ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,344,045, issued on July 1, was assigned to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (Hyogo, Japan).
"Tire" was invented by Shingo Nobukuni (Kobe, Japan).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Provided is a tire 2 that can achieve reduction of rolling resistance while reducing a decrease in durability to be small. An apex 32 of each bead 10 includes an apex body 48, a strip apex 50, and an intermediate apex 52. An inner end of the strip apex 50 is located between a ply body 38a of a carcass ply 38 and the apex body 48. An inner end of the intermediate apex 52 is located between the strip apex 50 and the apex body 48. An outer end of the apex body 48 is loca...