A tire traction device for vehicle tires includes a pair of rope-like side cord members for circumferential placement on the sidewalls of a tire, and a series of wire rope cross cords which interconnect the side cords and extend across the tire tread. The cross cords are connected to the side cords at knotted connections, and a ferrule is attached to the ends of each cross cord outside of each knotted connection to prevent the cross cords from disconnecting from the side cords. Coil spring rollers are supported on the cross cords to provide additional traction. Each cross cord also supports a pair of tubular spacers located inside and adjacent the knotted connections to maintain the rollers in the center of the cross cord. One end of each side cord is knotted into a series of male connector knots while the opposite end of each side cord is knotted into a female loop knot for selective interengagement with one of the male connector knots to join the opposite ends together about a tire. The male connector knots extend between at least one pair of cross cords at the one end of the side cords to enable adjustment of the device to length simply by cutting the side cords to length from the one end and removing the necessary number of cross cords adjacent the one end.

A flexible system for winter traction products that allows for component repairability, interchangeability, customization and resizing, all without requiring tools. The key to this system is the provision of connectors which provide interconnection of multiple components whereby at least three points of connection on three components can be interconnected by the connectors. The interconnection of the points of connection by the connectors enable components to be interchanged within the assembly for establishing a desired style and fit of the tire chain to a variety of tire sizes and tire chain types.

A novel and improved traction device comprises a cable-type chain adapted to be mounted on radial tires for emergency use wherein a pair of lateral cables are adapted to extend cicumferentially along opposite sidewalls of the tire. A plurality of cross-members are arranged at spaced intervals transversely of and between lateral cables to which opposite ends of each of the cross members are connected. Each of the cross members is in the form of an elongated flexible member composed of a wire or wire-like material with an outer plastic coating in surrounding relation to the elongated flexible member. At least one sleeve member is slidably disposed in outer surrounding relation to each of the cross members, the sleeve members being composed of a high impact-resistant material in the form of a plurality of extruded tubular sections of limited length disposed in end-to-end relation to one another for extension along the length of each cross member.