Bead Clamp Ring

A bead clamp ring for covering a bead clamp of a tire building drum during a tire building process, comprising:

• an annular body formed of a flexible material, the annular body including a central body portion, a proximal end body portion and a distal end body portion, the annular body including a central axis defining a longitudinal direction extending parallel to the central axis and a radial direction extending perpendicular from the central axis;
• wherein the proximal end body portion includes a securing lug defined integrally on the proximal end body portion, the securing lug being configured to secure the bead clamp ring to the tire building drum;
• wherein the distal end body portion includes a bead lug defined integrally on the distal end body portion, the bead lug being configured to engage the bead clamp, the bead lug extending radially inward relative to the central body portion and having a bead lug length defined in the longitudinal direction between a bead lug proximal end and a bead lug distal end;
• wherein the bead lug includes an annular longitudinally extending recess defined in the bead lug, the recess extending distally from an open recess end formed in the bead lug proximal end to a closed recess end, the recess including a proximal recess portion communicated with the open recess end and an enlarged distal recess portion defining the closed recess end, the proximal recess portion having a proximal recess portion radial depth defined between a proximal recess portion radially outer recess wall and a proximal recess portion radially inner recess wall, and the enlarged distal recess portion extending radially inward below the proximal recess portion radially inner recess wall and having a greater radial depth than the proximal recess portion radial depth, the enlarged distal recess portion being located entirely distally of a mid-point of the bead lug length.