US 6,387,311 B1Granted

Manufacture of a support

AssigneeMichelin Recherche et Technique S.A.

InventorsJean-Charles Lacour, Didier Voisin

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A mold and a method for manufacturing a support to be mounted on a rim of a vehicle by injection or transfer molding in which the molding material is force fed into a closed molding cavity. The mold includes an internal core for molding the inner surface of the support, upper and lower platens or shells for molding the body of the support and segments for molding the outer bearing surface. The mold includes a mechanism capable of imparting relative movement to the platens or shells which not only permits opening and closing of the mold but also ensures the specific movements of the core. The core includes at least three separable rigid parts: a center part and at least two complementary parts. The center part has two flat bearings, inclined at the same angle relative to the axis of the mold. These flat bearings are designed to cooperate with corresponding bearings arranged on each of the complementary parts to place the mold in a molding condition or in a stripping condition.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method for manufacturing a support to be mounted on a vehicle rim, said support having an axis of rotation, a base defined by a substantially cylindrical radially inner face designed to be mounted around said rim, a crown designed to support the weight and a body connecting said base to said crown, said base including a substantially inextensible circumferential reinforcement, the radially outer face of said crown having a shape departing from the cylindrical shape, the body having a plurality of axial recesses emerging from said support on at least one side,

said method of using a mold having an axis corresponding to said axis of rotation, said mold comprising:
an inner core for the molding the radially inner face,
a crown molding ring, said ring having at least two parts radially separable from each other, said separable parts making it possible to mold said radially outer face of said crown,
at least one shell containing a plurality of axial fingers for laterally molding said body and said recesses, said core, said ring and said shell cooperating to define, at least partially, a closed cavity for molding said support,
said core comprising at least two components and being capable of assuming a molding configuration in which its components form a circumferentially continuous molding surface for molding said radially inner face, the molding surface being defined by a reference diameter Φ corresponding generally to the inner diameter of said support, said core also being capable of taking a mold stripping configuration different from the molding configuration, defined by an overall length E around said molding surface less than the product of π and reference diameter Φ, said method of manufacture comprising the following steps:
prefabricating a ring including said circumferential reinforcement;
establishing the mold stripping configuration of said core;
installing said ring on said core;
establishing the molding configuration of said core;
closing the mold and then force feeding into the mold an injectable material which is elastic in final state;
axially separating said shell containing axial fingers, at least partially, in relation to at least one of the components that include molding ring and the core;
then establishing the mold stripping configuration of said core and radially separating said parts from the crown molding ring;
discharging said support.

10 more elements

A mold for molding a support to be mounted on a vehicle rim, said support having an axis of rotation, a base having a generally cylindrical radially inner face to be mounted on said rim, a crown to bear the weight and a body connecting said base to said crown, said base including a generally inextensible circumferential reinforcement, said mold having an axis corresponding to said axis of rotation, said mold comprising an inner core for molding the radially inner face, other parts creating a closed cavity with said core for molding said support, said core embodying at least two separable molding parts, one part including a molding sector extending circumferentially from a first edge to a second edge and partially defining the molding surface of said radially inner face, said molding sector engaging at least one other of the at least two molding parts along an interface therebetween, said interface being formed by one or more planar bearing surfaces on said at least one molding part and said at least one other molding part inclined at a first angle relative to the axis of the mold, said at least two molding parts being capable of assuming a molding configuration in which said parts form a circumferentially continuous molding surface, defined by a reference diameter Φ corresponding generally to the inner diameter of said support, and a mold stripping configuration through sliding of one part over another part along said interface, said mold stripping configuration having an overall circumferential length E less than the product of π and the reference diameter Φ, and said at least two molding parts including means for positioning said circumferential reinforcement relative to said circumferential molding surface for proper placement of said circumferential reinforcement within said support during the molding thereof.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.