Robot for tire building machine and method of operation

A robot for transporting a cylindrical tire carcass and cylindrical green tire between various processing locations of a tire building machine comprising:

• arms with contoured free ends pivotable toward each other with first surfaces to thereby grasp the exterior cylindrical surface of a carcass, the free ends also being pivotable away from each other with second surfaces to thereby grasp the interior cylindrical surface of a green tire;
• a plate supporting the arms;
• pivot means on opposite sides of the plate for pivotably supporting the arms with respect to the plate, the arms being formed with flanges extending away from the plate with their interior surfaces contoured to substantially conform with an exterior cylindrical edge of a carcass and with their exterior surfaces contoured to substantially conform to the interior cylindrical edge of a green tire;
• means associated with the plate and arms for pivoting the arms with respect to the plate toward and away from each other;
• and
• means for moving the plate and arms to transport a carcass and green tire between a pick-up location, a tire building machine and an inspection location.

A robot for transporting a cylindrical tire carcass and a cylindrical green tire between various processing locations of a tire building machine comprising:

• arms with contoured free ends movable toward each other with first surfaces to thereby grasp the exterior cylindrical surface of a carcass, the free ends also being movable away from each other with second surfaces to thereby grasp the interior cylindrical surface of a green tire;
• a plate having a cutout extending between the arms from on edge thereof, the plate also including pivot means on opposite sides of the cutout for movably supporting the arms with respect to each other and with respect to the plate, the pivot means being located on each side of the cutout for supporting two arms on each side of the cutout, the arms being formed with flanges extending away from the plate with interior surfaces contoured to substantially conform with an exterior cylindrical edge of a carcass and with exterior surfaces contoured to substantially conform to the interior cylindrical edge of a green tire;
• transport means to move the arms between a pick up location, a tire building machine, and an inspection location;
• and
• control means adapted to move the arms toward each other at the pick up location to grasp the exterior cylindrical surface of a carcass and to activate the transport means to convey the grasped carcass to the tire building machine, the control means also adapted to move the arms away from each other at the tire building machine to grasp the interior cylindrical surface of a green tire and to activate the transport means to convey the grasped green tire to the inspection location.