Bead supply apparatus

A bead manipulator adapted for use with a tire building former having a cylindrical construction including a central axis and a diameter selectively expandable or contractible and a bead stocker being arranged apart from the tire building former and including a stock pipe for stocking a plurality of beads concentrically and collectively inserted therein and a bead moving mechanism for moving beads stocked along the stock pipe, said stock pipe being positioned wherein a central axis thereof is perpendicular to a plane which includes said central axis of the tire building former comprising:

• a bead setter for positioning each of a pair of beads to a predetermined position on the cylindrical structure of the tire building former;
• a rotatable shaft including a central axis perpendicular to the plane which includes both central axes of the tire building former and of the stock pipe;
• a pair of bead retaining means being supported from said rotatable shaft and being symmetrically disposed with respect to a plane passing through the central axis of the rotatable shaft, said bead retaining means being adapted to hold a pair of beads supplied one by one from the bead stocker and said pair of beads being parallel to each other and at a predetermined distance;
• a posture controlling means for controlling the posture of the bead retaining means through rotating the rotatable shaft around the central axis thereof;
• a lift mechanism for moving the retaining means up and down including a supporter for the rotatable shaft and a drive means for lifting the supporter relative to the bead stocker or the tire building former;
• and
• a transfer means for transferring the bead setter between the bead stocker and the tire building former along a rail being parallel to the extension of the central axis of the tire building former.