Tires

A tire and wheel assembly comprising a wheel rim including two circumferentially-extending bead seats and a tire comprising two circumferentially-extending bead regions each retained upon a respective bead seat by a continuous bead ring which is substantially incapable of circumferential expansion or compression, a circumferentially-extending tread which is capable of resisting circumferential expasion but capable of local radial deflection, and two load-carrying sidewalls each having a radially-innermost edge and a radially-outermost edge, the radially-outermost edge being attached to a respective edge of the tread and the radially-innermost edge being attached to a respective bead region, each sidewall including tension-resisting reinforcements extending between said edges and being capable of being placed in tension, and pretensioning means comprising a cavity radially inwards of the tread and having a height less than the tire sectional height and a fluid under pressure retained in said cavity.

A tire and wheel assembly comprising a wheel rim including two circumferentially-extending bead seats and a tire comprising two circumferentially-extending bead regions each retained upon a respective bead seat by a continuous bead ring which is substantially incapable of circumferential expansion or compression, a circumferentially-extending tread which is capable of resisting circumferential expansion but capable of local radial deflection, and two load-carrying sidewalls each having a radially-innermost edge and a radially-outermost edge, the radially-outermost edge being attached to a respective edge of the tread and the radially-innermost edge being attached to a respective bead region, each sidewall including tension-resisting reinforcements extending between said edges and being capable of being placed in tension, and pretensioning means comprising a solid or semi-solid material in compression radially inwards of the tread, said material being supported on a rigid loop radially outwards of the wheel rim.

A tire and wheel assembly comprising a wheel rim including a pair of circumferentially-extending bead seats and a tire comprising a pair of axially spaced apart circumferentially-extending bead regions retained upon each bead seat by a continuous bead ring on each bead which is substantially incapable of circumferential expansion or compression;

• a circumferentially-extending tread region which is capable of resisting circumferential expansion but capable of local radial deflection, said tread region comprising an outer layer of tread rubber compound, a breaker reinforcement having a substantial degree of transverse rigidity having an axial width substantially equal to and being located radially beneath said tread compound, a relatively rigid hoop extending around the tire beneath and spaced-apart from the breaker and, between the said breaker and rigid hoop a series of precompressed blocks of resilient material so as to connect the breaker and thus the tread and its edges to said rigid hoop;
• two sidewalls each comprising a load-carrying wall having a radially-innermost edge and a radially-outermost edge, the radially-outermost edge being attached to the tread and the radially-outermost edge being attached to the bead region, the wall including tension-resisting reinforcements extending between said edges and being capable of being placed in tension.

A tire and wheel assembly comprising a wheel rim including a circumferentially-extending bead seat and a tire comprising a circumferentially-extending bead region retained upon the bead seat by a continuous bead ring which is substantially incapable of circumferential expansion or compression, a circumferentially-extending tread which is capable of resisting circumferential expansion but capable of local radial deflection, and a load-carrying wall having a radially-innermost edge and a radially-outermost edge, the radially-outermost edge being attached to the tread and the radially-innermost edge being attached to the bead region, the wall including tension-resisting reinforcements extending between said edges and being capable of being placed in tension, and pretensioning means for placing said tension-resisting reinforcements in tension after the tire has been built and before the tire is loaded, said pretensioning means comprising preshrunk cords in the tire wall.

A tire and wheel assembly comprising a wheel rim including a circumferentially-extending bead seat and a tire comprising a circumferentially-extending bead region retained upon the bead seat by a continuous bead ring which is substantially incapable of circumferential expansion or compression, a circumferentially-extending tread which is capable of resisting circumferential expansion but capable of local radial deflection, and a load-carrying wall having a radially-innermost edge and a radially-outermost edge, the radially-outermost edge being attached to the tread and the radially-innermost edge being attached to the bead region, the wall including tension-resisting reinforcements extending between said edges and being capable of being placed in tension, and pretensioning means for placing said tension-resisting reinforcements in tension after the tire has been built and before the tire is loaded, said pretensioning means comprising means for crimping the wall immediately radially outwardly of the bead region.

A tire and wheel assembly according to claim 54 in which the tire is pneumatic and the pretensioning means is capable of placing the tension-resisting reinforcements in tension before the tire and rim is inflated.

A tire and wheel assembly according to claim 49 wherein the pretensioning means comprises means provided in the wheel rim to axially displace the bead regions thereby tending to lengthen a wall.

A tire and wheel assembly according to 15 wherein the wheel rim is divided into two parts each having one of said bead seats, the wall reinforcements being pretensioned when the two parts are axially displaced towards one another and secured together.

A tire and wheel assembly according to claim 49 wherein said pretensioning means comprises an axially expandable separator ring located in the cavity formed between tire and rim, which ring on axial expansion presses against the interior surface of each tire wall thereby tending to lengthen said walls and create pretension therein.

A tire and wheel assembly according to claim 49 wherein the pretensioning means comprises means to displace the bead region circumferentially thereby lengthening the walls to create pretension.

A tire comprising a pair of axially spaced-apart bead regions, two sidewalls and a tread, a breaker radially beneath said tread, a tubular cavity radially beneath said breaker and extending circumferentially around the tire, having a width substantially equal to the width of the breaker and a radial height substantially less than the tire sectional height, and a substantially rigid hoop located in the radially inner surface wall of the tubular cavity and having an axial dimension similar to the axial width of said cavity wherein the cavity is pressurized with fluid so as to apply a radially outwards force to the breaker and thereby pretension the sidewalls.

A tire comprising a pair of axially spaced-apart bead regions, two sidewalls and a tread region comprising an outer layer of tread rubber compound, a breaker reinforcement having a substantial degree of transverse rigidity having an axial width substantially equal to and being located radially beneath said tread compound, a relatively rigid hoop extending around the tire beneath and spaced-apart from the breaker and, between the said breaker and rigid hoop a series of precompressed blocks of resilient material so as to connect the breaker and thus the tread and its edges to said rigid hoop.