Patents for February

Patent as compiled by the editors of RW for February 2024

Tire mold maintenance and repair systems and related methods
U.S. patent: 11,752,667
Issued: September 12, 2023
Inventor: Terry Phillip Dobbins
Key statement: Tire mold maintenance and repair systems and related methods are disclosed. According
to an aspect, a mold maintenance and repair system includes a mold holder. The mold holder is
configured to releasably attach to a support structure and to hold a mold. The mold comprises
contoured upper portion for molding an item and an attachment lower portion for attaching to the mold
holder.

Bonding method to attach ethylenebased polymer foam with vulcanized rubber
U.S. patent: 11,752,751
Issued: September 12, 2023
Inventors: Haiyang Yu, Wanfu Ma and Xin Liu
Assigned: Dow Global Technologies
Key statement: A process of adhering a foam structure to a rubber substrate is provided. The foam
structure is composed of a first composition comprising a first ethylene-based polymer having a peak
melting temperature TE1. A film composed of a second composition comprising a second ethylenebased polymer having a melt index ≤ 10 g/10 min and a peak melting temperature TE2 is applied to the
surface of the rubber substrate to form a rubber substrate/film configuration. A compression force is
applied at a temperature Tv (38°C ≤ TE2 < Tv) to form a vulcanized rubber/film laminate. The foam
structure is applied to a surface of the film of the vulcanized rubber/film laminate to form a vulcanized
rubber-film laminate/foam configuration. A compression force is applied at a temperature TL, wherein
TE2 < TL < TE1, 15°C ≤ (TE1 – TL) ≤ 40°C, and 10°C ≤ (TL – TE2) ≤ 70°C, to form a vulcanized rubberfilm/foam laminate.

Pneumatic tire with reinforcing part
U.S. patent: 11,752,804
Issued: September 12, 2023
Inventors: Joo Bae Park, Il Sik Kim and Seung Hwan Rhee
Assigned: Hankook Tire & Technology
Key statement: There is provided a pneumatic tire with a reinforcing part which is mounted on a tire
wheel, the pneumatic tire including: a tread having a groove that is formed in a circumferential direction
of the tire wheel as being recessed toward a central axis of the tire wheel, a kerf that is formed to
intersect the groove as being recessed toward the central axis of the tire wheel and one or more blocks
that are formed between the groove and the kerf and come into contact with a road surface; a shoulder
formed at a side of the tread; and a reinforcing part inserted into the groove formed between the one or
more blocks. The reinforcing part reduces noise produced due to contact with the road surface by being
bent one or more times.

Crosslinkable elastomer composition and fluororubber molded article
U.S. patent: 11,753,523
Issued: September 12, 2023
Inventors: Seiichi Hirano and Tsuyoshi Noguchi
Assigned: Daikin Industries
Key statement: A crosslinkable elastomer composition including a crosslinkable elastomer and a surfaceoxidized non-oxide ceramic. Also disclosed is a fluoroelastomer molded article having a weight reduction
percentage of 2.5% by mass or less and an amount of particles generated of 0.05% by mass or less after
O2 plasma irradiation, a weight reduction percentage of 1.8% by mass or less, an amount of particles
generated of 0.05% by mass or less after NF3 plasma irradiation and a compression set of 50% or less
after aging at 300°C for 70 hours.

Method for checking and/or monitoring the use of a tire
U.S. patent: 11,752,812
Issued: September 12, 2023
Inventor: Antoine Paturle
Assigned: Michelin
Key statement: A method for checking and/or monitoring the use of a tire (1) mounted on a vehicle (7),
comprises the following steps: acquisition, by a microphone (10) arranged inside the tire, of an acoustic
response of said tire (1) obtained under the effect of a pulsed mechanical stress thereon and processing
of said response in the frequency domain, characterized in that said processing identifies, in the
response in the frequency domain, two spectrum spikes situated on either side of a reference frequency
corresponding to the first cavity mode of the tire and, as a function of the frequency deviation between
the two duly identified spikes, determines information relating to at least one parameter of use of the
tire.

Method for the additive manufacturing of a silicone elastomer article
U.S. patent: 11,760,890
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventors: Karsten Schlichter, Jean- Marc Frances and Gerald Guichard
Assigned: Elkem Silicones
Key statement: The invention relates to a method for the additive manufacturing of a silicone elastomer
article. In particular, the invention relates to a method for the additive manufacturing of a silicone
elastomer article and a support using a 3D printer.

Tire
U.S. patent: 11,760,129
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventor: Takahisa Shizuku
Assigned: Bridgestone
Key statement: Provided is a tire in which a steel cord applied to a carcass ply has improved corrosion
resistance to water penetration, fretting resistance and cord untwisting resistance. Provided is a tire
including a carcass ply (1) as a skeleton. The carcass ply is reinforced by a steel cord including no
wrapping filament. The steel cord is composed of a plurality of steel filaments having 3 or more core
filaments, at least a part of the surface of each of the plurality of steel filaments is coated with a resin
material containing at least an ionomer and when a resin component contained in the resin material is
composed of a single resin, the melting point of the resin material is 150°C or less and when the resin
component is composed of a composition containing two or more resins, the softening point of the resin
material is 150°C or less.

Method for producing acrylic rubber, acrylic rubber, acrylic rubber composition, vulcanized substance
thereof and application for vulcanized substance
U.S. patent: 11,760,821
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventors: Tatsuya Nakano, Toshiaki Miyauchi and Takashi Kawasaki
Assigned: Denka
Key statement: A method for producing an acrylic rubber, the method including dividedly adding 80% to
100% by mass of the total mass of a monomer component containing 100 parts by mass of an acrylic
acid alkyl ester having an alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, 20 to 160 parts by mass of an acrylic
acid alkyl ester having an alkyl group having 4 to 8 carbon atoms and 0.1 to 10 parts by mass of a
crosslinking seat monomer containing a carboxyl group, and performing emulsion polymerization at a
polymerization temperature of 20°C to 60°C. The monomer component may further contain a
methacrylic acid alkyl ester having an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms and ethylene.

Mechanically oscillated method for testing the tire pressure of a vehicle
U.S. patent: 11,760,140
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventors: Dennis Pape and Peter Hofmann Assigned: ZF Friedrichshafen AG
Key statement: A method for checking the tire pressure of a vehicle (1), which vehicle comprises at least
one vehicle wheel (3) and a vehicle body (2) which is supported elastically on the vehicle wheel (3). The
wheel includes a tire (7), filled with gas, on which wheel the vehicle stands on a subsurface (8). The vehicle
body (2) is loaded with an additional mass and thereby the vehicle body is stimulated into a mechanical
oscillation (16) relative to the subsurface (8). A response signal (A), that characterizes the mechanical
oscillation (16), is measured and analyzed, whereby at least one response value that characterizes the
current gas pressure in the tire is determined.

Method for producing a vehicle tire, vehicle tire produced according to the method and use of treated
reinforcing supports
U.S. patent: 11,760,048
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventors: Thomas Kramer, Nermeen Nabih, Michael Schunack, Cornelia Schmaunz-Hirsch, Diana Pinto,
Nacide Nurcin Vahir, Mustafa Yasin Sen, Sadettin Fidan, Yucel Ayyildiz and Basak Kanya
Assigned: Continental Reifen Deutschland GMBH and Kordsa Teknik Tekstil Anonim Sirketi
Key statement: A method for producing a vehicle tire, having the following steps: a) providing textile
reinforcing supports; b) providing a bath which is free of resorcin and formaldehyde by at least: b1)
adding at least one carboxylic acid to water; b2) adding at least one base; b3) adding at least one epoxy
compound; b4) adding at least one polyisocyanate compound; b5) adding at least one VP
latex; and b6) mixing the substances from b1) to b5); c) dipping the reinforcing supports from step a) into
the bath from step b); d) subsequently hot-stretching the dipped reinforcing supports from step c); and e)
further processing the reinforcing supports from step d) in order to form a reinforcing support layer in a
vehicle tire blank. A vehicle tire which is produced using the method and to the use of reinforcing
supports treated in such a manner in technical rubber articles are also disclosed.

Fully automatic intelligent rubber tapping robot
U.S. patent: 11,758,856
Issued: September 19, 2023
Inventors: Guoyu Zuo, Guodong Chen, Daoxiong Gong, Zhihui Shen and Erjun Xiao
Assigned: Beijing University of Technology
Key statement: The invention discloses a fully automatic intelligent rubber tapping robot, which
comprises a moving platform and a rubber tapping robot arm. The rubber cutting mechanical arm is
installed on the moving platform. tapping robot arm is installed on the moving platform. The tapping
robot arm is specially designed for rubber cutting operation, the end of the tapping robot arm is
equipped with an end actuator, which is composed of a tree-hugging fixed device and a sliding rubber
tapping device. The invention can carry out the rubber cutting operation independently without manual
intervention, greatly reducing the manual input and obviously improving the rubber cutting efficiency
and time economy conversion efficiency. The movable system can work alone in a whole rubber forest
with a large working area and reduces the average input cost per tree. The technical indexes of the
rubber tree, such as cutting depth, cutting skin consumption and cutting smoothness, all meet the
requirements of traditional rubber cutting technology and have good popularization and application
value.