Patent ID: 8776847

Claim:
A tire tread having a length extending in a longitudinal direction, a width extending in a lateral direction, and a depth extending in a vertical direction, the tire tread comprising: a pair of adjacent ground-engaging elements, each element including a ground-engaging contact surface; a groove separating the pair of ground-engaging elements, the groove having a groove bottom and a pair of opposing sidewalls spaced apart by a groove width, the groove having a length and a groove depth extending perpendicular to the groove length from the ground-engaging contact surface to the groove bottom; a plurality of sipes arranged along the groove length, each sipe having a particular size, and located in communication with a portion of the groove extending between the pair of ground-engaging elements, said plurality of sipes including a first arrangement of sipes spaced along one of the pair of opposing sidewalls, and a second arrangement of sipes spaced along the other of the pair of opposing sidewalls; a plurality ejectors spaced along the groove length, each ejector having a top side, a bottom side and a height extending from the top side to an ejector bottom side, the ejector comprising a projection that extends into the groove from one of the groove sidewalls, wherein each ejector includes two ridges protruding from the lateral side and extending into the groove and in a direction of the groove depth, the two ridges being spaced apart in the direction of the groove length to form a recessed portion between the two ridges; wherein the first arrangement of sipes is staggered relative to the second arrangement of sipes in a direction of the groove length; said plurality of ejectors and said plurality of sipes being configured to provide relative movement between the pair of opposing sidewalls for ejecting objects from the tire tread, wherein said each of the plurality of sipes extends downwardly from the ground-engaging contact surface of a ground-engaging element at least partially past the top surface of each of said plurality of ejectors and extends substantially across the width of a ground-engaging element.