Hydraulic tire repair method

Abstract

A method and apparatus for vulcanizing a rubber repair patch on a tire incorporating an internal fluid pressure bag placed within the interior of the tire and against the patch, an inflatable mandrel within the tire and against the internal bag, an external fluid pressure bag engaging the exterior of the tire radially opposite the internal bag, and a retainer device, such as a retainer strap radially encircling and engaging the external bag and the mandrel to cause the internal and external bags to be forced toward each other to squeeze the patch and tire between them, upon inflation of the mandrel. This invention is paticularly characterized in utilizing internal and external fluid pressure bags having walls of two-dimensional flexibility and utilizing a heat-conductive hydraulic fluid within both bags having a boiling point greater than the vulcanizing temperature.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.