Air spring sleeve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11268588-B2
Application number	US-201916410481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2019
Priority date	Nov 14, 2006
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

The present invention is directed to an air spring sleeve comprising: an outer layer, at least one reinforcing layer, and an inner layer that form the sleeve; the outer layer and the inner layer are formed of an elastomeric composition, with the proviso that the elastomeric composition does not comprise epichlorohydrin; and the at least one reinforcing layer comprises a plurality of reinforcing elements disposed between a layer of the elastomeric composition, wherein the elastomeric composition of the at least one reinforcing layer is identical to the elastomeric composition of the outer layer and the inner layer.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for preparing an air spring sleeve, the method comprising:
combining an outer layer and a first reinforcing layer to form an off balance skim layer,
disposing a second reinforcing layer onto the first reinforcing layer, opposite to the outer layer,
disposing an inner layer onto the second reinforcing layer, opposite to the first reinforcing layer, to form a layered sleeve, and
at least partially curing the layered sleeve,

where said off balance skim layer, and said first and second reinforcing layers each comprise an identical rubber composition, where said rubber composition comprises one or more sulfur-vulcanizable rubbers excluding epichlorohydrin.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the one or more sulfur-vulcanizable rubbers are selected from the group consisting of polyisoprene rubber, natural rubber, styrene/butadiene rubber, polybutadiene, polybutadiene rubber, neoprene, ethylene/propylene rubber, ethylene/propylene/diene rubber, acrylonitrile/butadiene rubber, silicone rubber, fluoroelastomer, ethyleneacrylic rubber, ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer, chlorinated polyethylene rubber, chlorosulfonated polyethylene rubber, hydrogenated nitrile rubber, and tetrafluoroethylene/propylene rubber.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises at least one ingredient selected from the group consisting of curing agents, cure activators, retarders, plasticizes, processing oils, resins, reinforcing resins, tackifying agents, fillers, pigments, fatty acids, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, waxes, peptizing agents, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 1 to about 5 parts by weight of antiozonant.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 0.5 to about 3 parts by weight fatty acids, per hundred parts rubber.

6. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 2 to about 5 parts by weight zinc oxide, per hundred parts rubber.

7. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 0.1 to about 5 parts by weight vulcanization accelerator, per hundred parts rubber.

8. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 1 to about 5 parts by weight wax, per hundred parts rubber.

9. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 0.5 to about 10 parts by weight tackifier resin, per hundred parts rubber.

10. The method of claim 1 , where the composition further comprises from about 1 to about 50 parts by weight of one or more processing aids selected from the group consisting of aromatic processing oils, naphthenic processing oils, and paraffinic processing oils, per hundred parts rubber.

11. A method for preparing an air spring sleeve, the method comprising:
providing a building machine comprising a series of rollers or drums, wherein the building machine is adapted to stack elastomeric layers on top of each other;
providing an inner layer, an outer layer, and at least one reinforcing layer, where said outer layer and said inner layer each comprise an identical composition, and where said reinforcing layer comprises a plurality of reinforcing elements or cords calendered within a thin layer of the composition;
stacking the inner layer, outer layer, and at least one reinforcing layer to form a layered sleeve; and
at least partially curing the layered sleeve.

12. The method of claim 11 , where the sleeve comprises at least two reinforcing layers.

13. The method of claim 11 , where the reinforcing elements or cords are at a bias angle.

14. The method of claim 11 , where the cured sleeve has a thickness of from about 0.06 inches to about 0.49 inches.

Assignees

• Firestone Ind Products Co Llc

Inventors

• Howard Michael C
• Wang Hao
• Agarwal Sheel
• Rensel John D

Classifications

• F16F2224/025

  Elastomers · CPC title

• B32B2038/0076

  Curing, vulcanising, cross-linking · CPC title

• B60G2202/152

  Pneumatic spring · CPC title

• F16F9/0409 Primary

  characterised by the wall structure · CPC title

• B60G2206/42

  Springs · CPC title