Abstract: An apparatus is provided for removing material from the sidewall of a tire. The apparatus may be used for removing the thin layer of black rubber that normally covers the white letters or white stripe of the sidewall of a newly cured tire, and for buffing the surfaces of such white letters or stripes to give them a smooth finish. The apparatus may also be used for buffing black portions of a tire sidewall to give those portions a smooth finish. The apparatus includes a cutting device and a sensor mounted on a moveable carriage. The sensor measures the distance between the cutting device and a portion of the tire sidewall adjacent to the portion to be buffed. As the tire rotates while it is being buffed, the carriage moves in response to the sensor's measurement toward or away from the tire sidewall, so that the cutting device removes material at a constant height relative to the adjacent portion of the sidewall.

Abstract: A tire building apparatus is provided having an improved mechanism for turning up the plies of the tire carcass and wrapping them around each tire bead ring. The mechanism is designed so that it can also be used to apply the sidewall pads to the expanded carcass of a radial tire. The improved mechanism includes a bladder that has a molded conical portion in its outer fold adjacent the building drum. This conical portion extends very close to the bead ring positioned adjacent the carcass at the sides of the drum shoulders. The improved mechanism also includes a control ring insert placed inside said bladder and radially inwardly from the conical portion of the outer bladder fold. When the bladder is inflated to wrap the carcass plies around the bead ring, the control ring insert and the molded conical portion of the outer bladder fold combine to provide an improved, tighter wrapping of the carcass plies around the bead ring.