Tire

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9809062-B2
Application number	US-201314406680-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 17, 2013
Priority date	Jun 19, 2012
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

A tire includes a circumferential direction main groove on a tread surface, first and second circumferential supplemental grooves located on both sides of the circumferential direction main groove, and first and second central land portions formed between the circumferential direction main groove and the first and second circumferential direction supplemental grooves. The first and second central land portions have plural width direction sipes, respectively, and each of the width direction sipes extends to the circumferential main groove, the circumferential main groove has shallow grooved portions and deep grooved portions. The deep grooved portions are deeper than the shallow grooved portions, and the shallow grooved portions are shallower than the circumferential supplemental grooves.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tire comprising:
a circumferential direction main groove extending in a circumferential direction on a tread surface;
a pair of circumferential direction supplemental grooves extending in the circumferential direction, and located on both sides of the circumferential direction main groove in a tread width direction; and
a pair of central land portions having a rib shape, and formed between the circumferential direction main groove and the pair of circumferential direction supplemental grooves, wherein
each of the central land portions has a plurality of sipes, and each of the sipes extends to the circumferential direction main groove to form an opened portion,
the circumferential direction main groove has shallow grooved portions and deep grooved portions a depth of which from the tread surface is larger than a depth of the shallow grooved portions from the tread surface,
the depth of the shallow grooved portions from the tread surface is smaller than a depth of the circumferential direction supplemental grooves from the tread surface,
a plurality of short sipes that are opened to the circumferential direction main groove are formed on the central land portion located on an inner side when the tire is installed on a vehicle, and
a length of the short sipes is smaller than a length of the sipes, and a width of the short sipes is larger than a width of the sipes.

2. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein
each of the deep grooved portions has a circumferential direction deep groove extending in the circumferential direction, and inclined deep grooves inclined to the circumferential direction, and
the inclined deep grooves extend from circumferential-direction ends of the circumferential direction deep groove to the opened portions of the sipes of the central land portions.

3. The tire according to claim 2 , wherein,
in the deep grooved portions, the inclined deep groove extending from one of the circumferential-direction ends of the circumferential direction deep groove toward the opened portion of the sipe of one of the central land portions and the inclined deep groove extending from another of the circumferential-direction ends of the circumferential direction deep groove toward the opened portion of the sipe of another of the central land portions are aligned alternately in the circumferential direction.

4. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein
an inclined angle, to a tread width direction, of the sipes of the central land portion located on the inner side when the tire is installed on the vehicle is larger than an inclined angle, to the tread width direction, of the sipes of the central land portion located on an outer side when the tire is installed on the vehicle.

5. The tire according to claim 1 , further comprising
a pair of shoulder land portions on outer sides of the circumferential direction supplemental grooves in the tread width direction, and each of the shoulder land portions having a plurality of lug grooves that communicates with the circumferential direction supplemental groove, wherein
the sipes of the central land portions communicate with the circumferential direction supplemental grooves on extended lines extending from the lug grooves toward the circumferential direction supplemental grooves, and
cutout portions are formed at positions where the sipes of the central land portions communicate with the circumferential direction supplemental grooves.

6. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein
chamfer portions are formed at least along a circumferential-direction edge of the central land portion adjacent to the circumferential direction main groove.

7. The tire according to claim 1 , wherein
a depth of the circumferential direction supplemental grooves from the tread surface is smaller than a depth of the deep grooved portions from the tread surface.

Assignees

• Bridgestone Corp

Inventors

• Kiwaki Yukihiro

Classifications

• B60C2011/0388

  provided at the equatorial plane · CPC title

• B60C2011/0369

  with varying depth of the groove · CPC title

• B60C2011/0365

  characterised by width · CPC title

• B60C2011/036

  Narrow grooves, i.e. having a width of less than 3 mm · CPC title

• B60C2011/0355

  characterised by depth · CPC title