Cutting Pre-Assembled Rubber Products

An assembly process for rubber products which is intended for the production of tires, comprising the cutting and butt-jointing of the longitudinal ends (10, 20) of sections of strip of pre-assembled products, which are formed of at least one reinforcement ply (12, 22) which is formed of reinforcement cords coated with a rubber mix, which are parallel to each other and form a given angle with the longitudinal direction of the strip, and on which there have been laid beforehand, in the longitudinal direction of said strip, strips of rubber profiled elements (11a, 11b, 21a, 21b), wherein the cutting of said strip of pre-assembled products with the aim of producing a section comprises the following steps:

• positioning a cutting assembly, formed of two half-cutting blades (40a, 40b) each composed of a half-point of generally triangular form (43a, 43b) located in a plane forming substantially a right-angle with a reference plane P, a half-sole (42a, 42b), of given length (r) and located in a plane substantially parallel to the reference plane P, and a half-cutting edge (41a, 41b) located in a plane forming a given acute angle (α) with the reference plane P, level with said strip and substantially equidistant from its two lateral edges, such that the plane formed by the half-points is parallel to the direction of the reinforcement cords, and that the plane formed by the half-soles is substantially parallel to the plane of the reinforcement ply,
• simultaneously pushing the two half-points (43a, 43b) into the reinforcement ply until the soles (42a, 42b) of each of the half-blades are flush with the upper part of the reinforcement ply,
• displacing transversely and in opposite directions (D) each of the half-blades so that the half-points (43a, 43b) section the reinforcement ply (22) along a reinforcement cord, that the half-soles (42a, 42b) sever the interface between the reinforcement ply and the rubber profiled elements over a given length (r), and that the half-cutting edges (41a, 41b) section the rubber profiled elements (21a, 21b), forming a given angle α with the plane of the reinforcement ply.