10- A tire according to claim 9, wherein the crown reinforcement structure comprises at least two working layers consisting of reinforcement elements and wherein, at least in the central zone of said working layer, from one layer to the next said elements form between them angles of between 20 and 160°.
11- A tire according to claim 9, wherein the layer of circumferential reinforcement elements is positioned at least in part radially to the outside of a working layer.
12- A tire according to claim 9, wherein the layer of circumferential reinforcement elements is positioned at least in part radially to the inside of the working layer radially furthest to the inside.
13- A tire according to claim 9, wherein the angles formed by said reinforcement elements of the working layers with the longitudinal direction are variable in the transverse direction and wherein said angles are greater at the axially outer edges of the working layers relative to the angles of said reinforcement elements measured at the level of the equatorial plane of the tire.
14- A tire according to claim 9, wherein the working layer reinforcement elements are of textile material.
15- A tire according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential reinforcement elements are metal and/or textile and/or glass.
16- A tire according to claim 15, wherein the circumferential reinforcement elements exhibit a modulus of elasticity greater than 6000 N/mm2.