Patents for April 2024

Patent as compiled by the editors of RW for April 2024

Tire sidewall toughness index method
U.S. patent: 11,781,945
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Michael Thomas Driscoll, Steven Emery Guba, Jr. and Nicholas
Anthony Gullatta
Assigned: Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Key statement: A method for determining a sidewall toughness index for a
tire includes providing a first tire that includes a pair of sidewalls. A first
physical test is conducted on a selected one of the sidewalls of the first tire
and a result of the first test is recorded. A second tire of the same type as
the first tire is provided and includes a pair of sidewalls. A second physical
test is conducted on a selected one of the sidewalls of the second tire and a
result of the second test is recorded. The result of each of the first physical
test and the second physical test is normalized. A sidewall toughness index
is generated by combining the normalized result of the first physical test
and the normalized result of the second physical test.

Capacitive pressure sensor with bottlebrush elastomer dielectric layer for low pressure sensing
U.S. patent: 11,780,969
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Michael L.Chabinyc, Christopher M. Bates, Veronica G. Reynolds,
Sanjoy Mukherjee, Renxuan E. Xie, Adam E. Levi and Jeffrey Self Assigned:
The Regents of the University of California
Key statement: A composition of matter including a crosslinked bottlebrush
polymer, wherein the crosslinker units in the composition of matter are
soluble with the bottlebrush polymer. In one example, the crosslinked
bottlebrush polymer is tailored as a single phase (solvent free) elastomer
useful in a capacitive pressure sensing device. A novel embodiment of the
present invention further includes demonstration of a universal approach to
form solvent free bottlebrush polymer networks by photo-crosslinking
mixtures of well defined bottlebrush precursors and bis-benzophenone
based additives. This method has been proven effective with a wide variety
of different side-chain chemistries.

Rubber composition, tread rubber and tire
U.S. patent: 11,780,994
Issued: October 10, 2023 Inventors: Kenji Nakatani and Kentaro Kumaki
Assigned: Bridgestone
Key statement: To provide a rubber composition in which wet performance,
wear resistance, low rolling resistance and breaking resistance are highly
balanced. A rubber composition comprising a rubber component
comprising at least three polymers and a filler, wherein the rubber
component is separated into at least two polymer phases: a polymer phase
(1) with the highest tan δ peak temperature; and a polymer phase (2) with
the lowest peak temperature; the polymer phases (1) and (2) are
incompatible with each other; the polymer phase (1) at least comprises the
modified conjugated diene based polymers (A1) and (A2) and the filler; the
modified conjugated diene based polymer (A1) has a particular weightaverage molecular weight and a particular contracting factor (g′); and when
a filler concentration and an average aggregate area of the filler in the
polymer phase (1) are defined as X and Y, respectively, and formula (1): Y <
4.8X + 1,200 is satisfied.

Thermoplastic polyester elastomer resin composition for resin belt materials and molded resin belt
U.S. patent: 11,781,008
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Yuichi Nakao and Yuji Uemura
Assigned: Toray Celanese
Key statement: A polyester elastomer resin composition for resin belt
materials contains 80-92.99% by weight of a thermoplastic polyester
elastomer (A), 7-19.99% by weight of glass fibers (B) and 0.01-5.0% by weight
of a crystal nucleator (C) and which is also characterized in that: the
thermoplastic polyester elastomer (A) is a polyester block copolymer which
contains 40-70% by weight of a high melting point crystalline polymer
segment (a1) that is composed of a crystalline aromatic polyester unit and
30-60% by weight of a low melting point polymer segment (a2) that is
composed of an aliphatic polyether unit; and the melt flow rate as
determined in accordance with ASTM D1238 at 230°C under a load of 2,160
g is 1.0 g/10 minutes or more, but less than 10.0 g/10 minutes.

NBR composition for rubber laminated metal
U.S. patent: 11,780,993
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Isao Watanabe and Daiki Takekawa
Assigned: Nok
Key statement: An NBR composition for rubber laminated metal having 1 to
3 parts by weight of sulfur and 1 to 15 parts by weight of a disulfide
compound such as 4,4′-dithiodimorpholine or dithiodicaprolactam
represented by the general formula RN—S—S—NR (wherein RN is a cyclic
linking group formed together with the N atom bonded to the S atom),
based on 100 parts by weight of NBR. The rubber composition that can
improve the protrusion properties of a rubber layer when used for, for
example, a gasket or a brake shim material that is a laminated composite
metal laminated with another metal plate.

Fluorine-containing elastomer composition for heat dissipation material and sheet thereof
U.S. patent: 11,781,002
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Hiroyuki Sagami, Junpei Terada, Hiroshi Aihara and Takayuki
Matsuo
Assigned: Daikin Industries
Key statement: A fluorine-containing elastomer composition for a heat
dissipation material, including a fluorinecontaining elastomer being VdF
based fluoroelastomer having a Mooney viscosity at 121°C of 10 or lower
and an insulating thermal conductive filler. Also disclosed is a sheet
obtained by molding the fluorine-containing elastomer composition.

Tire pressure warning device
U.S. patent: 11,787,240
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventor: Takahisa Arai
Assigned: Nissan Motor
Key statement: A tire air pressure warning device includes a tire air pressure
sensor and at least one controller that warns a driver that a tire air pressure
detected by the tire air pressure sensor has dropped to or below a first
prescribed pressure. The at least one controller further notifies the driver of
reduction in the tire air pressure upon determining that the tire air pressure
has dropped to or below a second prescribed pressure, which is above the
first prescribed pressure. The at least one controller further determines
whether the tire air pressure has dropped to or below the second
prescribed pressure based on when the tire air pressure is at or below the
second prescribed pressure in an ignition switch on state and whether the
tire air pressure has dropped to or below the second prescribed pressure
when the ignition switch is turned off.

Disintegrable rubber seal, method of manufacture and application thereof
U.S. patent: 11,787,991
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventors: Lei Zhao, Zhiyue Xu, Zhihui Zhang and Guijun Deng
Assigned: Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations
Key statement: A disintegrable rubber seal includes a rubber composite,
which contains a rubber matrix including a crosslinked rubber; and an
energetic filler configured to generate heat upon activation to disintegrate
the rubber matrix. The energetic filler contains a metal and a metal oxide. A
weight ratio of the energetic filler to the rubber matrix is about 6:1 to about 1:1.

Compositions comprising carbon fibers and at least one thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer
U.S. patent: 11,780,991
Issued: October 10, 2023
Inventors: Elodie Hablot and Russell P. Barry
Assigned: Dow Global Technologies
Key statement: The present disclosure relates to a composition comprising:
(A) from 40 wt.% to 95 wt.% of a thermoplastic polyolefin elastomer and (B)
from 5 wt.% to 60 wt.% of a carbon fiber component. In certain
embodiments, the composition of the present disclosure reaches a high
level of stiffness while exhibiting a high level of toughness. Moreover, a
decrease in gloss appearance and an improvement in resistance to abrasion
are expected.

Olefin multi-block copolymer/silicone rubber/tackifier compositions and foams
U.S. patent: 11,787,924
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventors: Xiaolian Hu, Haiyang Yu, Kyle G. Kummer, Wanfu Ma and Hongyu
Chen
Assigned: Dow Global Technologies
Key statement: A composition comprising at least the following: A) an olefin
multi-block copolymer; B) a silicone rubber; C) a tackifier.

Tire comprising a carcass reinforcement layer having improved endurance properties
U.S. patent: 11,787,235
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventors: Nathalie Salgues, Auriane Frisch and Arnaud Gommez
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: A tire with a radial carcass reinforcement, made up of at
least one layer of metal reinforcing elements inserted between two skim
layers of elastomer compound containing a reinforcing filler made up of at
least carbon black. The tensile elastic modulus at 10% elongation of at least
the skim layer closest to the internal cavity of at least the carcass
reinforcement layer closest to the internal cavity is less than 8.5 MPa and at
least the said skim layer closest to the internal cavity of at least the carcass
reinforcement layer closest to the internal cavity has a macrodispersion
value Z greater than 85.

Aligned nematic elastomer
U.S. patent: 11,788,008
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventors: Helen Frances Gleeson and Devesh Arvind Mistry
Assigned: University of Leeds
Key statement: There is provided the use of an aligned nematic elastomer to
form a material having auxetic properties wherein the aligned nematic
material has a mechanical Fréedericksz transition. Also provided is a
method of producing an aligned nematic elastomer for said use.

Rubber composition for tire and pneumatic tire
U.S. patent: 11,787,923
Issued: October 17, 2023
Inventors: Hiroki Sugimoto, Shuichi Nakano and Makoto Ashiura
Assigned: Yokohama Rubber
Key statement: A rubber composition of the present technology contains:
diene rubber (A) containing a predetermined amount of specific conjugated
diene rubber represented by a predetermined formula; silica having a CTAB
adsorption specific surface area in a predetermined range; and a silane
coupling agent represented by a predetermined formula.

Rubber composition for tire and tire
U.S. patent: 11,795,307
Issued: October 24, 2023
Inventors: Kazuya Hirabayashi and Norio Minouchi
Assigned: Toyo Tire
Key statement: A rubber composition for tires according to an embodiment
is produced by kneading a diene rubber, silica and a granular carbon
nanotube prepared as a binder-coated, granulated carbon nanotube. A tire
according to an embodiment comprises the rubber composition.

Removable rubber bracelet for cast cutting
U.S. patent: 11,793,687
Issued: October 24, 2023
Inventor: Kholoud H.A. Alnajjar
Assigned: Giftedness and Creativity Company
Key statement: The removable rubber bracelet for cast cutting is an
attachment for a cast cutting saw that greatly reduces the occurrence of
both abrasive and thermal injuries to patients during the cast removal
process. The rubber bracelet has two parallel, arcuate, generally
semicircular bands or arms extending from opposite ends of a crossbar. The
bracelet has an inner core of a flexible, malleable and at least semi-resilient
material, such as copper or spring steel, for maintaining the shape of the
bracelet, coated by a layer of rubber for protecting the patient’s skin. The
bracelet has a smaller, saw attachment band adapted for gripping a barrel
of the cutting saw and a larger guard band or arm adapted for being spaced
apart from the rear edge of the saw’s cutting blade in cantilever fashion to
protect the patient from accidental cuts opposite the portion of the blade
edge cutting the cast.