Tire building apparatus

A tire building apparatus comprising in combination:

• a tire building drum, including:
• a cylindrical tire building drum body form so as to be radially expansible and contractable and so as to be rotatable around a rotary axis thereof and having two axial ends, and
• a pair of bead applying mechanisms disposed in close proximity of both axial ends of said tire building drum body to be rotatable together with said tire building drum body, and said mechanims being formed so as to be radially expansible and contractable;
• and a transfer ring, including:
• an annular frame movable toward and away from a position where said annular frame surrounds said tire building drum,
• a tire component carrying mechanism having a plurality of tire component carrying members radially movably mounted on said annular frame and being capable of carrying a tire component in concentrical relation with said rotary axis of said tire building drum body to mount said tire component on and around said tire building drum, and
• a pair of bead carrying mechanisms mounted on said annular frame to be disposed at both axial ends of said tire component carrying mechanism in spaced relation with each other, each of said bead carrying mechanims having a plurality of bead carrying members which is made radially movable to carry beads in concentrical relation with said tire building drum body, said bead carrying mechanism being movable toward and away from a position in which said carrying mechanisms respectively surround said bead applying mechanisms and being capable of setting beads on said tire component in cooperation with said bead applying mechanism while said annular frame surrounds said tire building drum.