COLORED DIRECT LASER MARKING ON TIRE

Abstract

A motor vehicle tire includes a sidewall having an inner layer of a first color and an outer layer adjacent the inner layer. The outer layer is of a second color different from the first color. The outer layer has a plurality of throughholes that visually expose the inner layer. The throughholes are in a pattern that encodes information about a history of the motor vehicle tire and/or a unique identifier

Claims

1. A motor vehicle tire including a sidewall, the sidewall comprising: an inner layer having a first color; and an outer layer parallel to the inner layer, the outer layer having a second color different from the first color, the outer layer having a plurality of throughholes that visually expose the inner layer, the throughholes being in a pattern that encodes information about a history of the motor vehicle tire and/or information identifying the motor vehicle tire.

2. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the first color is a color other than black, and the second color is black.

3. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the outer layer is adjacent the inner layer and is made of rubber.

4. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the pattern of throughholes is in a matrix of rows and columns.

5. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the pattern encodes information about a location and date that the tire was manufactured.

6. The motor vehicle of claim 1 wherein the inner layer is made of a material that is resistant to laser etching.

7. The motor vehicle of claim 6 wherein the outer layer is made of a material that is nonresistant to laser etching.

8. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. (canceled)

11. (canceled)

12. (canceled)

13. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

15. (canceled)

16. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

21. A motor vehicle tire including a sidewall, the sidewall comprising: an inner layer having a first color; and an outer layer having a second color different from the first color, the outer layer having a plurality of throughholes that visually expose the inner layer, the throughholes being in a pattern that encodes information about a history of the motor vehicle tire and/or information identifying the motor vehicle tire.

22. The motor vehicle of claim 21 wherein the first color is a color other than black, and the second color is black.

23. The motor vehicle of claim 21 wherein the outer layer is adjacent the inner layer and is made of rubber.

24. The motor vehicle of claim 21 wherein the pattern of throughholes is in a matrix of rows and columns.

25. The motor vehicle of claim 21 wherein the pattern encodes information about a location and date that the tire was manufactured.

26. The motor vehicle of claim 21 wherein the inner layer is made of a material that is resistant to laser etching.

27. The motor vehicle of claim 26 wherein the outer layer is made of a material that is nonresistant to laser etching.

28. A motor vehicle tire including a sidewall, the sidewall comprising: an inner layer having a first color; and an outer layer parallel to the inner layer, the outer layer having a second color different from the first color, the outer layer having a plurality of throughholes that visually expose the inner layer, the throughholes having at least one characteristic that encodes information about a history of the motor vehicle tire and/or information identifying the motor vehicle tire.

29. The motor vehicle of claim 28 wherein the first color is a color other than black, and the second color is black.

30. The motor vehicle of claim 28 wherein the outer layer is adjacent the inner layer and is made of rubber.

31. The motor vehicle of claim 28 wherein the throughholes are arranged in a matrix of rows and columns.

32. The motor vehicle of claim 28 wherein the characteristic of the throughholes encodes information about a location and date that the tire was manufactured.

33. The motor vehicle of claim 28 wherein the inner layer is made of a material that is resistant to laser etching, and the outer layer is made of a material that is nonresistant to laser etching.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention itself will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0011] FIG. 1 is a plan view of a motor vehicle tire including one embodiment of a marking of the present invention.

[0012] FIG. 2 is a side view along line 2—2 of FIG. 1 of the marking and a laser that etched the marking.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method of the present invention for recording information on a motor vehicle tire.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The embodiments hereinafter disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed in the following description. Rather the embodiments are chosen and described so that others skilled in the art may utilize its teachings.

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates a motor vehicle tire 10 including a marking 12 of the present invention on a sidewall 14 of tire 10. In the particular embodiment shown, marking 12 includes a six row by nine column matrix of pixels, each pixel representing one binary bit of information. However, it is to be understood that the marking may be a matrix of any size (e.g., any number or rows and columns), and the size of the individual pixels may also vary within the scope of the invention.

[0016] Although the blank pixels of marking 12 and the remainder of sidewall 14 are shown as white in FIG. 1, it is to be understood that they may in actuality be black in color, or any other color other than the color of marking 12, and may be made of a rubber material. The pixels that are depicted in FIG. 1 with an “x” are in actuality some color other than black (e.g., yellow) and are made of a layer of colored material that is under the outer surface of black rubber. The pixels that are depicted with an “x” may be created by laser etching away the top layer of black rubber material to thereby visually expose the underlying layer of colored material.

[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates marking 12 and a laser 16 that etched marking 12 by emitting laser energy 18. Laser energy 18 may etch away or otherwise remove top layer 20 of black rubber material to thereby visually expose the underlying layer 22 of colored material.

[0018] During use, a respective additional marking 12 may be made on tire 10 to provide information (e.g., date, location, number of miles, type of vehicle, etc.) about each significant event that occurs in the life of tire 10. Such significant events may include manufacture, sale, installation on a vehicle, removal from a vehicle, repair of the tire, treatments, etc.

[0019] Top layer 20 of black rubber material may have characteristics that make it etchable such that the material can be removed by laser etching. In contrast, underlying layer 22 of colored material may have characteristics that make it resistant to etching such that the material cannot be easily removed by laser etching. In another embodiment, the application of laser energy may be controlled to produce a desired depth of material removal that is just short of, and thereby exposes, a differently-colored inner layer that does not have characteristics that make it resistant to etching. Controlling the depth of material removal by adjusting the application of the laser energy enables selection from multiple internal colored layers, and provides the ability to produce multi-colored marks if desired.

[0020] FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a method 300 of the present invention for recording information on a motor vehicle tire. In a first step 302, a sidewall of the tire is provided with an inner layer that is of a first color. For example, sidewall 14 of tire 10 is provided with an inner layer 22 that may be some color other than black, such as white or yellow.

[0021] In a next step 304, the sidewall is provided with an outer layer adjacent to the inner layer. The outer layer is of a second color different from the first color. For example, sidewall 14 may be black in color.

[0022] In a final step 306, the outer layer is laser etched to visually expose the inner layer in a pattern to encode information about previous events associated with the tire. For example, outer layer 20 may be laser etched by laser 16 to visually expose inner layer 22 in a pattern as shown in marking 12 to encode information about previous events associated with the tire, such as where the tire was manufactured and/or a unique identifier.

[0023] Although markings of the present invention are shown herein as being applied to a tire, it is to be understood that the markings may be applied to a wide variety of products. Markings of the present invention (e.g., date codes/serial numbers), such as marking 12, may enable identification, tracing and tracking of the entire life cycle of a product/tire from materials used in manufacture, sale, installation, all the way through the chain of use to disposal.

[0024] Inner layer 22 has been described herein as being adjacent to outer layer 20. However, it is also possible within the scope of the invention for there to be one or more intermediary layers that are nonresistant to laser etching between the inner layer and the outer layer. The application of laser energy may be controlled to produce a desired depth of material removal with inner layers that do not have characteristics that make them resistant to etching.

[0025] While this invention has been described as having an exemplary design, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains.