Apparatus for recapping tires
AssigneeBandag Incorporated
InventorsJohn C. McDonough, James K. Rary, Arden Birth, John J. Kuzma, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatus for recapping tires, particularly of the type used on off-the-road vehicles. Rubber strips are applied to the prepared tread surface of the tire to "smooth" the tire, after which the tire is disposed on a roller assembly to cut i.e., "groove" a tread design in the tire. The roller assembly is hydraulically displaced to dispose the tire in a pit and is rotated for indexing the tire to groove the circumference thereof. A grooving blade is heated to a controlled temperature and is hydraulically pulled across the tread surface to cut the tread grooves.
Claims11
Apparatus for applying grooves to a prepared and smoothed tire tread surface, comprising:
- a platform arranged near a pit;
- means for supporting the tire including means carried by the platform and longitudinally displaceable relative thereto, and initially disposed partially across the pit, and rotatable means carried by the longitudinally displaceable means and displaceable therewith;
- means coupled to the longitudinally displaceable means and operator-operated for displacing said means to span the pit;
- the rotatable means having a pair of rollers with portions of the tire beads in contact with the rollers for suspending the tires in the pit and the weight of the tire carried by the rollers for rendering the tire rotatable therewith;
- means coupled to the rotatable means and operator-operated for rotating said means to index the tire suspended in the pit to a predetermined position;
- a displaceable grooving head;
- means supported by the platform for carrying the displaceable grooving head;
- the displaceable grooving head including a grooving blade disposed at the predetermined position on tire tread surface;
- means for heating the grooving blade;
- and
- means coupled to the displaceable grooving head and operator-operated for displacing the head across the tire tread surface with the heated blade applying a groove therein.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.