Tire tread elements with built-in twist
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsDale Jay Moseley, Samuel Patrick Landers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tire having a tread has tread elements which, when compressed radially, exhibit a net torque. The net torque so generated can be directed and designed so as to affect the tire's residual self-aligning torque (also known as RSAT). One embodiment of the invention features a tire tread having a tread element which has a shape resembling a top surface with the tread element being twisted relative to a bottom surface of the tread element. Upon radial loading, the tread element is compressed and generates the net torque about the centroid of the tread element.
Claims3
A tire comprising a tread wherein the tread includes a tread element,
- the tread element having a centroid, a top surface, a base surface displaced radially inwardly from the top surface, and side surfaces extending radially between the top surface and the base surface,
- the tread element being twisted so that the side surfaces are twisted and so that the top surface is rotated relative to the bottom surface by a predetermined angle of rotation about a radial line through the centroid and
- wherein a net torque is generated about the radial line passing through the centroid when the tread element is compressed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.