| CPC B60C 11/1218 (2013.01) [B60C 11/0302 (2013.01); B60C 11/1236 (2013.01); B60C 2011/1213 (2013.01)] | 22 Claims |
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1. A tyre comprising a tread band, the tread band comprising:
a plurality of grooves;
a plurality of blocks delimited by the plurality of grooves;
a plurality of three-dimensional sipes formed in at least one block of the plurality of blocks, the three-dimensional sipes being open on a tread surface that is radially external to the tread band and extending in a direction that is incident to a forward direction defined on the tread surface;
wherein each sipe of the plurality of three-dimensional sipes separates the at least one block into:
a first block portion comprising a first surface extending along a reference plane that is incident to the tread surface and facing in the forward direction, and
a second block portion comprising a second surface extending along a reference plane that is incident to the tread surface, the second surface being opposite the first surface and facing away from the forward direction,
wherein:
a plurality of male/female couplings are provided between the first block portion and the second block portion,
the plurality of male/female couplings consist of all the male/female couplings provided between the first block portion and the second block portion,
the plurality of male/female couplings are formed by:
a plurality of protuberances that are all formed on the first surface and extend from the reference plane towards the second block portion, and
a plurality of matching recesses, each matching a corresponding protuberance of the plurality of protuberances, the matching recesses being all formed in the second surface and extending from the reference plane away from the first block portion,
each protuberance of the plurality of protuberances has an apex that is at a distance from the tread surface of no more than 40% of a depth of a sipe of the plurality of three-dimensional sipes measured at the apex,
each protuberance of the plurality of protuberances has a pyramidal shape comprising:
a quadrilateral base on the first surface having a first pair of adjacent sides of substantially equal length and a second pair of adjacent sides of substantially equal length;
the quadrilateral base having a longer diagonal and a shorter diagonal that is perpendicular to the longer diagonal, the longer diagonal being longer than the shorter diagonal;
the adjacent sides of the first pair of adjacent sides:
are shorter than the adjacent sides of the second pair of adjacent sides, and
join at an upper vertex of a protuberance of the plurality of protuberances that faces the tread surface, and
the adjacent sides of the second pair of adjacent sides join at a lower vertex of said protuberance that faces a bottom part of the sipe, on a side opposite the tread surface.
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