Pneumatic tire with band element

Abstract

A band element for mounting in the crown portion of a pneumatic tire to provide run flat ability to the tire in the event of loss of air pressure and to provide increased puncture resistance is formed of flat strips of tape having fibers embedded in a resin matrix which in one embodiment are twisted and then pultruded to provide a rectangular cross sectional configuration. The twisted tape is wrapped about a mandrel and forms either the only layer, or the intermediate layer of a composite band in combination with inner and outer layers of flat tape or wound filament fibers, whereby the fibers in the tape extend across the central axis of the band to reduce interlaminar sheer. In another embodiment, a plurality of dimples or depressions are formed in the individual tape layers to extend a plurality of the fibers across the layer boundaries to reduce interlaminar sheer.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.