Tire building apparatus for large tires

The method of making a tire of the class described comprising:

• building in cylindrical form about a horizontal axis a carcass including at least one tire carcass reinforcing ply and axially spaced apart tire beads enfolded in the respective ends of such ply;
• building apart from said carcass a circumferentially endless tire breaker-belt;
• rotating said carcass and its axis from horizontal to vertical orientation;
• suspending said carcass in vertical orientation and while so suspending the carcass moving a pair of curing core rigid ends upwardly coaxially of the carcass to position said ends respectively above and below the beads of said carcass, and then applying said breaker belt to said carcass.

Apparatus for making a tire of the class described comprising:

• core inserting means having a vertical central axis extending perpendicularly above and below an operating floor including:
• a rigid elevator mounted for straight line movement vertically up and down along said axis;
• a pair of hydraulic elevating cylinders for moving said elevator;
• a platen;
• a pair of shaping cylinders fixed on said elevator, each cylinder having a ram therein extendable and retractable parallel to said axis, said rams being fixed to said platen;
• a shaping and curing core having an upper and a lower core end and a vertical central shaft, said upper core end being removably affixed to said shaft for movement therewith along said axis, said lower core end being removably affixed to said platen;
• at least one pinion mounted rotatably about a pinion axis fixed on said elevator, said pinion axis lying in a plane normal to said vertical axis;
• at least one rack mounted on and extending parallel to said shaft in meshing engagement with said pinion;
• and at least one other rack fixed on and extending downwardly of said platen parallel to said vertical axis and in meshing engagement with said pinion, whereby said upper and said lower core end are respectively movable equally and oppositely toward and away from each other coaxially of said vertical axis in response to extension and retraction of the rams in said shaping cylinders.

Tire building apparatus for rotating an uncured tire carcass about an axis, comprising:

• a tire rotating stand having a headstock and a driving tailstock spindle having a drivable center cone mounted in the headstock and a tailstock spindle having a freely rotatable center cone mounted in the tailstock the center cones being coaxial with each other on a horizontal axis at a first elevation;
• an arbor having internal cones in each of its ends respectively conjugate with the drivable center cone and the freely rotatable cone;
• a wheeled truck having a pair of half-bearing saddles for rotatably supporting said arbor about a horizontal rotatable axis at a second elevation spaced less than one inch below the first elevation;
• a tire shaping and curing core corotatably mounted on said arbor;
• an air cylinder coaxially and corotatably mounted on said driving spindle;
• a piston rod disposed in said cylinder and connected to said drivable center cone for moving same axially of the driving spindle;
• motor means drivably connected to the driving spindle to rotate the same, a screw coaxial in the tailstock spindle and drivingly connected to said freely rotatable center zone to move same coaxially of the tailstock spindle;
• the cylinder and piston being operable to urge said center cones to enter into the internal cones of the arbor to raise the axis of the same from the second to the first elevation;
• and a motor connected to the screw operable to move the arbor toward and away from the headstock while the arbor is supported only by the center cones.

The method of making a tire of the class described comprising:

• building in cylindrical form about a horizontal axis a carcass including at least one tire carcass reinforcing ply and axially spaced apart tire beads enfolded in the respective ends of such ply;
• building, apart from said carcass, a circumferentially endless tire breaker-belt;
• upending said carcass and its axis from horizontal to vertical position;
• disposing said breaker-belt about said carcass in said vertical position about a common vertical axis and in radially spaced, non-contacting relation with the carcass while positioning the mid-circumferential line of said carcass and the midcircumferential plane of said breaker-belt in coplanar relation independently of means supporting the carcass;
• and while supporting said carcass in said vertical position by lifting means and before disposing said breaker-belt about said carcass, engaging with each other the interior surface of said carcass and elastically expandable means and then disengaging said lifting means to support said carcass only by said elastically expandable means engaging the interior surface thereof in a circumferential zone axially inward of the beads and extending axially across the circumferential plane of the carcass;
• moving said beads vertically equally and oppositely toward each other while expanding said carcass circumferentially into adherent contact with said breaker-belt;
• continuing to move said beads toward each other to a dimension measured parallel to said axis equal to the axial dimension between said beads at which said tire is to be cured;
• and holding said beads positively fixed at said dimension and thereafter applying about said breaker-belt and carcass a circumferentially endless tread and curing the tire.

The method of making a tire of the class described comprising:

• building in cylindrical form about a horizontal axis a carcass including at least one tire carcass reinforcing ply and axially spaced apart tire beads enfolded in the respective ends of such ply;
• building, apart from said carcass, a circumferentially endless tire breaker-belt;
• upending said carcass and its axis from horizontal to vertical position;
• disposing said breaker-belt about said carcass in said vertical position about a common vertical axis and in radially spaced, non-contacting relation with the carcass while positioning the mid-circumferential line of said carcass and the midcircumferential plane of said breaker-belt in coplanar relation independently of means supporting the carcass;
• moving said beads vertically equally and oppositely toward each other, deploying a tire shaping and curing core in said carcass while expanding said carcass circumferentially into adherent contact with said breaker belt before and while engaging upper and lower bead mold rings against the axially exterior surface of the respectively associated beads;
• moving said beads vertically equally and oppositely toward each other while expanding said carcass circumferentially into adherent contact with said breaker-belt;
• continuing to move said beads toward each other to a dimension measured parallel to said axis equal to the axial dimension between said beads at which said tire is to be cured;
• and holding said beads positively fixed at said dimension and thereafter applying about said breaker-belt and carcass a circumferentially endless tread and curing the tire.