Tire building apparatus

A tire building apparatus comprising,

• an axially elongated drive shaft extending in a longitudinal direction of said apparatus and rotatable about its center axis;
• a tire building drum comprising an axially elongated retainer sleeve interchangeably received on said drive shaft and rotatable with said drive shaft about the center axis of said drive shaft, a slider sleeve slidably received on said retainer sleeve and rotatable with said drive shaft about the center axis of said drive shaft, a plurality of link members each pivotally connected at its one end to said slider sleeve, and a plurality of arcuate drum segments each equiangularly spaced apart from one another about the center axis of said drive shaft and pivotally connected with the other end of each of said link member, the arcuate drum segments forming a cylindrical shape when held in a radially outermost position with respect to said center axis of said axially elongated drive shaft;
• a drive sleeve having an annular end plate fixedly connected thereto and movable along said axially elongated drive shaft with respect to said tire building drum and coaxially surrounding said axially elongated drive shaft;
• at least an elongated clutch arm having at its one end a hook portion protruding outwardly of said annular end plate of said drive sleeve and at the other end pivotally connected to said drive sleeve;
• and
• a cylindrical member having a horizontal base portion slidably received on said slider sleeve, and a flange portion radially outwardly extending with respect to said axially elongated drive shaft;
• said flange portion of said cylindrical member having a front end face and a rear end face so that the rear end face is brought into engagement with said annular end plate of said drive sleeve while said tire building drum is radially outwardly expanding, and the front end face is brought into engagement with said hook portion of said elongated clutch arm while said tire building drum is radially inwardly contracting.