Patent ID: 8191592

Claim:
A large two-piece tire assembly with a rim diameter of 35 inches or more with a removable tread belt for installing about the circumference of a tire carcass comprises: a tread belt having two or more belt layers, each belt layer having one or more belts; wherein the maximum width of a belt layer is BW and the radially innermost belt layer is the widest belt layer; a tire carcass having a radial cord reinforced ply structure extending from a pair of bead structures across a crown of the tire carcass to form an inflated ply line; and wherein the tread belt and carcass when viewed in cross section have a width W and SW respectively wherein the tread belt width W is less than the carcass maximum section width SW and reducing the tread belt width lowers a radial distance T E between the belt edge of the radially innermost belt and the ply line and a radial distance T L between the radially innermost belt layer of the tread belt and the ply line increases constantly from T O to T E as the point of interest moves laterally from an equatorial centerplane EP to the belt edge, T O being the radial distance between the innermost belt and the ply line at the centerplane EP and T E being the radial distance between the innermost belt edge and the ply line, and the interfacial pressure σ IF can be approximated as σ IF (inflation pressure)*(VPC)*(L O /L) where VPC equals vertical pressure coefficient; L 0 equals the radial gauge or distance between ply and first or radially innermost belt at the centerplane EP and L equals the radial gauge or distance between ply and first or radially innermost belt at a given point wherein L O equals T O and L equals T L and at the lateral edge is T E , T O being less than T E , T O equals 1.3 inches at the center and T E equals 2.5 inches at the lateral edges of the belt for a 45 R 57 sized tire, wherein the tread belt width W is less than a maximum width P of the inflated ply line of the carcass and W≦0.95P, wherein each belt layer is substantially parallel to the curvature of the inner tread surface of the tread belt and wherein the maximum width of a belt layer is BW and BW≦0.85P.