Apparatus and method for automatic tire ply sitiching

An automatic splicing apparatus for splicing together two ends of a sheet of tire material on a tire building drum, the apparatus comprising:

• a splicer foot including:
• a splicer foot frame having an opening defined therein, the opening having opposing sides, the splicer foot frame including a toe defining a forward end of the splicer foot frame, a heel and two side rails extending from the toe to the heel, the side rails of the splicer foot frame having an opposed pair of non-circular recesses defined therein;
• a first continuous unitary V-shape axle having two arms having non-circular ends closely received in the opposed pair of the non-circular recesses of the side rails so that the continuous unitary V-shape axle is fixedly held between the side rails, the continuous unitary V-shape axle being pointed in a forward direction;
• and
• two non-powered lower rollers mounted on the two arms of the first continuous unitary V-shape axle so that the two non-powered lower rollers are arranged in a V-shape pattern;
• and
• a plurality of powered upper rollers configured to operate in coordination with the lower rollers to engage the ends of the sheet of tire material.