Tire building drum
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsDonald C. Kubinski, Robert S. Riggs
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tire building drum having simple economical means for expanding both drum shoulders and bead-locating fingers as well as for convenient and simple adjustment of the length of the drum between shoulders. Air for inflating pairs of ply-turnup bladders is supplied externally by way of an air ring on the drum shaft from an externally mounted air manifold.
Claims23
A tire building drum including a shaft and a pair of drum end assemblies each having a plurality of segments disposed about the shaft which cooperate to form shoulders of the drum, and a plurality of bead positioning fingers disposed about the shaft adjacent to and axially outward of the shoulders which cooperate to position the tire bead, a righthand-lefthand screw disposed coaxially of the shaft, a nut disposed within the shaft adjacent to each end assembly, each nut being cooperable with a respective threaded portion of said screw to move axially of the shaft in response to rotation of the screw and characterized by means for actuating the segments and the fingers of the drum comprising a plurality of slides rigidly connected to each nut and disposed slidably in the respective end assemblies for movement parallel to the shaft, a first rigid link associated with each said slide and pivotally connected at its respective ends to one of said segments and to the associated slide, and a second rigid link associated with each said slide and pivotally connected at its respective ends to one of said fingers and to the associated slide.
A tire building drum including a center shaft and a pair of drum end assemblies each having a plurality of segments disposed about the center shaft which cooperate to form shoulders of the drum and a plurality of bead positioning fingers disposed about the center shaft adjacent to and axially outwardly of the shoulders which cooperate to position a tire bead, means mounted slidably on said center shaft and cooperable with respective said assemblies to actuate said segments, and characterized by means for adjustably fixing the axial length of said drum between said shoulders, said means for fixing comprising a shaft collar adjustably fixed on said shaft adjacent each said end assembly, and a plurality of tie-rods fixed to the respective end assembly and connected to said shaft collar and bridging said means for actuating said segments disposed therebetween.
A tire building drum including a center shaft and a pair of drum end assemblies each having a plurality of segments disposed about the center shaft which cooperate to form shoulders of the drum and a plurality of bead positioning fingers disposed about the center shaft adjacent to and axially outward of the shoulders and which cooperate to position a tire bead, ply turnup means including an inflatable outer turnup bladder and an inflatable inner turnup bladder disposed coaxially of the drum and outwardly from the respective shoulder thereof and characterized by air connection means for communicating controlled pressure air to and from the inner and the outer bladder disposed externally of said center shaft and comprising an air connection ring mounted corotatably on the shaft axially outwardly of the associated end assembly and having a first sealing engagement surface and having a plurality of air flow passages therein each opening in said surface, an air supply manifold having a second sealing engagement surface and having a plurality of air flow passages each opening in said second surface, said manifold being mounted for movement between a first position wherein the first and the second sealing engagement surface are in air pressure transfer engagement and a second position wherein said manifold is disposed apart from said ring, and a plurality of flexible tubes disposed radially outwardly of said shaft connecting respective passages with said inner and said outer bladder.
A tire building drum including a shaft and a pair of drum end assemblies mounted slidably on the shaft each having a plurality of segments disposed about the shaft which cooperate to form shoulders of the drum and a plurality of bead positioning fingers diposed about the shaft adjacent to and axially outward of the shoulders which cooperate to position a tire bead, a righthand-lefthand screw disposed coaxially in the shaft, a nut disposed within the shaft and axially adjacent to each end assembly, each nut being cooperable with a respective threaded portion of said screw shaft to move axially of the shaft to move said segments and said fingers radially in response to rotation of the screw, and motion control means constructed and arranged to interconnect said end assemblies respectively to said shaft to limit relative axial movement of said assemblies in a predetermined range.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.