Appeal No. 1999-1835
Application No. 08/654,976
region; and
a second sipe which has an extension segment
extending from a second lateral end of said island
portion and traversing the second edge region and a
central region of said island portion in the
substantially axial direction, and a return segment,
one end of said return segment being turned back at a
first interface between the central region and the
first edge region adjacent to the first lateral end or
in the vicinity thereof and the other end of said
return segment being terminated within the central
region.
13. A pneumatic tire having a block pattern
having a plurality of block-shaped island portions,
which are divided by main grooves extending in the
circumferential direction of said tire and lug grooves
extending in the widthwise direction of said tire,
said tire manufactured by vulcanizing molding
including a step of using a mold that comprises at
least one blade for forming at least one lateral sipe
in each block-shaped island portion, the at least one
blade extending in the widthwise direction of said
tire at a substantially uniform depth to form a
lateral sipe at a substantially uniform depth that
extends from a lateral edge of the block-shaped island
portion and ends prior to reaching the opposite
lateral edge of the block-shaped island portion, each
blade having at least one bent portion and having a
flask-shaped cross section at a portion corresponding
to the bottom of a corresponding sipe.
The examiner relies on the following prior art references
as evidence of unpatentability:
Benson et al. 3,012,599 Dec. 12, 1961
(Benson)
Yamaguchi et al. 5,176,765 Jan. 5, 1993
(Yamaguchi)
Matsushita 62-241712 Oct. 22, 1987
(JP '712)(published
JP patent document)
4
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