Patent ID: 6352093
Filing Date: 2002-03-05
Classification: B60C,Y10T

Abstract:
A pneumatic tire having at least a pair of substantially parallel annular beads (12), at least one carcass ply (14) wrapped around said beads, a tread (18) disposed over said at least one carcass ply in a crown area of said tire, and sidewalls (20) disposed between said tread (18) and said beads (12), wherein a reinforcement package (24) is disposed between said tread (18) and said at least one carcass ply (14) in said crown area, said reinforcement package (24) comprising an elastomeric composite having a second end 44 and a first end (32), said elastomeric composite being reinforced with substantially parallel reinforcement cords (26) oriented at substantially 0Â° with respect to a longitudinal centerline (CL) of said composite, and wherein said composite is folded continuously upon itself to provide reinforcement package (24) having an upper layer (46) characterized in that reinforcement cords therein have an angle of 17 to 35Â° with respect to the equatorial plane (EP) tire (10 ), and a lower layer (48) wherein reinforcement cords therein have an angle of âˆ’17 to âˆ’35Â° with respect to the equatorial plane (EP) of tire (10), and in that said reinforcement package (24) has a splice (28) wherein upper layer (46) at second end tip (37) of reinforcement package (24) overlaps with lower layer (48) at a first end (32) of reinforcement package (24), said splice (28) comprising a triangular configuration formed by the intersection of a first cut and a second cut, whereby upper layer (46) at first end (32) has a first cut parallel to the edge of the belt and a second cut at angle of 17 to 35Â° with respect to the width of the composite strip at first end (32) for a distance corresponding to 70 to 90% of the width of elastomeric composite (24), and wherein all cut reinforcement cords (26) are removed from cut-out (30) at first end (32).