US 11,926,178 B2
Tire comprising a textured tread
Olivier Muhlhoff, Clermont-Ferrand (FR); Hélène Emorine, Clermont-Ferrand (FR); Arnaud Larregain, Clermont-Ferrand (FR); and Nicolas Levy, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
Assigned to COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
Appl. No. 15/563,092
Filed by COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
PCT Filed Mar. 25, 2016, PCT No. PCT/FR2016/050683
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 29, 2017,
PCT Pub. No. WO2016/156718, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 6, 2016.
Claims priority of application No. 1500628 (FR), filed on Mar. 30, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2018/0072107 A1, Mar. 15, 2018
Int. Cl. B60C 11/13 (2006.01); B60C 11/24 (2006.01)
CPC B60C 11/1353 (2013.01) [B60C 11/24 (2013.01); B60C 2011/1361 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tire comprising a tread, the tire comprising at least one groove, at least one wear indicator disposed in the groove, the wear indicator comprising a contact face adapted to come into contact with a roadway when the tire reaches a wear limit, wherein the groove comprises a texture produced integrally with a bottom of said groove, said texture being an organized arrangement of a plurality of texture elements, all or some of the texture elements of the arrangement being the repetition of a single base element, said texture surrounding the wear indicator and contrasting with the contact face of the wear indicator, wherein the texture has a first lightness (L*1) and the contact face of the wear indicator has a second lightness (L*2), brighter than the first lightness (L*1), wherein the difference in lightness between the first lightness and the second lightness is at least 5 units of lightness,
wherein the wear indicator has a base at a radial position of the bottom of the groove, and
wherein the bottom of the groove has a texture-free measuring zone disposed between a zone provided with said texture and the base of said wear indicator, wherein the radial position of the entirety of the texture-free zone is the same radial position as that of the base of the wear indicator and as that of the tops of the texture elements, such that none of the texture elements radially protrude above the radial position of the base of the wear indicator.