Patent ID: 7350550

Claim:
A tire having a tread of a cap/base construction comprised of: (A) an electrically non-conductive rubber tread cap layer having an outer running surface, (B) an electrically conductive rubber tread base layer underlying said tread cap layer, and (C) a thin, electrically conductive, wave shape configured rubber strip extending radially outward from said tread base layer through said tread cap layer to and including said outer running surface of said tread cap layer to thereby create a mechanical self-locking configuration between tread cap layer segments through which said electrically conductive rubber strip extends and divides, characterized in that said thin, wave-shaped, rubber strip is both unitary with and of the same rubber composition as the said tread base layer wherein the wave-shape of said rubber strip is contained within said tread cap layer, wherein said wave-shape of said thin strip is comprised of at least two undulations within said tread cap layer, wherein the rubber composition of the tread cap rubber layer is significantly tougher than the rubber composition of said thin strip which extends through and divides said tread cap rubber layer in the sense of the 300 percent ring modulus of the tread cap rubber layer being significantly greater than such modulus of the said rubber strip, said thin rubber strip thereby being softer than said tread cap rubber layer, and wherein said wave shape of said softer thin strip extending through said tread cap rubber layer promotes the lateral stability of the tread by said mechanical self-locking configuration within said tread cap rubber layer.