Patent ID: 7833461

Claim:
In a process for molding and vulcanizing a tire, in which a pre-formed tire blank is placed in a curing press comprising a mold configured to form the outer shape of the tire, and a pressing member for transmitting molding pressure and heat to vulcanize an internal portion of said tire blank, the improvement wherein a removable elastic membrane is interposed between the tire blank and the pressing member such that a first face of the membrane engages the tire blank, and an opposite second face of the membrane engages the pressing member, the membrane being of one-piece construction from the first face to the second face and having perforations passing completely therethrough from the first face to the second face, wherein during a tire molding and vulcanizing step, the membrane transmits the heat and the molding pressure to the tire blank and conforms to the shape of the internal portion of the tire blank, to cause constituent material of the internal surface of the blank to flow into the perforations to form noise-attenuating protuberances distributed over and integral with the internal surface of the tire.