13866 results about "Tread" patented technology

Tread structures, wave motion navigational controls, and ramp up recovery controls are provided to an autonomous floor cleaner to reduce wheel slippage. The floor cleaner delivers liquid to the floor as part of the cleaning process. Wheels on the device are provided with relatively deep peripheral grooves to minimize the contact surfaces of a sprocket wheel and to accommodate the layer of liquid on the floor. In the event of wheel slippage, or to prevent wheel slippage, the device is designed to move forward with a slight side-to-side wave action caused by periodically altering the relative speeds of two drive wheels. There is also provided a slippage recovery mode where the drive wheels shut down or greatly slow when severe slippage is sensed, followed by a slow ramp up of speed.

A system and method for monitoring belt wear or tread wear of a tire includes at least one radio frequency identification (RFID) tag with unique identification embedded in the belt or tread of the tire at one or more wear points. An RF tag reader periodically monitoring signals from the at least one RFID tag. If the RF tag reader fails to obtain any signals from the at least one RFID tag, indicating a destroyed RFID tag, the user can be warned about a wear problem of that belt or tire. RFID tags can be distributed at different depths of the tire(s), or across the tread at the same depth, of the tire(s) to determine different wear problems. The same RFID tag can also be used for inventory tracking purposes.

This invention relates to a rubber composition which contains intercalated and at least partially exfoliated organophillic clay reinforcement formed in situ within the elastomer host from a hydrophilic clay. The invention particularly relates to an in situ modification of a hydrophilic clay to compatibilize the clay with a diene-based elastomer. The clay is converted from being hydrophilic in nature to being more hydrophobic in nature and therefore more compatible with the elastomer by bulk blending the elastomer host with a smectite clay, preferably a montmorillonite or hectorite clay, and a hydrocarbyl onium salt, such as for example a quaternary ammonium salt, and particularly in the absence of water addition to the elastomer host. Therefore, such in situ procedure of intercalation and at least partially exfoliation relies upon a bulk blending thereof with an elastomer host at an elevated temperature and under high shear conditions in contrast to pre-intercalating the clay in an aqueous based medium and in contrast to simple low viscosity melt processing of a thermoplastic polymer. The invention also relates to articles of manufacture, including tires, having at least one component comprised of such rubber composition. Such tire component may be, for example, a tire tread.

The invention relates to a tire of a structural combination of tire tread and sidewall components with compositional limitations containing minimal, if any, of in situ formed alcohol and methyl isobutyl ketone byproducts. The tread component rubber composition contains pre-hydrophobated silica reinforcement. The sidewall component contains low unsaturation EPDM or brominated copolymer of isobutylene and p-methylstyrene and may contain pre-hydrophobated silica reinforcement. The silica reinforcement for said tread and sidewall components is a pre-hydrophobated precipitated silica. The pre-hydrophobated silica is prepared, prior to mixing with the elastomer(s), by reacting hydroxyl groups (e.g. silanol groups) contained on the surface of a precipitated silica with an alkoxyorganomercaptosilane or a combination of an alkoxyorganomercaptosilane and a substituted alkylsilane or with a bis-3(trialkoxysilylalkyl) polysulfide which contains an average of from 2 to 4 connecting sulfur atoms in its polysulfidic bridge to form a composite thereof. The alcohol byproduct therefrom is removed from the composite prior to its introduction into the rubber composition(s). In another aspect of the invention, the connecting sidewall rubber composition, and optionally the tread composition is free of N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine antidegradant (referred herein to as 6PPD) in order to prevent in situ formation of methyl isobutyl ketone byproduct from the reaction of 6PPD with atmospheric oxygen and / or ozone.

A tire includes a nail-type force sensor embedded, for example, in an isolated element such as a tread pattern block (T112). The sensor comprises a rigid shank (1) designed to be acted upon by the force to be determined and a head (2). The head (2) comprises an element attached to the shank (1) capable of being deformed when the shank is displaced. This deformable element carries means to measure the deformation and comprises anchoring points which have a position relative to the shank (1) at rest and which essentially maintain that position when the shank (1) is displaced.