JPH10244809A - Studless tire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance gripping force to the road surface of pressed snow road with grounding piece by exhausting snow/water outside of grounding surface through a space between supports supporting grounding piece by absorbing snow/water on the road to a plurality of cutouts between grounding pieces provided grounding surface side of tire main body with reducing grounding area to the road surface. SOLUTION: This tire has a plurality of pairs of supports 2 erected on a grounding surface of a tire main body 1 at predetermined intervals, and a plurality of pairs of grounding piece 3 each pair of which are integrally formed on the ends of the pair of supports and contact each other via a slit 4 to form a large space H between the supports and a cutout 5 between the grounding piece 3 at the position where the slit 4 is and they are opposite to each other, the neighboring pair of grounding piece 3 having a gap between them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a studless tire suitable for running on a snow-covered road or an ice-covered road in addition to a normal snowy road.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, studless tires have been widely used in place of pin-implanted tires in order to prevent a road surface from being damaged or a road marking such as a lane or a stop line being worn.

In this studless tire, the ground surface of the tire body is formed of a flexible rubber material and is provided with a large number of slits. The purpose of the present invention is to secure sufficient frictional resistance in contact with a snow-covered road or the like.

[0004]

However, in such conventional studless tires, the contact area with the road surface is inevitably increased from the viewpoint of emphasizing securing an area sufficient to withstand the vehicle body load. In addition, the number of protrusions of the tread partitioned by the slits is relatively small, so that there is a problem that there is a limit in increasing a grip force on a road surface, particularly on a snow-covered road or an ice-covered road.

[0005] Further, as described above, since the contact surface with the road surface is large, snow and water on the road surface are squeezed out of the slits at the time of contact with the road surface, and are directly pressed against the road surface. It will be hardened and smoothed, and it will be frozen smoothly, especially near the intersection where the brake is applied, a slippery ice plate layer is formed on the pressed snow surface,
This contributes to the occurrence of slip accidents.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the conventional studless tire, and reduces the contact area with the road surface and cuts the road surface through a notch between a plurality of contact pieces provided on the contact surface side of the tire body. A studless dress that allows only the upper snow and water to be efficiently introduced and can be discharged to the outside of the ground surface through the space between the pillars that support the respective ground pieces, thereby sufficiently improving the gripping force of the ground piece against a road surface such as a press-contact path. The aim is to get tires.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a studless tire according to the first aspect of the present invention is protruded from a contact surface side of a tire body at a predetermined interval, and two tires constitute one set. A plurality of columns, and a grounding piece that is provided so as to protrude integrally with the column ends of each group, and that is provided so as to be in contact with each other via a slit, and that forms a space between the columns.
A notch formed at a position where the slits are opposed to each other on the grounding piece, and a gap communicating with the space is provided between different sets of the grounding pieces adjacent to each other. is there.

Further, in the studless tire according to the invention of claim 2, the notch is formed to have a shape and a size to allow only snow or water on a road surface to be introduced into a space between the columns.

The studless tire according to the third aspect of the present invention is formed by molding the edge of the grounding piece into an edge.

Further, in the studless tire according to the invention of claim 4, two notches provided opposite to each grounding piece through the slit are formed in a circular shape as a whole.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view showing a part of a ground contact surface portion of the studless tire of the present invention, partially cut away, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the whole of the studless tire.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a tire main body mounted on a rim, which is formed by laminating a carcass or a breaker (or belt) on the outside of a liner, and having a tread so as to wrap these outsides. Is provided. A bead wire is buried in the vicinity of the attachment portion with the rim.

A plurality of pillars 2 project from the ground surface side of the tire body at predetermined intervals in FIGS. The support has a rectangular cross section in the drawing, but may have a circular shape or any other shape. In addition, two sets of these support columns 2 are provided, and a plurality of sets are provided.

3 is attached to the end of each of these two columns,
It is a grounding piece projecting in a flange shape larger than these cross-sectional areas and provided so as to be in contact with each other via the slit 4. Each of these grounding pieces 3 also has a substantially rectangular shape as a whole.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an installation site of the slit 4;
A semicircular notch as shown in FIG. 3 is formed at a position where the grounding pieces 3 in each set oppose each other, and the notch 5 faces each other to form a circular notch as a whole. Becomes The circular notch functions to allow snow and water on the road surface to enter only into the space H between the columns 2 on the back side of the grounding strip 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the grounding strips 3 of each set are arranged in a fixed array pattern with a gap G as a gap, and from these gaps G, snow and the like on the road surface are removed. It functions to guide the water into the space H having a large capacity formed between the columns 2 on the back side of the grounding piece 3 and to discharge the water out of the grounding surface.

Here, the support column 2 and the grounding strip 3
It is desirable to make the shape of the tire as small as possible and to sufficiently increase the number of installations per unit area on the contact surface side of the tire main body 1.

In the studless tire having the above structure, the tire is mounted on a rim, air-filled is mounted on an axle, and when the vehicle is actually driven, a plurality of grounding tires integrated with the tire body 1 regardless of a change in vehicle speed. Pieces 3 come into contact with the road surface one after another.
At this time, each of the grounding pieces 2 sufficiently grips a snow-covered road or the like, thereby enabling stable running of the vehicle.

In order to stop the vehicle by applying a brake in the actual vehicle state, the struts 2 and the grounding strips 3
7 and 8, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, flexes in a direction opposite to the traveling direction A of the wheels depending on the vehicle body load and the rotation direction of the tire body 1. Therefore, of the edges of the grounding strips 3, the edge K on the traveling direction of the vehicle acts so as to bite into the road surface R of the snow-covered road or the ice-covered road.

Therefore, due to the above-described behavior of the grounding strip 2 when the vehicle is stopped, water on the snow-covered road or the ice road is cut off by the notch 5 formed in the grounding strip 2 as shown by an arrow in FIG. And between the columns 2, 2, and further passes through the space H between the columns 2, 2, and further passes through the gap G, and moves in the width direction of the tire body 1. Finally, he is driven out of the tire contact area.

That is, it is possible to suppress snow or water from remaining on the lower surface of the grounding piece 2, and therefore it is possible to effectively prevent the grounding piece 3 from sliding on the remaining snow or water.

The strut 2 and the grounding strip 3 are variously deformed during the braking and the like, so that the snow and water are trapped and discharged in all directions, sufficient braking can be obtained, and the grounding strip can be obtained. Even if 3 wears out, the support poles
, The durability of the tire is improved.

Further, since the space between the columns 2 is relatively large as described above, appropriate air permeability and water permeability are always obtained. It has an air cooling effect on frictional heat,
Deterioration can be effectively suppressed.

According to an experiment, a tire having the column 2 and the ground contact piece 3 having a hardness value of 62 and a conventional studless tire having a hardness value of 58 were compared in a pressure contact road and an ice road by a braking test. It was confirmed that the same or better braking performance was obtained at the specified speed of 30 to 50 km / h.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of sets of pillars projecting from the grounding surface side of the tire main body at a predetermined interval and forming one set of two pieces are provided. A grounding piece that is integrally provided at the end of the support and is provided so as to be in contact with each other via a slit, and that forms a space between the respective supports, and a position where the slit is installed and the grounding piece faces each other. And a gap communicating with the space is provided between different sets of the grounding pieces adjacent to each other, so that the grounding area with respect to the road surface is reduced, and the grounding surface of the tire body is formed. Through the notch between the plurality of grounding strips provided on the side so that snow and water on the road surface are swallowed and discharged out of the grounding plane through the space between the pillars supporting each grounding strip, such as a pressure contact path by the grounding strip. Enough grip on road surface Effect is obtained that can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, the notch is formed into a shape and a size to be filled with only snow or water on the road surface and to be led out into the space between the respective columns, so that the notch on the road surface is formed. It is possible to prevent the grounding strip from slipping and running on the ground, thereby obtaining an effect of suppressing the road surface from slipping into ice.

Further, according to the present invention, since the edge of the grounding piece is formed into an edge shape, the grounding piece can be more sufficiently bite into a snow-covered road or an ice plate road.
Thus, an effect that a sufficiently large braking force can be secured can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, the two cutouts opposed to each of the grounding pieces through the slits are made to have a circular shape as a whole, so that water or snow can flow into the cutouts from any direction. Can be sufficiently and smoothly achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an essential part of a studless tire according to an embodiment of the present invention, with a part thereof broken away.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an entire studless tire according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing a grounding strip of the studless tire shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line CC in FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 3, showing the behavior of the grounding strip and the strut according to the present invention during braking.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG. 3, showing the behavior of the grounding strip and the strut according to the present invention during braking.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow state of water and snow in the studless tire of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tire main body 2 Prop 3 Grounding piece 4 Slit 5 Notch H space G Gap

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of sets of two pillars, one set of which is protruded from a ground surface side of a tire body at a predetermined interval, and one set of two sets of columns which are integrally protruded from ends of the respective sets of columns, and are mutually slit. A grounding piece that is provided so as to be in contact with each other and forms a space between the columns, a notch formed at a position where the slit is provided and at a position opposite to each other on the grounding piece, and adjacent to each other. A studless tire provided with a gap provided between the pair of grounding pieces and communicating with the space. 2. The studless tire according to claim 1, wherein the notch is formed into a shape and a size that allow only snow or water on a road surface to be introduced into a space between the columns. . 3. The studless tire according to claim 1, wherein an edge of the grounding piece is formed in an edge shape. 4. The studless tire according to claim 1, wherein two notches provided opposite to each of the grounding pieces through the slit form a circle as a whole.