Puncture-sealing tire
AssigneeThe B. F. Goodrich Company
InventorRobert W. Hallman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A puncture-sealing pneumatic tubeless tire comprising a sealant as its innermost layer and a tack layer disposed between said sealant and the air impervious liner. The tack layer is integral with the tire and allows the application and adherence of the sealant to the tire without first cleaning the inside of the tire. The tack layer is a soft, vulcanized layer consisting of cis-polyisoprene rubber and/or natural rubber.
Claims24
In a puncture-sealing tubeless pneumatic tire comprising two spaced inextensible beads, a ground contacting tread portion, a pair of individual sidewalls extending radially inward from the axial outer edges of said tread portion to join the respective beads, a carcass portion, and a tire sealant layer disposed inwardly of said carcass portion, the improvement comprising an integral layer of vulcanized tack rubber disposed between said carcass and said sealant, wherein said tack rubber comprises at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of cis-polyisoprene and natural rubber and said tack layer has a vulcanized Shore A durometer of from about 25 to about 40 and a thickness in the range of from about 0.1 to about 30 percent of the total tire thickness, and wherein said tack layer is substantially free of antioxidants.
A method of making a puncture-sealing tubeless pneumatic tire comprising:
- (a) building an adherent unvulcanized tack layer onto the innermost portion of an unvulcanized tire construction having bead, tread, and carcass portions, wherein said tack layer comprises at least one polymer selected from the group consisting of cispolyisoprene and natural rubber and has a vulcanized Shore A durometer of from about 25 to about 40 and a thickness of from about 0.1 to about 30 percent of the total tire thickness, and wherein said tack layer is substantially free of antioxidants;
- (b) shaping said unvulcanized tire construction;
- (c) molding said tire construction;
- (d) heating said tire construction under pressure to simultaneously covulcanize said construction and adherent tack layer to from said pneumatic tire containing an integral vulcanized tack layer;
- and
- (e) applying onto said tack layer a tire sealant having a thickness of from about 1 to about 50 percent of the total tire thickness.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.