Patent ID: 8381784

Claim:
A tire assembly comprising: a tire having a tire cavity, first and second sidewalls extending respectively from first and second tire bead regions to a tire tread region; the first sidewall having at least one bending region operatively bending within a rolling tire footprint; a sidewall groove defined by groove sidewalls positioned within the bending region of the first tire sidewall, the groove deforming segment by segment between a non-deformed state and a deformed constricted state in response to the bending of the first sidewall bending region within the rolling tire footprint; an air tube positioned within the sidewall groove in contacting engagement with the groove sidewalls, the air tube having an axial air passageway resiliently transfiguring segment by segment between an expanded sectional configuration and at least a partially collapsed sectional configuration responsive to respective segment by segment engagement by the groove sidewalls against the air tube within the rolling tire footprint; at least one projecting ridge extending from a groove sidewall segment into the groove, the at least one projecting ridge operatively positioned to engage a respective opposite segment of the air tube and constrict a respective opposite segment of the air passageway extending through the opposite segment of the air tube into a relatively smaller sectional dimension as the opposite air tube segment rolls through the tire footprint.