Production of pneumatic tires

An apparatus for producing a pneumatic tire, comprising:

• a preprocessing machine comprised of (i) joining means for mutually joining a pair of holders supporting both bead portions of a green tire, respectively, and (ii) preliminary inflating means for supplying a liquid into a bladder having opposite axial ends tightly attached to the holders, respectively, to preliminarily inflate the bladder and green tire into a toroidal shape;
• a vulcanizer for supplying a heat medium into the bladder and green tire, to thereby vulcanize the green tire and form a vulcanized tire;
• a transfer device that transfers the preliminarily inflated bladder and green tire, together with the holders, from the preprocessing machine to the vulcanizer, and that transfers the vulcanized tire, together with the holders and the bladder, from the vulcanizer to a post-cure inflator;
• means for circulating liquid through the bladder;
• and
• means for heating and/or cooling the liquid as the liquid is circulated through the bladder.

An apparatus for producing a pneumatic tire, comprising:

• a preprocessing machine comprised of (i) joining means for mutually joining a pair of holders supporting both bead portions of a green tire, respectively, and (ii) preliminary inflating means for supplying a liquid into a bladder having opposite axial ends tightly attached to the holders, respectively, to preliminarily inflate the bladder and green tire into a toroidal shape;
• a vulcanizer that supplies a heat medium into the bladder and green tire, to thereby vulcanize the green tire and form a vulcanized tire;
• a first transfer device that transfers the preliminarily inflated bladder and green tire, together with the holders, from the preprocessing machine to the vulcanizer;
• and that transfers the vulcanized tire, together with the holders and the bladder, from the vulcanizer to a post-cure inflator, and is usable to attach the holders to a rotary shaft of the post-cure inflator;
• a rotator that rotates the rotary shaft of the post-cure inflator to thereby cool the vulcanized tire;
• a cooling acceleration system that accelerates cooling of the vulcanized tire by supplying a low-temperature liquid to the bladder;
• and
• a second transfer device that transfers the cooled vulcanized tire, together with the holders and the bladder, from the post-cure inflator to the preprocessing machine.