US 3,961,657 AGranted

High speed radial ply tire

AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

InventorDennis Steven Chrobak

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Abstract

A radial ply pneumatic tire having an axial spacing between the beads when in the mold which is greater than the axial spacing of the beads when mounted on a rim and in which the width of the ground contacting tread surface is no greater than the axial spacing of the beads when mounted on a rim. The tire is further characterized by an annular recess in each outer sidewall for disassociating the tread structure from the sidewalls and lower bead areas, and a wedge of hard rubber bridging the space between the rim flange and lower sidewall portion for improving the reaction between the rim and a specially rigidified lower sidewall area to provide rapid steering response. The foregoing abstract is not to be taken as limiting the invention of this application, and in order to understand the full nature and extent of the technical disclosure of this application, reference must be made to the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion including a non-skid tread surface extending circumferentially thereabout;

a pair of annular bead portions each including an annular inextensible bead core, a radially inner base surface, and an axially outer flange engaging surface;
a sidewall portion extending between each axially outer edge of said tread portion to the respectively associated bead portion;
a carcass structure extending from bead portion to bead portion;
and a belt structure extending circumferentially about said carcass structure the improvement comprising;
means extending circumferentially about said tire and disposed in the radially outer one-third of each sidewall portion to provide a flexible transition between said tread portion and the sidewall portions and said carcass structure including at least one carcass ply of continuous cord reinforced fabric extending circumferentially about the tire and from bead to bead at an angle of between 0.degree. and 15.degree. with respect to planes containing the rotational axis of the tire and wherein said tire was curved in a configuration in which two straight lines lying in a single plane containing the rotational axis of the tire and tangent respectively to said fabric at a point radially inwardly of the axially outer edge of said ground contacting surface and a point in the next adjacent sidewall located next adjacent the radially inner edge of said means are perpendicular to each other.

2 more elements

A radial ply pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion including a non-skid tread surface extending circumferentially thereabout;

a pair of annular bead portions each including an annular inextensible bead core, a radially inner base surface, and an axially outer flange engaging surface;
a sidewall portion extending between each axially outer edge of said tread portion to the respectively associated bead portion;
a carcass structure extending from bead portion to bead portion;
and a belt structure extending circumferentially about said carcass structure and improvement comprising;
the axial distance between said flange engaging surfaces being between 10 and 30 percent greater when the tire is in the configuration in which it was cured than when said tire is mounted on a rim;
the axial width of said ground contacting surface being less than said axial distance between said flange engaging surfaces when said tire is mounted on a rim by an amount up to 10 percent of said axial distance;
and said flange engaging surface being planar when the tire is mounted on a rim and inflated and in the form of a truncated cone forming an angle of between 75.degree. and 85.degree. with respect to the rotational axis of the tire when in the configuration in which it was cured.

4 more elements

A radial ply pneumatic tire comprising a tread portion including a nonskid tread surface extending circumferentially thereabout;

a pair of annular bead portions each including an annular inextensible bead core, a radially inner base surface, and an axially outer flange engaging surface;
a sidewall portion extending between each axially outer edge of said tread portion to the respectively associated bead portion;
a carcass structure extending from bead portion to bead portion;
a belt structure extending circumferentially about said carcass structure;
and an annular bridging strip of rubber having a hardness of at least 90 durometer disposed radially outwardly of each flange engaging surface for engaging radially outer surface of each lip of the rim on which the tire is mounted and the axially outer surface of the reinforcing member in the respective sidewall of the tire to support the radially inner portion of the sidewall tire and provide increased tension in said reinforcing members.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.