Appeal No. 2004-0459
Serial No. 09/652,997
providing a tire including a casing of steel and rubber
having an outer peripheral surface and a tread secured to said
peripheral surface and defining a ground engaging surface;
forming a channel in the tread with side walls and a bottom
wall, the bottom wall of the channel inset from the ground
engaging surface;
laying a non-adhering film on the bottom wall;
laying an uncured rubber layer over the film within the
channel, said layer having an outer surface inset from the ground
engaging surface of the tread;
curing the rubber and thereby bonding the rubber layer to
the walls of the channel, the film preventing bonding of the
rubber layer to the bottom wall to thereby form an expandable
chamber between the layer and the bottom wall with the rubber
layer then providing a continuation of the tread across the
channel; and
providing a controlled air inlet to the chamber for
extension and retraction of the chamber for selective extension
and retraction of the tread segment from the channel.
THE REFERENCES
Case 1,298,661 Apr. 1, 1919
Jenne 2,237,559 Apr. 8, 1941
Voelkel et al. (Voelkel) 2,841,199 Jul. 1, 1958
Bell, Jr. (Bell) 3,712,336 Jan. 23, 1973
Harrington 3,930,528 Jan. 6, 1976
Kuan et al. (Kuan) 4,453,992 Jun. 12, 1984
Yi Su 4,676,289 Jun. 30, 1987
Hirakawa 4,815,513 Mar. 28, 1989
O’Brien 5,810,451 Sep. 22, 1998
Nakamura2 58-122207 Jul. 20, 1983
(Japanese patent application)
2 Citations herein to Nakamura and Honda are to English
translations thereof, copies of which are provided to the
appellants with this decision.
3
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