Vein pump assembly for air maintenance tire

An air maintenance tire and air pump assembly comprising:

• a tire having a tread region and first and second sidewalls extending from the tread region;
• an elongate tubular air passageway enclosed within a flexing region of a tire wall, the air passageway having an air inlet portal operable to admit air into the air passageway and an outlet portal spaced apart from the inlet portal operable to withdraw pressurized air from the air passageway, the air passageway operably closing segment by segment in reaction to induced forces from the tire flexing region as the flexing region of the tire wall rotates opposite a rolling tire footprint;
• the elongate air passageway having at least one check valve device seated within the axial air passageway;
• the check valve device dividing the elongate passageway into an upstream and a downstream passageway segments;
• the check valve device having an external dimension and configuration operable to substantially occupy the air passageway, and the check valve device having a valve gate operable in an open position to allow pressurized air to directionally pass through the check valve body from the upstream passageway segment to the downstream passageway segment, and the valve gate operable in a closed position to prohibit air from passing through the check valve body from the downstream passageway segment to the upstream passageway segment;
• and
• wherein a flow of pressurized air through the check valve device extends in one axial direction along the air passageway from an inlet portal of the elongate air passageway toward an outlet portal of the air passageway.