Patent ID: 7124958

Claim:
A process of making a snow surface suitable for the evaluation of a tire comprising: (a) providing an environmental chamber; (b) establishing a temperature within the environmental chamber below a freezing point of water; (c) providing a foundation layer of ice on a floor of the environmental chamber; (d) providing at least one snow-making apparatus within the environmental chamber; (e) adjusting a temperature within the environmental chamber to between about −5° F. to about 20° F.; (f) producing a first snow layer onto the foundation layer of ice, said first snow layer having a thickness of between about 0.5 to 1.5 inches; (g) lowering the temperature within the environmental chamber to a temperature between about −20° F. to about +10° F.; (h) producing an additional layer of snow on top of the first snow layer, the additional snow layer having a thickness of between about 1 to about 2 inches; (i) packing the additional layer of snow; (j) applying a coating of water to an upper surface of the additional layer of snow, said coating of water being applied at a volume from about 1 to about 1.6 gallons per 100 square feet of snow surface; (k) grooming the water coated additional layer of snow; (l) repeating steps (h) through (k) until an operative thickness of packed and groomed snow is produced; and, (m) raising a temperature of the environmental chamber to between about 10° F. to about 25° F., thereby providing a snow surface shear strength suitable for establishing traction values for a vehicle tire.