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Tires are measured for a parameter correlated to a tendency to contribute to steering pull when used on a vehicle. A group of the measured tires is then ranked into a successive series by ordering the parameter measurements of the tires in the group non-decreasingly or non-increasingly. A set of at

Tires are measured for a parameter correlated to a tendency to contribute to steering pull when used on a vehicle. A group of the measured tires is then ranked into a successive series by ordering the parameter measurements of the tires in the group non-decreasingly or non-increasingly. A set of at least two tires of substantially consecutive rank are then selected for mounting on the same vehicle in order to reduce steering pull.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A process for selecting a set of tires for use of an individual vehicle to reduce steering pull, said process comprising the steps of: (a) ranking a group of tires into a consecutive order according to at least the magnitude of a specified parameter measured using at least one machine, said pa

1. A process for selecting a set of tires for use of an individual vehicle to reduce steering pull, said process comprising the steps of: (a) ranking a group of tires into a consecutive order according to at least the magnitude of a specified parameter measured using at least one machine, said parameter being correlated to the tendency of each tire in said group to contribute to steering pull; and (b) selecting from said group a set of at least two substantially consecutively ranked tires. 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said ranking step comprises the steps of: (i) generating parameter measurements by determining at least said magnitude of said parameter for each said tire in said group; (ii) ordering said tires in said group according to said parameter measurements; and (iii) based on the outcome of said ordering, assigning each tire in said group a corresponding rank designation selected from a consecutive series of different rank designations spanning a finite rank designation range. 3. The process of claim 2 wherein in carrying out said selecting step, each selection is made from a region of said rank designation range which is at least partially offset from a different region of said range from which an immediately preceding selection was made. 4. The process of claim 1 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 5. The process of claim 1 wherein said group of tires consists of a finite number, P, of tires where P is sufficiently large to ensure to a desired degree of probability that substantially consecutively ranked tires will vary as to their respective tendencies to contribute to steering pull by no more than a desired limit. 6. A process for selecting sets of tires for use on individual vehicles to reduce steering pull, said process comprising the steps of: (a) using at least one machine, measuring individual tires for at least the magnitude of a parameter correlated to a tendency of each respective individual tire to contribute to steering pull; (b) accumulating a group of said tires; (c) ordering the tires in said group non-increasingly or non-decreasingly by their respective parameter measurements and assigning each tire in said group, based on the outcome of said ordering, a corresponding, unique rank designation from a consecutive series of such rank designations; and (d) selecting from said group a set of tires whose respective rank designations are substantially consecutive according to said series. 7. The process of claim 6 wherein each said set comprises at least two (2) tires. 8. The process of claim 6 wherein each said set consists of four (4) tires. 9. The process of claim 6 further comprising the steps of: (e) removing said selected set from said group; (f) repeating steps (a) and (b) until said group is restored to a predetermined number of tires; then (g) repeating steps (c) through (f) at least once. 10. The process of claim 9 wherein each said set is selected such that the rank designations of the tires in each said set are at least partially offset according to said series from the rank designations of an immediately previously selected set. 11. The process of claim 6 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 12. The process of claim 6 wherein said parameter comprises a combination of revolutions per unit distance and conicity. 13. The process of claim 6 wherein said group of tires consists of a finite number, P, of tires where P is sufficiently large to ensure to a desired degree of probability that substantially consecutively ranked tires will vary as to their respective tendencies to contribute to steering pull by no more than a desired limit. 14. A set of tires selected from a population of tires for use on an individual vehicle so as to reduce steering pull, said set being selected from said population according to a process comprising the steps of: (a) ranking a group of tires into a consecutive order according to at least the magnitude of a specified parameter measured using at least one machine, said parameter being correlated to the tendency of each tire in said group to contribute to steering pull; and (b) selecting from said group a set of at least two substantially consecutively ranked tires. 15. The set of tires of claim 14 wherein said ranking step comprises the steps of: (i) generating parameter measurements by determining at least said magnitude of said parameter for each said tire in said group; (ii) ordering said tires in said group according to said parameter measurements; and (iii) based on the outcome of said ordering, assigning each tire in said group a corresponding rank designation selected from a consecutive series of different rank designations spanning a finite rank designation range. 16. The set of tires of claim 14 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 17. The set of tires of claim 14 wherein said parameter comprises a combination of revolutions per unit distance and conicity. 18. The set of tires of claim 14 wherein said group of tires consists of a finite number, P, of tires where P is sufficiently large to ensure to a desired degree of probability that substantially consecutively ranked tires will vary as to their respective tendencies to contribute to steering pull by no more than a desired limit. 19. A set of tires selected from a population of tires for use on an individual vehicle so as to reduce steering pull, said set being selected from said population according to a process comprising the steps of: (a) using at least one machine, measuring individual tires for at least the magnitude of a parameter correlated to a tendency of each respective individual tire to contribute to steering pull; (b) accumulating a group of said tires; (c) ordering the tires in said group non-increasingly or non-decreasingly by their respective parameter measurements and assigning each tire in said group based on the outcome of said ordering a corresponding, unique rank designation from a consecutive series of such rank designations; and (d) selecting from said group a set of tires whose respective rank designations are substantially consecutive according to said series. 20. The set of tires of claim 19 wherein each said set comprises at least two (2) tires. 21. The set of tires of claim 19 wherein each said set consists of four (4) tires. 22. The set of tires of claim 19 further comprising the steps of: (e) removing said selected set from said group; (f) repeating steps (a) and (b) until said group is restored to a predetermined number of tires; then (g) repeating steps (c) through (f) at least once. 23. The set of tires of claim 22 wherein each said set is selected such that the rank designations of the tires in each said set are at least partially offset according to said series from the rank designations of an immediately previously selected set. 24. The set of tires of claim 19 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 25. The set of tires of claim 19 wherein said parameter comprises a combination of revoluations per unit distance and conicity. 26. The set of tires of claim 19 wherein said group of tires consists of a finite number, P, of tires where P is sufficiently large to ensure to a desired degree of probability that substantially consecutively ranked tires will vary as to their respective tendencies to contribute to steering pull by no more than a desired limit. 27. An apparatus for selecting a set of tires for use on an individual vehicle to reduce steering pull, said apparatus comprising: (a) a machine for making measurements of a parameter correlated to the tendency of individual tires to contribute to steering pull; (b) ranking means for ranking a group of said individual tires into a consecutive order according to at least said magnitudes; and (c) selecting means for selecting from said group a set of at least two substantially consecutively ranked tires. 28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 29. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said parameter comprises a combination of revolutions per unit distance and conicity. 30. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein said group of tires consists of a finite number, P, of tires where P is sufficiently large to ensure to a desired degree of probability that substantially consecutively ranked tires will vary as to their respective tendencies to contribute to steering pull by no more than a desired limit. 31. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein each said set consists of four (4) tires. 32. An apparatus for selecting a set of tires for use on an individual vehicle to reduce steering pull, said apparatus comprising: (a) a machine for making measurements of a parameter correlated to a tendency of individual tires to contribute to steering pull; (b) an accumulator for storing a group of said tires measured by said machine; and (c) a computer, including a memory, for: (i) storing said measurements of said parameter for each of said tires in said group; (ii) ordering said measurements according to a predetermined consecutive order; and (iii) selecting a set of at least two (2) tires whose respective measurements are substantially consecutively ordered. 33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein said parameter comprises conicity. 34. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein said parameter comprises a combination of revolutions per unit distance and conicity. 35. A process of making tire/wheel assemblies and selecting sets of same for use on individual vehicle, said process comprising the steps of: (a) measuring individual tires to determine for each one the values of at least (i) a tire vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in a given direction, and (ii) a steering pull-indicating parameter; (b) assigning said individual tires both a tire vibration rank designation and a pull rank designation based upon said values of said tire vibration-indicating parameter and said pull-indicating parameter respectively; (c) measuring individual wheels to determine for each one, the value of a wheel vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in said direction; (d) forming tire/wheel assemblies from ones of said measured tires and wheels whose respective tire vibration rank designations and wheel vibration rank designations each bear a corresponding relationship to one another; and (e) selecting at least one set of at least two of said tire/wheel assemblies whose tires have pull rank designations bearing a substantially consecutive relationship to each other. 36. An apparatus for pairing tires and wheels from which tire/wheel assemblies are to be formed and for identifying sets of such tire/wheel assemblies for use ion individual vehicles, said apparatus comprising: (a) tire measuring means for measuring individual tires to determine for each one the values of at least (i) a tire vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in a given direction, and (ii) a steering pull-indicating parameter; (b) wheel measuring means for measuring individual wheels to determine for each one, the value of a wheel vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in said direction; and (c) computer means for: (i) assigning said individual tires both a tire vibration rank designation and a pull rank designation based upon said values of said tire vibration-indicating parameter and said pull-indicating parameter respectively; (ii) identifying particular ones of said tires and wheels whose respective tire vibration rank designations and wheel vibration rank designations bear a corresponding relationship to one another as pairs from which tire/wheel assemblies are to be formed; and (iii) identifying as a set intended for use on the same vehicle, at least two tires whose respective pull rank designations bear a substantially consecutive relationship to one another. 37. A process for pairing tires and wheels to reduce vibration of tire/wheel assemblies made therefrom and for selecting sets of said assemblies for use on individual vehicles to reduce steering pull, said process comprising the steps of: (a) based on the magnitude of a parameter measured using at least one machine, assigning each wheel in a group of wheels a wheel vibration rank designation from a series of wheel rank designations, each said wheel vibration rank designation indicating the relative tendency of a given said wheel to cause vibration in a given direction when used in a tire/wheel assembly as compared to the other wheels in said group of wheels; (b) assigning a tire a tire vibration rank designation from a series of tire vibration rank designations, each said tire vibration rank designation in said series of tire vibration rank designations corresponding to a respective wheel vibration rank designations, said assigned tire vibration rank designation indicating the relative tendency of said tire to cause vibration in said given direction when used in a tire/wheel assembly as compared to a plurality of other tires from said population of tires; (c) pairing said tire with that particular wheel from among said group of wheels having a wheel vibration rank designation which corresponds to the tire vibration rank designation of said tire and forming a tire/wheel assembly from said particular tire and said particular wheel; (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) to form a group of tire/wheel assemblies; (e) assigning individual tire/wheel assemblies in said group of tire/wheel assemblies, ones of a consecutive series of pull rank designations according to the tendencies of the tires making up said individual tire/wheel assemblies in said group to contribute to steering pull as compared to one another; and (f) selecting from said group of tire/wheel assemblies at least one set of tire/wheel assemblies whose tires have pull rank designations which are at least substantially consecutive. 38. A process for pairing tires and wheels to reduce vibration in tire/wheel assemblies made therefrom and for selecting sets of said assemblies for use on individual vehicles to reduce steering pull, said process comprising the steps of: (a) assigning each tire in a group of tires, based on the magnitude of a parameter measured using at least one machine, a tire vibration rank designation from a series of tire vibration rank designations, each said tire vibration rank designation indicating the relative tendency of a given said tire to cause vibration in a given direction when used in a tire/wheel assembly as compared to the other tires in said group of tires; (b) assigning a wheel from a population of wheels a wheel vibration rank designation from a series of wheel vibration rank designations, each said wheel vibration rank designation in said series of wheel vibration rank designations corresponding to a respective one of said tire vibration rank designations in said series of tire vibration rank designations, said assigned wheel vibration rank designation indicating the relative tendency of said wheel to cause vibration in said given direction when used in a tire/wheel assembly as compared to a plurality of other wheels from said population of wheels; (c) pairing said wheel with that particular tire from said group of tires having a tire vibration rank designation which corresponds to the wheel vibration rank of said wheel and forming a tire/wheel assembly from said wheel and said particular tire; (d) repeating steps (a) through (c) to form a group of tire/wheel assemblies; (e) assigning individual tire/wheel assemblies in said group of tire/wheel assemblies, ones of a consecutive series of pull rank designations according to the tendencies of the tires making up said individual tire/wheel assemblies in said group to contribute to steering pull as compared to one another; and (f) selecting from said group of tire/wheel assemblies at least one set of tire/wheel assemblies whose tires pull rank designations which are at least substantially consecutive. 39. A set of tire/wheel assemblies made and selected according to the process of: (a) measuring individual tires to determine for each one the values of at least (i) a tire vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in a given direction, and (ii) a steering pull-indicating parameter; (b) assigning said individual tires both a tire vibration rank designation and a pull rank designation based upon said values of said tire vibration-indicating parameter and said pull-indicating parameter respectively; (c) measuring individual wheels to determine for each one, the value of a wheel vibration-indicating parameter correlated to the tendency thereof to cause vibration in said direction; (d) forming tire/wheel assemblies from ones of said measured tires and wheels whose respective tire vibration rank designations and wheel vibration rank designations each bear a corresponding relationship to one another; and (e) selecting for use on a given vehicle at least one set of at least two of said tire/wheel assemblies whose tires have pull rank designations bearing a substantially consecutive relationship to each other.