Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – At least one aryl ring which is part of a fused or bridged...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-01
2003-06-24
Cain, Edward J. (Department: 1714)
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
At least one aryl ring which is part of a fused or bridged...
C524S115000, C524S128000, C524S145000, C524S152000, C524S153000, C152S209500, C152S905000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06583210
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a tire with a carbon black-containing, black-colored, circumferential tread of a cap/base construction, wherein said tread cap has a lug and groove configuration and wherein the outer surface of a major portion of said grooves are designed to be ground contacting, and a co-extruded thin outer non-carbon black-containing rubber layer of a non-black color wherein said outer rubber layer is integral with and circumferentially extends from the axial outer edge of said tread cap to include at least of a visible surface of at least one groove in said tread cap. In one aspect, said tread contains a pair of black colored, carbon black reinforced, tread miniwings which extend from the axial outer edge of the tread over a portion of the tire sidewall, wherein said thin outer rubber layer joins said miniwing and wherein said tread cap, tread base, tread miniwings and thin outer layer are co-extruded, co-cured and therefore integral with each other.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Tire treads are conventionally of rubber compositions which contain at least some carbon black reinforcement and are thereby black in color. For various reasons, it may desired to provide a tire with a tread of which at least a portion of the tread has a color which contrasts with the primary black color of the tire and therefore does not contain carbon black reinforcement.
Historically, a tire with a silica reinforced tread which contains only a minimal amount of carbon black reinforcement, if any, and which contains a co-extruded carbon black-containing thin outer rubber layer on its outer tread surface to serve as an electrically conductive path for static electricity for such tread has been proposed according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,882. Realistically, such tread may be black in color if it does contain only a minimal amount of carbon black or it may be of a non-black color if it does not contain carbon black. Therefore, conceivably such tread may be of a non-black color whereas the aforesaid thin outer rubber layer is of a black color and may extend from a tread miniwing. In such manner, then, a tire might be provided with a tread of which a part of its visible portion is of a color other than black.
Also historically, a typical example of a component of a tire having a color which contrasts with the conventional black color of the tire is a tire sidewall in which a portion of the rubber is white in color resulting from a blend of rubber and titanium dioxide pigment in the absence of, or exclusive of, particulate carbon black reinforcement. Tires with white colored portions of their sidewalls are well known.
However, it is appreciated that coloring pigments such as titanium dioxide do not provide significant rubber reinforcement equivalent to rubber reinforcing carbon black. Therefore, such tire components are conventionally limited to rubber compositions which do not need such a high degree of reinforcement.
It is also appreciated that such colored rubber compositions which contains a coloring pigment such as titanium dioxide have a tendency to discolor as a result of various discoloring chemicals which may be contained in various rubber compositions which are adjacent to the colored rubber composition. Accordingly, it is a common practice to use substitute non-discoloring chemicals for discoloring chemicals in such adjacent rubber compositions such as for example, non-discoloring antidegradants and non-discoloring rubber processing oils. Such practice is well known in the tire white sidewall art.
For this invention, it is desired to provide a tire having a tread having a portion which is of a visible color which contrasts with black-colored carbon black reinforced rubber and which does not require a majority of the outer surface of the tire which is intended to be ground-contacting to be of such contrasting color, and to thereby avoid especially compounding such contrastingly colored tread segments the surface of the tire intended to be ground-contacting have a wear and traction substantially equivalent to the black-colored carbon black reinforced tread rubber composition.
Thus, it is desired that such coloration for a portion of the tread be located primarily in the tread grooves and is primarily exclusive of the outer surface of a tread lug designed to be ground contacting.
In the description of this invention, the terms “rubber” and “elastomer” if used herein, may be used interchangeably, unless otherwise prescribed. The terms “rubber composition”, “compounded rubber” and “rubber compound”, if used herein, are used interchangeably to refer to “rubber which has been blended or mixed with various ingredients and materials” and such terms are well known to those having skill in the rubber mixing or rubber compounding art.
In the description of this invention, the term “phr” refers to parts of a respective material per 100 parts by weight of rubber, or elastomer. The terms “rubber” and “elastomer” may be used interchangeably unless otherwise indicate. The terms “cure” and “vulcanize” may be used interchangeably unless otherwise indicated.
SUMMARY AND PRACTICE OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, a pneumatic tire is provided having a multi-colored tread of a cap/base construction and a lug and groove construction wherein a visible portion of said grooves have walls of a non-black colored, devoid of carbon black, silica reinforced, rubber composition wherein and a majority of the visible portion of the surface of said tread is of a black-colored, carbon black-containing, rubber composition wherein said tread is comprised of co-extruded laminae of
(A) a layer of a carbon black-containing, black colored tread cap rubber composition configured with lugs and grooves wherein the outer surface, or face, said tread lugs are designed to be ground-contacting,
(B) a layer of a carbon black-containing, black-colored tread base which underlies said tread cap and is not designed to be ground contacting,
(C) a pair of carbon black-containing, black-colored tread miniwings extending from the peripheral edges of said tread, and
(D) at least one thin overlaying layer of said non-black colored, silica reinforced, outer rubber layer, exclusive of carbon black and containing a colorant other than of a black color, overlaying at least a portion of the surface of said at least a portion of said tread grooves.
In one aspect of the invention, said thin overlay rubber strip
(1) is positioned exclusively on at least a portion of the surface of at least a portion of said tread grooves and wherein a majority of the visible surface of the tread surface is of a black colored, carbon black containing, rubber composition, or
(2) is abraded away from the face of said lugs intended to be ground-contacting, or
(3) extends between the peripheral edge of said tread and said tread wings, or
(4) is positioned as a plurality of said co-extruded overlaying, non-black colored rubber strips are positioned over at least a portion of a plurality of the surface of said tread grooves exclusive of the face of said grooves intended to be ground-contacting.
In the practice of this invention, said thin, non-black colored co-extruded overlay rubber layer is comprised of
(A) 100 phr of elastomer comprised of
(1) about 20 to about 100, alternately about 50 to about 90, phr of at least one diene-based elastomer and
(2) from zero to about 80, alternately about 10 to about 50, phr of a halogenated copolymer of isobutylene and p-methyl styrene, wherein said halogen is selected from bromine or chlorine, preferably bromine,
(B) about 25 to about 100, alternately about 35 to about 90, phr of silica comprised of particulate synthetic amorphous silica selected from at least one of
(1) aggregates of precipitated silica having hydroxyl groups (e.g. silanol groups) on the surface thereof, and
(2) pre-hydrophobated aggregates of precipitated silica having been pre-hydrophobated by treating silica in an aqueous colloidal form thereof with both an organomercaptosilane and an alkylsilane in a weight ratio of sa
Balogh George Frank
Sandstrom Paul Harry
Zanzig David John
Cain Edward J.
Lee Katarzyna W.
Young, Jr. Henry C.
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