Tire spreading and inspecting machine

A tire inspection machine comprising;

• a housing for supporting a tire in a vertical position, said housing including a pair of parallel and spaced apart drive rollers disposed at the top thereof for supporting said tire and rotating same about its axis, motor means for revolving said drive rollers and control means for said motor means adapted to vary the revolution speed of said drive rollers;
• a tire lift means for elevating a tire to its inspection position resting on said drive rollers;
• a pair of sidewall support rollers rotatably mounted to the top of said housing intermediate said drive rollers on either side of said inspection position, said sidewall support rollers being adapted for contacting the sidewalls of a tire when the same is being inspected on said machine;
• a pair of tire bead spreading arms mounted to said housing said arms being adapted for engaging the beads of a tire supported on said drive rollers and spreading the beads thereof apart for inspection, said arms including an offset;
• rollers coupled to the inward end of said arms for permitting said tire to be rotated while the tire beads are spread apart;
• and
• means coupled to the outward end of said arms for pulling said arms apart and down, whereby the tire beads are spread apart and pulled downwardly.

A tire inspection machine comprising:

• a housing for supporting a tire in a vertical position, said housing including a pair of parallel and spaced apart drive rollers disposed at the top thereof for supporting said tire and rotating same about its axis, motor means for revolving said drive rollers and means for selectively stopping said revolution;
• tire lifting means for elevating a tire to its inspection position resting on said drive rollers, said tire lifting means including a rectangular frame comprising end and side frame elements, parallel elongate plates pivotally mounted to a side of said housing and to an end of said frame and power means coupled to said plates for rotating same about the ends thereof coupled to said support assembly to elevate said frame toward the top of said support assembly;
• a pair of tire bead spreading arms mounted to said housing for spreading apart the beads of a tire and pulling downwardly on same and rollers on said spreading arms to permit said tire to be rotated while said beads are spread apart and pulled downward;
• and
• coupling means provided between said plates and said side members of said frame, said coupling means including another plate means rigidly affixed to the end of each plate remote from said support assembly, a pin being provided adjacent the free end of each of said another plates and slotted plate means being pivotally coupled to each of the side elements of said frame, the slot of each of said slotted plate means being slidably disposed about one of the pins of said another plate means.