US 12,128,712 B2
Average void depth truck tire with angled ribs having decoupled shoulder blocks
Brian Joseph Keefe, Simpsonville, SC (US); Daniel McEachern Hicks, Greenville, SC (US); and Virgile Ayglon, Simpsonville, SC (US)
Assigned to Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
Appl. No. 17/275,318
Filed by Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand (FR)
PCT Filed Nov. 13, 2019, PCT No. PCT/US2019/061176
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 11, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/102350, PCT Pub. Date May 22, 2020.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/767,666, filed on Nov. 15, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0323357 A1, Oct. 21, 2021
Int. Cl. B60C 11/03 (2006.01); B60C 11/13 (2006.01)
CPC B60C 11/13 (2013.01) [B60C 11/0302 (2013.01); B60C 2011/0348 (2013.01); B60C 2011/036 (2013.01); B60C 2011/0365 (2013.01); B60C 2011/0367 (2013.01); B60C 2200/06 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A heavy truck tire tread, comprising:
a first tread groove;
a second tread groove;
a rib located between the first tread groove and the second tread groove, wherein the first tread groove and the second tread groove define a pair of tread grooves, wherein the tread has a longitudinal direction, a lateral direction, and a thickness direction, wherein the pair of tread grooves and the rib are not oriented completely in the longitudinal direction so as to extend in both the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction;
a shoulder block adjacent the rib and at a shoulder edge of the tread; and
a decouple groove that decouples the shoulder block from the rib, wherein the decouple groove is spaced from and free from engagement with the shoulder edge of the tread, wherein the decouple groove extends at least twice as long in the longitudinal direction than in the lateral direction, wherein a width of the decouple groove is less than a width of the first tread groove, and wherein the width of the decouple groove is less than a width of the second tread groove;
wherein the tread has an average void depth that does not go past a twenty percent line, wherein the twenty percent line is twenty percent of a full void depth located from an outer surface of the tread, wherein the average void depth does not include decouple grooves and does not include the tread outboard from the decouple grooves in the lateral direction;
wherein a majority of the decouple groove has a component of extension only in the longitudinal direction and has no component of extension in the lateral direction;
wherein a minority of the decouple groove has a component of extension in the lateral direction and a component of extension in the longitudinal direction, wherein the component of extension of the minority of the decouple groove in the lateral direction is greater than the component of extension of the minority of the decouple groove in the longitudinal direction.
 
2. A heavy truck tire tread, comprising:
a first tread groove;
a second tread groove;
a rib located between the first tread groove and the second tread groove, wherein the first tread groove and the second tread groove define a pair of tread grooves, wherein the tread has a longitudinal direction, a lateral direction, and a thickness direction, wherein the pair of tread grooves and the rib are not oriented completely in the longitudinal direction so as to extend in both the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction;
a first shoulder block adjacent the rib and at a shoulder edge of the tread; and
a decouple groove that decouples the first shoulder block from the rib, wherein the decouple groove is spaced from and free from engagement with the shoulder edge of the tread, wherein the decouple groove extends at least twice as long in the longitudinal direction than in the lateral direction, wherein a width of the decouple groove is less than a width of the first tread groove, and wherein the width of the decouple groove is less than a width of the second tread groove;
wherein the tread has an average void depth that does not go past a twenty percent line, wherein the twenty percent line is twenty percent of a full void depth located from an outer surface of the tread, wherein the average void depth does not include decouple grooves and does not include the tread outboard from the decouple grooves in the lateral direction;
second shoulder block that is decoupled from the rib completely by the first tread groove and not the decouple groove.