Abstract: A ply server for applying a preselected length of ply material drawn from a supply roll thereof onto a tire carcass building drum. The desired length of ply material is measured by a programmable mechanism, then severed at the length desired. The incoming ply material is center guided onto the ply conveyor, or (optionally) a transverse scanner device is used to determine the location of the longitudinal centerline of the length of ply material. The carcass building drum is precisely located with respect to the longitudinal centerline of the ply material. At the opposite end of the server, there is a receptor arrangement into which a cart bearing the supply roll can be brought to the server and the ply material fed into the server, with the separator for the rolled uncured ply material being rewound as part of the material pay-out process.

Abstract: A tire carcass building drum is provided adjacent its ends with a shoe movable axially thereto which comprises a main shoe and a secondary shoe rotatably mounted by bearings on the main shoe. The secondary shoe is provided with turn-up bladders thereon, which bladders function to turn over extended ply ends around bead assemblies placed on other components of a tire carcass being assembly on the drum. The secondary shoe further includes a toe surface engageable with the ends of the drum to thereby render the bladder members rotatable with the drum surface. These bladders also provide a support for ply ends against which the consolidating and stitching rollers can act to smooth and press together the ply materials.

Abstract: The present invention provides a clamp assembly for use in combination with a vulcanization press for curing tires wherein the press includes a frame for supporting upper and lower platens carrying upper and lower cooperating mold halves. The platens are movable toward and away from each other such that the mold halves may be moved toward a closed mating position and an open tire receiving position. The clamp assemblies of the present invention hold the mold halves onto their respective platens and include an elongated clamp body which is mounted to the press frame adjacent to a platen and a sliding wedge member which is guided for movement toward and away from the platen along the clamp body. The mold halves are each provided with a wedge-shaped clamp ring and pneumatic cylinders are provided for moving the sliding wedge member forward to engage the clamp rings and thereby hold the mold halves in place on the platens.

Abstract: A transfer robot comprises a carriage mounted headstock assembly, a main support disk mounted to the rotatable spindle of a headstock, an extention slide mounted to the support disk for motion transverse to the spindle, and a carrying fixture mounted to the outer end of the slide and having adjustable sets of spaced apart gripping arms for gripping and carrying a cylindrical tire carcass. A counterweight on the disk offsets the outboard weight of the extended slide and carrying fixture, and a carcass carried thereon, on the headstock spindle and its bearings. The robot is powered by programmable devices which sequence its operation to grasp and carry a carcass by its bead areas from a carcass supply station, in an arc, into alignment with the axis of a tire building drum, then the carcass is moved axially of that drum and located around it, after which the gripping arms release and retract, and the fixture is moved to a parked position.

Abstract: A method is provided for monitoring proper application of a length of tread stock to the periphery of a green tire carcass. The tread stock has an outer face with a centering mark defined along the length of the outer face. The stock is affixed to the green tire carcass in a supposed centered position to form an assembled green tire, and the assembled green tire is supported for rotation. A wheel having a pair of annular ridges or grooves on its peripheral surface is positioned in contact with the green tire, and the green tire and wheel are mutually counterrotated. The ridges or grooves are positioned on the wheel spaced equidistantly from the centerline of the green tire, so that counterrotation of the green tire and wheel cause the ridges or grooves to impress alignment marks into the tread stock on each side of the central groove.

Abstract: A tire building method and apparatus applies a length of tred stock to a belt package or to a green tire carcass. The belt package or green tire carcass is mounted to a cylindrical building drum. The tread stock is then loaded outer face down onto an elongated, inclined servicer extending toward the drum. The stock is conveyed downwardly along the servicer to a delivery point located beneath the drum. The servicer is pivotally raised to bring the stock into contact with the materials on the drum, the stock at such point being directed to the drum to contact a lower portion of the drum along a line tangent to the periphery of the drum. During conveying of the stock along the servicer, the stock is retained in a centered position by engaging a groove or ridge formed along the outer side of the stock. Upon arrival of the stock beneath the drum, the drum is rotated, whereby the stock is adhered to the materials thereon and lifted away from the servicer onto the drum.

Abstract: A tire building machine including a building drum for receiving a belt-tread assembly and a pair of coaxial shafts having disc members freely rotatable thereon for receiving and supporting a tire carcass. The disc members and shafts are pivotally movable as a unit and the disc members are also movable with respect to one another for engaging annular beads formed on said carcass to effect a seal therewith and permit the introduction of air to inflate said carcass to assume a toroidal shape. A radially expansible and contractable transfer ring, that is axially movable, engages the belt-tread assembly and transfers same from the drum to the carcass prior to the pivoting of the carcass, belts and tread stock into engagement with a rotatably driven stitcher apparatus.

Abstract: A tire building machine including a building drum for receiving a belt-tread assembly and a pair of coaxial shafts having disc members freely rotatable thereon for receiving and supporting a tire carcass. The disc members and shafts are pivotally movable as a unit and the disc members are also movable with respect to one another for engaging annular beads formed on said carcass to effect a seal therewith and permit the introduction of air to inflate said carcass to assume a toroidal shape. A radially expansible and contractable transfer ring, that is axially movable, engages the belt-tread assembly and transfers same from the drum to the carcass prior to the pivoting of the carcass, belts and tread stock into engagement with a rotatably driven stitcher apparatus.

Abstract: A tire building machine including a building drum for receiving a belt-tread assembly and a pair of coaxial shafts having disc members freely rotatable thereon for receiving and supporting a tire carcass. The disc members and shafts are pivotally movable as a unit and the disc members are also movable with respect to one another for engaging annular beads formed on said carcass to effect a seal therewith and permit the introduction of air to inflate said carcass to assume a toroidal shape. A radially expansible and contractable transfer ring, that is axially movable, engages the belt-tread assembly and transfers same from the drum to the carcass prior to the pivoting of the carcass, belts and tread stock into engagement with a rotatably driven stitcher apparatus.

Abstract: A tire building machine servicer including carcass component supply rolls and a plurality of vertically aligned extensible servicer trays arranged to be pivotable into and out of servicing position with respect to the tire carcass being assembled on a tire building drum. Anyone of said servicer trays may be extended telescopically and then rotated about its pivot axis to permit the delivery extremity of said tray to interface tangentially with the surface of the tire carcass being built. In this manner, the web or strip of tire component is precisely oriented and confined, by guide means on said trays, to a point immediately adjacent to the tangential point of contact where said web or strip contacts the carcass being built.

Abstract: An apparatus for stitching the components of a pneumatic tire consisting of a left and right hand assembly both of which are capable of arcuate displacement toward and away from each other. Each assembly includes an arm having a rolling device or stitcher wheel thereon for engaging the material that is being consolidated in building the tire body. The arm of one of the assemblies has mounted thereon, as a slave member, a third arm which carries a different type of stitcher wheel for engaging and stitching the center area of the superimposed belts or plys of the pneumatic tire prior to the engagement of the body by the other stitcher wheels.

Abstract: A supporting and handling device located adjacent a tire processing machine for positioning and/or removing a tire, either in its cured or uncured state, to or from the holding device of said machine. The device is provided with an adjustable contoured surface that may be raised and lowered for handling said tire while same is being positioned upon or removed from the building drum or mandrel and while being moved to a position for further handling.

Abstract: The present apparatus is directed to the assembling in concentric relation of a ferrule and a sleeve member wherein one of said elements is resilient. Where the sleeve is resilient and the ferrule is a rigid metallic member the sleeve may be compressed while being forced into said ferrule. A pair of endless members arranged in spaced parallel relation to one another engage said sleeve with the ferrule positioned between said members, and said endless members move over a camming surface for forcing the sleeve onto the ferrule.

Abstract: An apparatus for consolidating the components of pneumatic tires consisting of a left and right hand assembly, each having a base plate arranged to move toward and away from one another. Each assembly includes a platform that is pivotally mounted on a base plate with actuating means carried by said platforms. The actuating means has associated therewith a stitcher wheel that is capable of moving into and out of engagement with the tire body being built and also capable of moving in an arcuate path over said tire body.

Abstract: An apparatus for centering material fed therethrough consisting of a pair of outer frame members provided with a pair of inner members wherein all of the members are arranged in spaced parallel relation to one another. The inner members are pivotally connected to and carried by the outer frame members in spaced parallel relation therewith. The inner members are spring biased toward one another to compensate for varying size in material being fed therethrough and are also provided with horizontally and vertically disposed feed and guide rollers. The inner members are linked together by means of a common slide guide carried by the fixed outer frame members.