Tire tread with improved resistance to chunking
AssigneeUniroyal Goodrich Licensing Services, Inc.
InventorThomas E. Wise
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tire for use on a vehicle capable of spinning the tire relative to the ground surface that the vehicle is operable upon. The tire includes a plurality of ground engagable tread elements. Each of said tread elements at least partially defines a transversely extending groove. The improvement comprises a relief located at the intersection of the groove and the ground engaging portion of the tread element. The relief reduces the propensity of chunking of a leading edge of the tread element during operation of the tire.
Claims20
A vehicle tire with a tread, said tread comprising:
- a plurality of tread elements arranged in a substantially circumferential array about the outer circumference of the tire;
- each of said plurality of tread elements being at least partially defined by a leading edge surface, a trailing edge surface and a ground engaging surface;
- and
- each of said leading edge surfaces and said trailing edge surfaces has a smooth concave relief means wherein the surface of said relief means has a substantially constant radius of curvature, said relief means being located exclusively within the radially outermost 33 percent of the depth of a groove defined by a leading edge surface of a tread element and a trailing edge surface of a circumferentially adjacent tread element.
A vehicle tire with a tread, said tire including a plurality of ground engagable tread elements, each of said tread elements at least partially defines a transversely extending groove, the improvement comprising a substantially smooth concave relief means located at the intersection of the groove and the ground contacting surface portion of the tread element, said relief means being incorporated for reducing the propensity to chunking of a leading edge of the tread element during operation of the tire, said relief means being located exclusively within the radially outermost 33 percent of the depth of the groove.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.