Method of manufacturing tire including grooves
AssigneeSumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.
InventorsDavid Robert Watkins, Michael Jackson, Paul Stephens
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire for a vehicle having at least one wheel at each corner, the tire comprising a ground contacting tread extending axially between first and second edge regions and having tread grooves formed therein, wherein in the first axial edge region of the tread the tread grooves are aligned substantially in the tire circumferential direction and in the second axial edge region of the tread the grooves are aligned substantially in the tire axial direction and in a third axial region of the tread axially between the first and second edge regions the alignment of the grooves changes progressively from circumferential to axial.
Claims3
A method of manufacturing a tire for a vehicle having a wheel at each corner, said tire having a tread surface including grooves, comprising (a) forming small holes in the tread surface of a first tire at successive axial positions across the tread of the first tire, (b) running the first tire on said vehicle to initiate a pattern of wear emanating from each small hole, and (c) forming tread grooves in the surface of a second tire such that at any particular axial point each tread groove of the second tire is oriented in the same direction as the pattern of wear emanating from the small hole formed at that point on the worn first tire.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.