Method, process and apparatus for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels

A process for building tyres for vehicle wheels, the process comprising:

• forming all components belonging to a carcass sleeve of a first tyre on a first forming drum and all components belonging to a carcass sleeve of a second tyre on a subsequent second forming drum, wherein said tyre components belonging to a carcass sleeve of said first and second tyres are formed by:
• loading the first forming drum at a loading and unloading location of a carcass-building line, on a single shuttle movable along a straight guide;
• moving the shuttle on the straight guide to bring said shuttle to a plurality of dispensing stations of semifinished products, wherein each dispensing station is disposed in a respective deposition location, and each respective deposition location is included in a plurality of deposition locations positioned in a space succession along the straight guide, wherein at each of said dispensing stations of semifinished products, a semifinished product is laid on a radially external surface of the first forming drum carried by the shuttle for forming one of the components belonging to the carcass sleeve of the first tyre;
• and
• bringing the first forming drum provided with the components formed by the dispensing stations back to said loading and unloading location and unloading said first forming drum from said shuttle before loading the subsequent second forming drum,
• shifting the unloaded first forming drum provided with the components formed by the dispensing stations to an apparatus at which annular anchoring structures of the first tyre are placed and turned up portions of the carcass sleeve of the first tyre are formed, then carrying the first forming drum to an apparatus at which the turned-up portions are rolled, and then to an assembling station at which an outer sleeve is coupled to the carcass sleeve of the first tyre
• wherein the first forming drum is moved in a first sequence among a first set selected from the plurality of deposition locations, the first sequence being different from the space succession of said deposition locations along the straight guide and wherein the first forming drum is brought at least two times to one and the same deposition location of the first set;
• wherein the subsequent second forming drum is moved in a second sequence among a second set selected from the plurality of deposition locations and wherein the subsequent second forming drum is brought at least two times to one and the same deposition location of the second set, the number of deposition locations of the first set being different than the number of deposition locations of the second set,
• wherein the space succession of the plurality of deposition locations remains unchanged,
• wherein only a single forming drum is located on and moved along the straight guide at a time between the times of loading and unloading that single forming drum on and from said shuttle, and the shuttle holds the single forming drum during the laying of the semifinished products;
• and
• wherein a running direction of said shuttle is reversed at least twice after the loading of the single forming drum onto said shuttle and before said shuttle is further reversed to return to the loading and unloading location during movement of said shuttle along the straight guide while forming components of each carcass sleeve of the first and second tyres.