ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 23 -- United States Patent no. 12,420,506, issued on Sept. 23, was assigned to Bridgestone Europe NV/SA (Zaventem, Belgium).

"Method and application unit for applying a sound-absorbing material in an inner cavity of a pneumatic tire" was invented by Alessio Ciarnella (Rome) and Paolo Straffi (Rome).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Method and application unit (3) for applying a sound-absorbing material (2) to an inner cavity of a pneumatic tyre (1) using a strip (4) of sound-absorbing material (2) provided on one side with an adhesive layer (6) covered with a protective lining (7). The following steps are provided: attaching an initial part of the protective lining (7) to a...