Tire

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018154697-A1
Application number	US-201715829333-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 1, 2017
Priority date	Dec 2, 2016
Publication date	Jun 7, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A tire includes a middle land portion between a crown main groove and a shoulder main groove. The middle land portion is provided with a first middle lug groove extending axially outwardly from the crown main groove, a second middle lug groove extending axially inwardly from the shoulder main grooves wherein the first and second middle lug grooves are arranged alternately in a tire circumferential direction, and a first middle sipe provided between the first and second middle lug grooves. The first middle sipe includes a crown-side middle sipe element extending axially outwardly from the crown main groove, a shoulder-side middle sipe element extending axially inwardly from the shoulder main groove at a location different from an extension line of the crown-side middle sipe element and a connecting middle sipe element connecting therebetween.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A tire comprising:
a tread portion being provided with a plurality of circumferentially and continuously extending main grooves and a plurality of land portions sectioned by the plurality of main grooves; the plurality of main grooves comprising a pair of crown main grooves and a pair of shoulder main grooves each disposed between one of the pair of crown main grooves and one of tread edges on each side of a tire equator; the plurality of land portions comprising a pair of middle land portions each sectioned between one of the pair of crown main grooves and one of the pair of shoulder main grooves on each side of the tire equator; and each of the pair of middle land portions being provided with
a first middle lug groove extending outwardly in a tire axial direction from the one of the crown main grooves and terminated within the middle land portion, a second middle lug groove extending inwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the shoulder main grooves and terminated within the middle land portion wherein the first middle lug groove and the second middle lug groove are arranged alternately in a tire circumferential direction, and
a first middle sipe provided between the first middle lug groove and the second middle lug groove in the tire circumferential direction and extending from the one of the crown main grooves to the one of the shoulder main grooves; and
the first middle sipe comprising a crown-side middle sipe element extending outwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the crown main grooves, a shoulder-side middle sipe element extending inwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the shoulder main grooves at a location different from an extension line of the crown-side middle sipe element and a connecting middle sipe element connecting the crown-side middle sipe element with the shoulder-side middle sipe element.

2 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
wherein the connecting middle sipe element extends along the tire circumferential direction.

3 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
wherein the connecting middle sipe element has a depth smaller than that of the crown-side middle sipe element, and the depth of connecting middle sipe element is smaller than that of the shoulder-side middle sipe element.

4 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
each of the pair of middle land portions further comprising a second middle sipe connecting the first middle lug groove with the one of the shoulder main grooves and a third middle sipe connecting the second middle lug groove with the one of the crown main grooves.

5 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
each of the pair of middle land portions further comprising a fourth middle sipe extending outwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the crown main grooves and terminated within the middle land portion and a fifth middle sipe extending inwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the shoulder main grooves and terminated within the middle land portion, the fourth middle sipe, in the tire circumferential direction, being located on a side of an extension line of the shoulder-side middle sipe element, which extends toward the one of the crown main grooves, of the middle sipe, and the fifth middle sipe, in the tire circumferential direction, being located on a side of an extension line of the crown-side middle sipe element, which extends toward the one of the shoulder main grooves, of the middle sipe.

6 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
each of the pair of middle land portions further comprising a first chamfered portion formed on a crown-side land edge between the first middle lug groove and the crown-side middle sipe element, and a second chamfered portion formed on a shoulder-side land edge between the second middle lug groove and the shoulder-side middle sipe element.

7 . The tire according to claim 1 ,
the plurality of land portions further comprising a pair of shoulder land portions each sectioned between one of the pair of shoulder main grooves and one of the tread edges on each side of the tire equator, each of the shoulder land portions being provided with a plurality of shoulder lateral grooves each extending from the one of the pair of shoulder main grooves to the one of the tread edges, and arrangement pitches in the tire circumferential direction of the plurality of shoulder lateral grooves being substantially same as an arrangement pitch in the tire circumferential direction between the first middle lug groove and the second middle lug groove.

8 . The tire according to claim 7 ,
each of the shoulder land portions further comprising a first shoulder sipe and a second shoulder sipe on a region between adjacent shoulder lateral grooves in the tire circumferential direction, and each of the first shoulder sipe and the second shoulder sipe extending outwardly in the tire axial direction from the one of the shoulder main grooves and terminated within the shoulder land portion.

9 . The tire according to claim 8 ,
each of the shoulder land portions further comprising a third shoulder sipe extending in the tire circumferential direction to connect the first shoulder sipe with the second shoulder sipe.

10 . The tire according to claim 9 ,
wherein the third shoulder sipe has a depth smaller than that of the first shoulder sipe, and the depth of the third shoulder sipe is smaller than that of the second shoulder sipe.

11 . The tire according to claim 8 ,
each of the shoulder land portions further comprising a third chamfered portion formed a land edge between the first shoulder sipe and the second shoulder sipe.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Rubber Ind

Inventors

• Yamaoka Hiroshi

Classifications

• B60C11/0306 Primary

  Patterns comprising block rows or discontinuous ribs · CPC title

• B60C11/1259

  Depth of the sipe · CPC title

• B60C11/0304 Primary

  Asymmetric patterns · CPC title

• B60C2011/0341

  Circumferential grooves · CPC title

• B60C11/1236

  with special arrangements in the tread pattern · CPC title