Pneumatic tire having tread blocks with skewed walls
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsAlain Emile Roesgen, Bernard Francois Croissant, Michel Constant
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pneumatic tire with an improved balance between noise reduction and hydroplaning resistance as the tread wears. The tread of the pneumatic tire includes skewed tread blocks having walls that, as the tread wears, change the character of the lateral and circumferential channels in the tire footprint to better optimize noise reduction and hydroplaning resistance.
Claims13
A pneumatic tire comprising:
- a carcass having an axis of rotation;
- and
- a tread disposed radially outward of said carcass, said tread including an equatorial plane bisecting said tread perpendicular to said axis of rotation, a plurality of grooves, and a plurality of raised tread blocks located between said grooves, each of said tread blocks having a road-contacting surface and at least one wall extending from said road-contacting surface so as to border at least one of said grooves, and said at least one wall oriented with a first angular orientation relative to said equatorial plane at a first groove depth at or below the road-contacting surface and with a second angular orientation relative to said equatorial plane at a second groove depth smaller than the first groove depth, the second angular orientation differing from the first angular orientation.
A method of adjusting the water removal characteristics of a tire tread with tread wear, the tire tread having an equatorial plane, a plurality of grooves, and a plurality of tread blocks located between the grooves, each of the tread blocks having a road-contacting surface and at least one wall extending from the road-contacting surface so as to border at least one of the grooves, the method comprising:
- orienting the at least one wall with a first angular orientation relative to the equatorial plane at a first groove depth;
- and
- orienting the at least one wall with a second angular orientation differing from the first angular orientation at a second groove depth less than the first groove depth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.