Apparatus for measuring ground-contacting portion of tire tread
AssigneeThe Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.
InventorsZempachiro Adachi, Yoshio Gouhara
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention discloses an apparatus for measuring the ground-contacting portion of tire tread wherein the tread of the tire is brought into pressure contact with one of the surfaces of a glass sheet into which rays of light are projected from the side edges of the glass sheet and the contact geometry of the tread of the tire with respect to the glass sheet is photographed by a camera from the other surface of the glass sheet. The tire is allowed to move in parallel with the glass surface while rolling along the glass surface and the camera is moved parallel in the same direction as the tire in synchronism with the movement of the tire.
Claims4
An apparatus for measuring the ground-contacting portion of tire tread, comprising:
- a travelling path for rolling a tire thereon, said travelling path including a glass sheet having a tire contacting surface thereon;
- tire mounting means for mounting a tire thereon, said tire mounting means being movable in a rolling direction to contact the tire on said travelling path;
- projector means for projecting rays of light, said projector means being disposed on at least one side edge of said glass sheet;
- a camera for capturing an image of said tire tread, said camera disposed on an opposite side of said travelling path from said tire mounting means;
- means for moving said camera in synchronization with the tire mounting means in the rolling direction parallel to said tire mounting means;
- wherein said tire mounting means moves said tire to roll along said travelling path together with said camera while said projector means projects rays of light into said glass sheet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.