Tire forming drum including stitching supports

A tire forming drum including a pair of bead lock means, shaping means for forming a carcass play into a toroidal shape, ply turning-up means for turning up the ply, the two sets of a plurality of stitching supports circumferentially arranged between the pair of bead lock means, each of said stitching supports in each of the two sets comprising a rigid lever having one end pivotally connected to a housing of the bead lock means and the other end provided with a close contact portion to be brought into close contact with an inner circumferential surface of one bead portion of a tire being formed, and actuating means for each of the stitching supports comprising a rigid link having one end pivotally connected to a mid portion of the stitching support and the other end pivotally connected to one of a pair of sleeves movable in axial directions of the forming drum, the pivot point between each of the stitching supports and the rigid link associated therewith being located radially outwardly of a straight line segment connecting the pivoted point of the stitching support to the housing and the pivoted point of the rigid link to the sleeve in the collapsed state, thereby enabling the stitching supports to expand by movements of the sleeves and the bead lock means arranged on both sides towards each other.