Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US4271885?dq=inventor:%22Arthur+R.+Hair%22
Timestamp: 2016-12-07 20:34:13
Document Index: 398874601

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Patent US4271885 - Heavy duty pneumatic radial tire exhibiting less railway wear - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inPatentsA heavy duty pneumatic radial tire exhibiting less railway wear is disclosed. This tire has a tread pattern formed in a tread divided into a plurality of circumferential ribs by at least two zigzag grooves. Each of these zigzag grooves has a width, amplitude and pitch of 4.5 to 7.5%, 0.5 to 2.0% and...http://www.google.com/patents/US4271885?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US4271885 - Heavy duty pneumatic radial tire exhibiting less railway wearAdvanced Patent SearchTry the new Google Patents, with machine-classified Google Scholar results, and Japanese and South Korean patents.Publication numberUS4271885 APublication typeGrantApplication numberUS 05/896,425Publication dateJun 9, 1981Filing dateApr 14, 1978Priority dateApr 26, 1977Also published asCA1081596A, CA1081596A1, DE2818078A1Publication number05896425, 896425, US 4271885 A, US 4271885A, US-A-4271885, US4271885 A, US4271885AInventorsHiroyoshi Takigawa, Mitsuhisa Yahagi, Hiroshi OgawaOriginal AssigneeBridgestone Tire Co., Ltd.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (5), Referenced by (19), Classifications (17) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetHeavy duty pneumatic radial tire exhibiting less railway wear
US 4271885 AAbstract
A heavy duty pneumatic radial tire exhibiting less railway wear is disclosed. This tire has a tread pattern formed in a tread divided into a plurality of circumferential ribs by at least two zigzag grooves. Each of these zigzag grooves has a width, amplitude and pitch of 4.5 to 7.5%, 0.5 to 2.0% and 2.0 to 7.0%, respectively, based on a width of the tread.
1. In a heavy duty pneumatic radial tire having a tread pattern formed in a tread divided into a plurality of circumferential ribs along a widthwise direction of tire by at least two zigzag grooves extending circumferentially of said tread, said tread being reinforced with a belt layer composed of metal cords, the improvement which comprises a width, amplitude and pitch of each said zigzag groove being 4.5 to 7.5%, 0.5 to 2.0% and 2.0 to 7.0%, respectively, based on a width of said tread; each zigzag groove having a cross section in which a side wall is substantially 90° with respect to a tread outer surface over a height from said tread outer surface corresponding to less than 30% of a depth of said zigzag groove.
2. A tire as set forth in claim 1, wherein said tread includes sipes opened toward said zigzag groove in an edge of said circumferential rib and said sipe extends in a widthwise direction of tire at a length of 70 to 150% of said amplitude of the zigzag groove.
This invention relates to heavy duty pneumatic radial tires exhibiting less railway wear, and is to diminish extraordinarily irregular wear, particularly railway wear, which are apt to occur in such tires when continuously travelling at a high speed over a long distance, by an improvement of a tread in the tire.
In general, radial tires provided with at least two metal cord layers as a belt reinforcement have excellent resistance to wear, puncture and the like as compared with conventional bias tires because a highly stiff belt layer is arranged between the tread rubber and the carcass ply. On the other hand, radial tires are somewhat defective in the comfort degree owing to the rigid reinforcing effect with such belt. Accordingly, these radial tires have usually been developed for use on good roads as distinguished from unimproved ones. Recently, the demand for such tires has considerably increased in association with the remarkable improvement of road circumstances such as the development of networks of highways and the like.
In such applications, zigzag-type ribs extending circumferentially of tire are usually provided in the tread of tire. Generally, tires having such a tread pattern are called as a rib-type tire.
In the rib-type tire, ribs are usually continuous toward the circumferential direction of tire and may be discontinuous toward the circumferential direction due to the presence of traverse grooves arranged along the widthwise direction of tire. In any case, when a vehicle provided with such tires goes continuously straight on a highway at a high speed over a long distance, there are caused extraordinarily irregular wear (hereinafter referred to as eccentric wear) which have never been observed under the conventional common travelling conditions.
Namely, as shown in FIG. 1, the eccentric wear is locally caused in a shadowed region A near a top of a convex part 3 of a circumferential rib 2 formed in a tread of a tire T, said convex part being projected in a widthwise direction of the tire T toward a groove 1 extending zigzag along a circumferential direction of the tread, and then gradually increases to form a region A having stepwise height h and a width w in section as shown in FIG. 2. The region A of the eccentric wear gradually grows with the increase of the travelling distance and finally communicates with adjoining regions A. As a result, these regions are continuously joined with each other in the circumferential direction of tire T. Moreover, the stepwise height h and the width w are gradually enlarged with the increase of the travelling distance.
The above eccentric wear is generally called railway wear, which produces not only the recess of the groove 1 to render the appearance of the tire T awkward, but also considerably deteriorates the life of tire.
The eccentric wear begins to occur only in the vicinity of the top at the convex part 3 of the zigzag-type circumferential rib 2 and does not start from a concave part 4 of the circumferential rib 2 in opposition to the convex part 3 along the widthwise direction of the tire T. However, the concave part 4 is also subjected to railway wear in due time with the evolution of the eccentric wear.
It is an object of the invention to improve the form of zigzag grooves in the rib-type tire to fundamentally prevent the occurrence of such railway wear.
The inventors have pursued the cause of the railway wear with respect to heavy duty pneumatic radial tires having rib-type patterns of various sizes in order to solve the above problem. As a result, it has been found that the railway wear depends considerably upon an amplitude W1 and a pitch P of zigzags of the groove 1.
According to the invention, there is provided a heavy duty pneumatic radial tire having a tread pattern formed in a tread divided into a plurality of circumferential ribs along a widthwise direction of tire by at least two zigzag grooves extending circumferentially of the tread, said tread being reinforced with a belt layer composed of metal cords, each of said zigzag grooves having a width, amplitude and pitch of 4.5 to 7.5%, 0.5 to 2.0% and 2.0 to 7.0%, respectively, based on a width of the tread.
FIG. 1 is a partial schematic view illustrating the eccentric wear caused in the conventional heavy duty pneumatic radial tire;
FIG. 3 is a graph showing a relation between the ratio of amplitude to tread width in the zigzag groove and the width of railway wear;
FIG. 4 is a graph showing a relation between the ratio of pitch to tread width in the zigzag groove and the width of railway wear;
FIG. 5 is a partial schematic view of an embodiment of the tread pattern according to the invention;
FIG. 6 is a partly detailed plan view of the zigzag groove according to the invention;
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the zigzag groove according to the invention; and
FIG. 8 is a partial schematic view of another embodiment of the tread pattern according to the invention.
The inventors have made various studies with respect to the relation between the width w of railway wear and the ratio of amplitude W1 to tread width B when the pitch P of zigzags of the groove is set to 11 mm in the rib-type radial tire having a size of 10.00 R 20, 14 PR and four grooves. As a result, it has been found that when the ratio W1 /B is within a range of 0.5 to 2.0%, preferably less than 1.7%, the railway wear decreases considerably as seen from the graph of FIG. 3. When the ratio W1 /B exceeds 2.0%, the railway wear is apt to be caused, while when the ratio W1 /B is less than 0.5% or the edge of the zigzag groove becomes straight, the railway wear is also caused.
The term "tread width B" used herein means a ground contact width of the tire as shown in FIG. 1. Further, the degree of railway wear is generally expressed by the stepwise height h formed in the convex part 3 of the circumferential rib 2 facing to the zigzag groove 1 as shown in FIG. 2. However, since the stepwise height h and the width w are correlative with each other, the larger the stepwise height h, the larger the width w. Therefore, the inventors have evaluated the railway wear by the width w in FIG. 3.
In FIG. 4 is shown the relation between the ratio of pitch P to tread width B and the width w of railway wear when the amplitude W1 is constant. From the result of FIG. 4, it has been found that the ratio P/B should be within a range of 2.0 to 7.0%, preferably 2.5 to 6.0% in order to diminish the railway wear. When the ratio P/B is less than 2.0%, there are many problems in the production and effect of the zigzag groove, while when the ratio P/B exceeds 7.0%, the railway wear itself increases considerably.
In the above mentioned rib-type radial tires, the number of the zigzag groove is usually at least two, preferably four. Moreover, a width W2 of the groove should be within a range of 4.5 to 7.5%, preferably 5.0 to 7.0% of the tread width B considering the draining performance and the like during the travelling on wet road. Particularly, in case of the heavy duty pneumatic radial tires for truck and the like, the width of the zigzag groove cannot unreasonably be enlarged because it is necessary to ensure a wide area for the rib in order to improve the wear life of tire.
The width W2 of the zigzag groove is a distance between the two sides or extention lines thereof defining the groove 1 measured in a direction perpendicular to the side of the groove as shown in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 5 is shown an embodiment of the tread pattern according to the invention wherein zigzag grooves 1 extending in a circumferential direction of tread are arranged at substantially equal intervals in a widthwise direction of tire. In the embodiment of FIG. 6 showing the enlarged groove portion of FIG. 5, the tire has the following relations, i.e. W2 /B=6.9%, W1 /B=1.1% and P/B=5.6%, provided that the tread width B is set to 180 mm.
Further, this tire has the following dimension and construction;
Size: 10.00 R 20 14 PR
Carcass: One ply of metal cords (Cord angle is 90° with respect to the circumferential direction of tire.)
Belt: Three layers of metal cords (Cord angle of each layer is 15° with respect to the circumferential direction of tire.)
Then, the railway wear was actually tested with respect to the above tire and the tire of the prior art (the zigzag groove having a width W2 of 9.6 mm, an amplitude W1 of 5.0 mm and a pitch P of 25 mm is used in accordance with the tread pattern shown in FIG. 1, i.e. W2 /B=5.3%, W1 /B=2.8%, P/B=13.9%) to obtain the following results.
Vehicle: large-sized flat body truck
Load: maximum load
Inner pressure: 7.25 kg/cm2 Road course: high speed road 70%, general road 30%
Speed: 80 km/hr for high speed road, 40 km/hr for general road
Travelling distance: 35,000 km
Mounting position for tire: front wheel (the tires were changed in its right and left positions every 5,000 km.)
The degree of railway wear is measured to obtain a result expressed by h and w defined in FIG. 2 as shown in the following table.
______________________________________       h (stepwise height)                    w (width)______________________________________Tire of the prior art         1.2 mm         7.0 mmTire of the invention         0.4 mm         0.8 mm______________________________________
As seen from the above data, the tire of the invention considerably improves the railway wear when compared with the tire of the prior art and contributes to improve durability and tire performances in the rib-type heavy duty pneumatic radial tire by the provision of zigzag grooves extending circumferentially of tire in the shape apart from the conventional rib-type tread pattern.
In FIG. 7 is shown a cross section of a practically preferred zigzag groove 1 wherein the side wall of the groove is substantially 90° with respect to a tread outer surface over a height from the tread outer surface h1 corresponding to at least not more than 30% of a depth H of the groove. Such a cross section of the zigzag groove 1 further diminishes the railway wear.
As shown in FIG. 8, sipes 6 may be provided in an edge 5 of a circumferential rib 2 defined between the zigzag grooves 1 extending in a circumferential direction of the tread, particularly convex parts 3, said sipes being parallel to an axial direction of tire and opened toward the groove 1, whereby the wet performance of tire can be further improved.
In the sipe 6, the opened width is preferably 0.3 to 1.0 mm, the depth is preferably not less than 50% of the depth of the groove, and the length in the axial direction of tire is preferably within a range of 75 to 150% based on the amplitude W1 of the groove 1. Moreover, the sipes 6 are usually located at intervals corresponding to the zigzag pitch P in the circumferential direction of tire or may be arranged in concave parts 4 of the circumferential rib 2 or at a middle position between the convex part 3 and the concave part 4. In any case, when the length of the sipe 6 is too long, the wet performance is improved, but an eccentric wear known as heal-and-toe wear is caused in the tread portion around the sipe 6, so that the use of the very long sipe 6 is not favorable.
As mentioned above, according to the invention, eccentric wear, particularly railway wears in the heavy duty pneumatic radial tires can considerably be diminished.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS2756797 *Mar 2, 1953Jul 31, 1956Goodyear Tire & RubberPneumatic tire treadUS3831654 *Feb 12, 1973Aug 27, 1974Michelin & CieTire having lateral shift of salient tread groove anglesUS3841374 *Mar 23, 1973Oct 15, 1974Michelin & CieTiresUS4078596 *Oct 4, 1976Mar 14, 1978Bridgestone Tire Company LimitedHighly durable tread pattern of a rib type pneumatic tireUS4122879 *Mar 15, 1977Oct 31, 1978Bridgestone Tire Company LimitedHeavy duty pneumatic radial tire* Cited by examinerReferenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS4446901 *May 4, 1982May 8, 1984Bridgestone Tire Company LimitedHeavy duty pneumatic radial tiresUS4449560 *May 4, 1982May 22, 1984Bridgestone Tire Company LimitedHeavy duty pneumatic tireUS4481992 *Feb 14, 1983Nov 13, 1984Bridgestone Tire Company LimitedHeavy duty radial tireUS4854358 *May 22, 1987Aug 8, 1989Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.Tread pattern for a heavy load pneumatic tire which changes from a block pattern to a rib pattern with wearUS4936363 *Aug 15, 1988Jun 26, 1990The Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyTread for a pneumatic tire with circumferential slot to prevent the spread of river wearUS5099899 *Mar 5, 1990Mar 31, 1992Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd.Pneumatic radial tire for heavy load vehicles having increasing circumferential groove amplitude with wearUS5658404 *Apr 15, 1994Aug 19, 1997The Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyRadial pneumatic light truck or automobile tireUS6116309 *Apr 21, 1998Sep 12, 2000The Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyTread for a tire including five rib partsUS6142200 *Apr 21, 1998Nov 7, 2000The Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyTruck steer tire tread including circumferential groovesUS8776847 *Dec 21, 2007Jul 15, 2014Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.A.Mechanisms for ejecting objects from a tire treadUS20100186860 *Jan 26, 2009Jul 29, 2010Francois Pierre Charles Gerard GeorgesTread for a radial medium truck tireUS20100258228 *Dec 21, 2007Oct 14, 2010De Benedittis Eric AMechanisms for ejecting objects from a tire treadUS20140138001 *Nov 5, 2013May 22, 2014Hankook Tire Co., Ltd.Pneumatic tireUS20140290820 *Nov 2, 2012Oct 2, 2014Bridgestone CorporationPneumatic radial tire for passenger vehicle and method for using the sameUS20150298505 *Jul 13, 2012Oct 22, 2015The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd.Pneumatic TireDE3603034A1 *Jan 31, 1986Aug 7, 1986Sumitomo Rubber IndRadial tyre for heavy lorriesDE3603034C2 *Jan 31, 1986Jul 2, 1998Sumitomo Rubber IndRadialreifen für Schwer-LastfahrzeugeEP0153899A2 *Feb 26, 1985Sep 4, 1985THE GOODYEAR TIRE &amp; RUBBER COMPANYTire treads with variable depth groovesEP0153899A3 *Feb 26, 1985Jan 21, 1987The Goodyear Tire & Rubber CompanyTire treads with variable depth grooves* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification152/209.18, 152/DIG.3, 152/900International ClassificationB60C11/00, B60C9/18, B60C11/03, B60C11/04, B60C11/12, B60CCooperative ClassificationY10S152/03, Y10S152/90, B60C11/04, B60C11/042European ClassificationB60C11/04, B60C11/03H2, B60C11/03H, B60C11/04BRotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services