TIRE WITH OUTER GROOVE CONTAINING BONDED TUBE

• US 20140261943A1
• Filed: 01/30/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Original Assignee: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
• Inventors: Welter, Carolin Anna, Chandra, Dinesh, Benedict, Robert Leon
• Granted Patent: US 9,259,975 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 152/450
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 30/72 Side-walls
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 19/00 Tyre parts or constructions not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/123 Elongate peristaltic pumps
• CPC Class Codes: B60C 23/135 activated due to tyre deformation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 152/10495 Pneumatic tire or inner tube

Abstract

The invention relates generally to a pneumatic rubber tire which contains an outer, annular, circular groove which contains a flexible tube bonded to the walls of the groove.

Claims

1. A pneumatic rubber tire contains a pneumatic cavity and is comprised of an outer circumferential tread, spaced apart bead portions, two sidewalls individually connecting said bead portions with the periphery said tread and carcass supporting said tread and sidewalls, wherein at least one of said sidewalls contains at least one annular groove in its outer surface, wherein said groove contains an elastomeric tube within said groove, wherein tube is secured within said groove with a sulfur cured rubber contained in said groove which communicates with the walls of said groove.

2. The tire of claim 1 wherein tube is secured within said groove by said rubber coating without an adhesive.

3. The tire of claim 1 wherein a rubber cover strip is provided to secure said tube within the groove where the cover strip abridges the opening of the groove in the tire sidewall and contacts the rubber coating within the groove.

4. The tire of claim 3 wherein said rubber cover strip and rubber coating within the groove are co-cured together.

5. The tire of claim 1 wherein tire sidewall groove deforms by bending in a manner of partially collapsing and partially expanding to thereby alternatively compress and decompress the tube contained within groove to cause an autogeneous pumping action to occur in a sense of pumping atmospheric air into the pneumatic cavity of the tire.

6. The tire of claim 5 wherein said tube contains a regulator to control flow of atmospheric air into the tube and a regulator to control the direction of the air flow from the tube into the tire cavity by as it is pumped by the undulation of the tube contained in the groove caused by the flexing of the tire sidewall during the tire rotation.

7. A process of securing an elastomeric tube within a circular, annular groove contained in an outer surface of a sidewall of a cured rubber pneumatic tire comprises the steps of:

(A) cleaning the walls of said groove to remove a release coating contained on the groove walls,

(B) applying a sulfur curable liquid rubber coating on the groove surface within the groove,

(C) positioning said tube within the groove with said rubber coating between, and thereby in contact with, both of said tube and groove wall,

(D) applying an additional amount of the liquid rubber coating an exposed surface of the tube contained within the groove, and

(E) curing the rubber coating to thereby secure the tube within the groove;

wherein said sulfur curable rubber is comprised of;

(1) a low viscosity, flowable, diene-based elastomer composition, or

(2) organic solvent solution comprised of an organic solvent and diene-based rubber composition,

wherein said rubber composition is cured by sulfur curing.

8. The process of claim 7 wherein said rubber composition contains calcium oxide.

9. The process of claim 7 wherein a cover strip of a sulfur vulcanizable diene-elastomer containing rubber composition is applied over said groove which contains the rubber coated tube in a manner to:

(A) abridge the opening to the groove and thereby contact the surface of the tire sidewall,

(B) contact the rubber coating on the tube,

wherein the combination of cover strip and rubber coating contained on the tube and groove walls and tube and in contact with the cover strip are co-cured together to secure the tube within the groove.

10. The process of claim 9 herein said cover strip also contacts a wall of said groove.

11. The process of claim 9 where the groove surface does not contain an adhesive.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said liquid rubber coating contains calcium oxide.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein a heated platen is used to cure the applied rubber coating in the groove.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein an uncured rubber cover strip is applied over the groove to contain the tube and liquid rubber coatings.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the rubber cover strip and liquid rubber coating are co-cured together to secure the tube within the groove.

12. A method of making a tire comprising the steps of

(A) providing a cured pneumatic rubber tire having an annular groove in its sidewall,

(B) applying a coating of sulfur curable liquid rubber to the wall of the groove,

(C) inserting a flexible annular tube within the groove,

(D) applying a coating of the sulfur curable liquid rubber onto the tube within the groove,

(E) heating the groove and tube to effect a curing of the applied rubber coatings.