TIRE BEAD AREA ROTATION APPARATUS
Disclosed is a machine for rotation of the bead area of a green tire so that the bead areas are parallel and concentric in order to remove potential anomalies that can occur to a green tire bead portion during pre-cure handling, storing or during shaping in the tire press. The tire apparatus orients the beads of the green tire parallel and square to one another and also rotates the bead area of the tire into the proper configuration prior to cure. The bead portions of the tire maintain the parallel position as the tire is loaded into a tire mold. Also disclosed is a tire loader that has a bead support ring and paddles to grip the outer crown portion of the tire.
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The present invention is directed to tires and tire machinery. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a machine that reduces nonuniformities of a green tire.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONTire uniformity is important to overall performance. Non-uniformities may occur during the tire building process, green tire storage, or during loading and shaping of the green tire into the tire press prior to curing. One aspect of tire non-uniformity is when the opposed tire beads are not concentric and parallel to each other. As shown in
It is thus desired to provide an improved apparatus for preforming the green tire prior to entry into the mold to ensure that the tire beads are concentric and parallel to each other. It is further desired to provide an improved apparatus that ensures the top and bottom bead areas are rotated into the proper cured position prior to placement into the tire mold and when loaded into the mold.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention provides in a first aspect a green tire preformer apparatus for rotating the bead areas of the tire into alignment with respect to each other, the green tire preformer apparatus includes a first support having a first bead ring to support a first tire bead area of a green tire, the green tire having opposing first and second tire bead areas, and a second support having a second bead ring positionable for engagement with the second tire bead area; and first and second rotatable bead clamps, wherein the first and second rotatable bead clamps are positioned to clamp the first and second bead areas into engagement with the first and second bead rings, respectively. The invention provides in a second aspect, a tire loader that has had a bead support ring and paddles to grip the outer crown portion of the tire.
The invention will be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
The green tire pre-former apparatus 200 further comprises a lower bead support ring 230. The lower bead support ring 230 is shown in
The lower bead support ring 230 as shown in
After the green tire has been lowered on the green tire pre-former apparatus 200 as shown in
As shown in
A plurality of upper and lower bead clamps 300, 400 are arranged in an annular fashion and are positionable to engage the tire bead area components 302,402. The bead clamps 300,400 include curved or L shaped fingers that are adjustable in length, and function to grip the tire bead area components 302, 402 into engagement with the support rings 102, 230. The bead clamps 300,400 are pneumatically actuated in multiple partial steps, performed sequentially that ultimately result in the complete uniform rotation of the tire bead area components 302, 402 into engagement with the flat areas 236 of the bead support rings 102,230. The bead clamps are pivotally mounted to support flanges 304 and 404. The lower bead clamps 400 are positioned in an annular arrangement adjacent to the lower bead ring 230. The lower bead clamps rotate about pin 408 of flange 404. Flanges 404 are mounted to the support plate 210 of the tire pre-former. The lower bead clamps include a bead clamp pivot 410 having an outer end rigidly connected to the bead finger 403 and an inner end pinned to the support flange 404, so that rotation of the bead clamp pivot 410 rotates the bead finger 403 about pin 408. Bead clamp pivot 410 has a distal end connected to arm 430. Arm 430 is pin connected to lower spider ring 208, which slides on center support outer column 220. Thus rotation of the lower bead area into the desired shape occurs during actuation of the arms 430 via sliding spider ring 208 pushed by pneumatic actuator 415.
The green tire loader 100 has been designed to engage the tire without negatively affecting lower bead area rotation or bead concentricity and parallelism. The tire loader 100 has several features built in to enhance uniformity. First when grasping the green tire for transport to the press, the loader 100 tire chucks grip only the crown of the outside of the tread area. Prior art loaders grasp the inside of the top bead that would cause a negative rotation of the material around the top bead. Typical prior art loader fingers do not address concentricity of either the top or bottom bead, so as a result parallelism of the two beads is also at risk. The loader 100 maintains the centering of the bottom bead by using multiple independently lockable cylinders to grasp the tread crown without distorting the upper and lower bead center to tread relationship. Finally the loader 100 contains the top bead ring support that maintains rotation, concentricity, and parallelism, during curing bladder shaping, and the transfer of the green tire to the curing press.
While certain representative embodiments and details have been shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that the various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.
Claims
1. A green tire preformer apparatus for rotating a first and second bead area into a cured position so that the first and second bead areas are in alignment with respect to each other, the green tire preformer apparatus comprising: a first support having a first bead support ring to support the first tire bead area of a green tire, and a second support having a second bead support ring positionable for engagement with the second tire bead area; and first and second rotatable bead clamps, wherein the first and second rotatable bead clamps are positioned to clamp the first and second bead areas into engagement with the first and second bead support rings, respectively, wherein the first support is rotatable.
2. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second supports are parallel to each other and spaced from one another by a defined distance.
3. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first support is translatable.
4. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second support is translatable.
5. (canceled)
6. A green tire preformer apparatus for rotating a first and second bead of a green tire into a cured position and into alignment with respect to each other, the green tire having a first and second bead area, the green tire preformer apparatus comprising: a first support having a first bead support ring to support the first tire bead area of a green tire, and a second support having a second bead support ring positionable for engagement with the second tire bead area; and first and second rotatable bead clamps, wherein the first and second rotatable bead clamps are positioned to clamp the first and second bead areas into engagement with the first and second bead support rings, respectively, wherein the second support is rotatable.
7. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the second support is mounted on a tire loader.
8. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second rotatable bead clamps comprises at least eight equally spaced rotatable bead clamps.
9. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rotatable bead clamps are L shaped.
10. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rotatable bead clamps have one or more fingers.
11. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 10 wherein the fingers of the rotatable bead clamps are articulable.
12. (canceled)
13. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a centering mechanism.
14. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a tire loader positionable over the green tire preformer, said tire loader having a plurality of paddles positioned for grasping the outer portion of the green tire.
15. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the tire bead support rings have a flat vertical component forming a lip.
16. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first tire bead support ring has an annular lip, wherein said annular lip has no taper.
17. The green tire preformer apparatus of claim 15 wherein the lip has no taper.
18. (canceled)
19. (canceled)
20. (canceled)
21. (canceled)
22. (canceled)
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 26, 2013
Publication Date: Aug 14, 2014
Applicant: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Akron, OH)
Inventors: Andres Ignacio Delgado (Medina, OH), Eugene Andrew Bator (Diamond, OH)
Application Number: 13/776,903
International Classification: B29D 30/06 (20060101);