Method and apparatus for ablative processing of elastomeric products

A method for imparting informational and/or decorative configurations upon a tire, comprising:

• securing a multilayered work piece of elastomeric materials to the tire;
• selecting a configuration to be imparted to said tire;
• impinging a laser beam upon selected areas of said multilayered work piece, said configurations defining said selected areas;
• regulating a dwell time of said laser beam upon said selected areas, such laser beam ablating said work piece to selected elastomeric layers thereof;
• and
• altering the type of said laser beam as it impinges said selected areas to effectuate different types of ablation at different ones of said elastomeric layers of said work piece, thereby imparting textures and patterns to resultant exposed surfaces of said elastomeric layers of said work pieces.

An ablation system for imparting informational and/or decorative configurations upon a tire, comprising:

• a tire;
• laser means in juxtaposition to said tire for generating a laser beam of light energy;
• control means connected to said laser means for directing said laser beam upon particular portions of said tire, said laser beam ablating said particular portions in a predetermined configuration;
• and
• wherein said laser means comprises multiple laser sources of different types and said control means activates selected ones of said laser sources for progressively ablating said particular portions and wherein said particular portions of said tire are within a work piece received by said tire, said work piece comprising a plurality of layers of elastomeric material, said control means activating selected ones of said laser sources to ablate selected ones of said layers.

An ablation system for imparting informational and/or decorative configurations upon a tire, comprising:

• a tire;
• laser means in juxtaposition to said tire for generating a laser beam of light energy;
• control means connected to said laser means for directing said laser beam upon particular portions of said tire, said laser beam ablating said particular portions in a predetermined configuration;
• and
• wherein said particular portions of said tire are within a work piece bonded to said tire, said work piece comprising at least, three layers, said layers having associated ablation rates with respect to said laser beam, and wherein a first outer layer has a greater ablation rate than a second inner layer of said work piece and said second inner layer has a greater ablation rate than a third inner layer, said second inner layer being interposed between said first outer layer and said third inner layer.