Tire With A Belt Having Offset Cables
AssigneeMichelin Recherche et Technique SA and Societe de Technologie Michelin
InventorDamon L. Christenbury
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention relates generally to an improved tire design that has at least one belt with cables that are offset from each other, and, more specifically, to a tire that has at least two belts that each have cables that are offset from each other, thereby reducing the amount of shear that exists near the free edge of the belts and the likelihood of belt separation when the tire rotates at high speed. This design is effective when the ratio of the radius, Rs, which is defined as the radial distance from the axis of rotation of the tire to a free edge of a cable of a belt of the tire, to the radius, Rc, which is defined as the radial distance from the axis of rotation of the tire to a topmost or crown portion of the belts, is greater than 0.95.
Claims14
A tire with a ground contacting portion and having radial, circumferential, axial directions, an axis of rotation and an equatorial plane, said tire comprising a first belt below its ground contacting portion that has first and second free edges along the axial extents of said belt, said belt including at least one cable that has a first end that extends substantially to one of said free edges and a second cable that is offset from said first cable such that the second cable does not extend to said first free edge of said belt, said tire being characterized in that the ratio of Rs/Rc is greater than 0.95, where Rs is the radial distance from said first end of the first cable to the axis of rotation of the tire and Rc is the radial distance from the crown or topmost portion of said first cable to the axis of rotation of the tire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.