US 12,168,372 B2
Variable oscillation three dimensional sipe
Andrew D. Cerny, Riverside, IA (US)
Assigned to Bridgestone Bandag, LLC, Nashville, TN (US)
Appl. No. 16/493,320
Filed by Bridgestone Bandag, LLC, Muscatine, IA (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 21, 2018, PCT No. PCT/US2018/023500
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Sep. 12, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/183053, PCT Pub. Date Oct. 4, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/477,109, filed on Mar. 27, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0070588 A1, Mar. 5, 2020
Int. Cl. B60C 11/12 (2006.01); B60C 11/03 (2006.01); B60C 11/04 (2006.01); B60C 11/13 (2006.01)
CPC B60C 11/1218 (2013.01) [B60C 11/04 (2013.01); B60C 11/1259 (2013.01); B60C 2011/0346 (2013.01); B60C 2011/0381 (2013.01); B60C 2011/1213 (2013.01); B60C 11/1369 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A tire, comprising:
a tire tread with a rotational axis;
a plurality of tread elements positioned on a tire tread surface so as to comprise a tread pattern, the plurality of tread elements positioned at least one of axially or circumferentially on the tire tread surface;
a plurality of grooves provided between the plurality of tread elements; and
a sipe formed by a first wall and a second wall mirroring the first wall in at least one of the plurality of tread elements, wherein, in a depth direction of the sipe, the sipe has a depth that is less than a height of the at least one of the plurality of tread elements, the first wall of the sipe forming a three-dimensional pattern and the second wall forming a mirrored three-dimensional pattern, wherein the three-dimensional pattern comprises one of a saw-tooth pattern, a sinusoidal pattern or a square pattern, that oscillates in the depth direction of the sipe with a decreasing frequency from a first frequency of oscillation at a top end of the sipe to a second frequency of oscillation at a bottom end of the sipe, the first frequency of oscillation being greater than the second frequency of oscillation, the three-dimensional pattern having more than four oscillations between the top end of the sipe and the bottom end of the sipe, and the three-dimensional pattern having a first amplitude at the top end of the sipe and a second amplitude at the bottom end of the sipe, the first amplitude different from the second amplitude.