BAND DRUM POP-UP HINGE

• US 20130105068A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC (Bridgestone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC (Bridgestone Corporation)
• Inventors: Malone, Daryl, Wright, Chad
• Granted Patent: US 9,102,113 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 156/110.1
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 2030/427 Positioning the bands at the joining areas positioning the parts to be joined in general B29C65/7802
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 30/244 for manufacturing substantially cylindrical tyre components with cores or beads, e.g. carcasses mechanisms for folding layers around cores or blads per se B29D30/32
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 30/26 Accessories or details, e.g. membranes, transfer rings

Abstract

A tire building apparatus includes a tire building drum having a radially expanded position for building a tire carcass, and having a radially contracted position for releasing the tire carcass. A carcass release member is mounted on the drum such that the carcass release member moves from a retracted position when the drum is in its expanded position, to an extended position when the drum is in its contracted position, so that the carcass release member aids in releasing the tire carcass from the drum when the drum moves from its expanded position to its contracted position.

Claims

1. A tire building apparatus, comprising:

a tire building drum having a radially expanded position for building a tire carcass, and having a radially contracted position for releasing the tire carcass; and

a carcass release member mounted on the drum such that the carcass release moves from a retracted position when the drum is in its expanded position, to an extended position extending above an outer surface of the drum when the drum is in its contracted position, so that the carcass release member aids in releasing the tire carcass from the drum when the drum moves from its expanded position to its contracted position.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a control system configured to rotate the drum between defined starting and stopping positions during application of an inner layer of a tire carcass to the drum, so that a splice zone is defined on the drum where ends of the inner layer are to meet to be spliced; and

the carcass release member at least partially underlies the splice zone.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a row of jam pads oriented to compress the inner layer against the drum.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the drum has an inboard end and an outboard end, the outboard end being free to allow removal of the tire carcass axially outward over the outboard end; and

the carcass release member is located nearer to the outboard end than to the inboard end of the drum.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the drum includes a plurality of arcuate drum segments movable radially relative to a rotational axis of the drum between radially outer and radially inner positions corresponding to the expanded and contracted positions, respectively, of the drum; and

the carcass release member is pivotally attached to at least one of the drum segments and engages an adjacent drum segment so as to be pivoted outward away from a drum outer surface as the drum segments move from their radially outer to their radially inner positions.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein:

the carcass release member comprises a plurality of extendible fingers.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the plurality of extendible fingers are arranged in first and second rows of alternating fingers, with the fingers of the first row pointing in a circumferential direction opposite to the fingers of the second row.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the fingers of the first row of fingers are pivotally attached to a first one of the drum segments, and the fingers of the second row of fingers are pivotally attached to an adjacent second one of the drum segments.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:

the fingers of the first row of fingers are of a different length than the fingers of the second row of fingers.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the drum further includes a plurality of cover plates, each cover plate attached to one of the drum segments and extending generally tangentially to cover a gap between adjacent drum segments when the drum is in its expanded position; and

one of the cover plates has a plurality of windows defined therethrough, and the extendible fingers retract into the windows when the drum is in its expanded position, and the extendible fingers extend out of the windows when the drum is in its contracted position.

11. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a plurality of wear plates mounted on the drum segments so that each extendible finger slides against one of the wear plates as the drum segments move between their radially outer and inner positions.

12. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

each of the fingers is individually pivotably connected to a respective one of the drum segments.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a plurality of return springs operably associated with the plurality of extendible fingers, the return springs biasing the fingers toward their retracted positions.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the carcass release member has a radially outer surface coated with a release material.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the carcass release member extends at least 1.0 inch above an outer drum surface when the drum is in its contracted position.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the drum is configured to build a tire carcass for a truck tire having a rim diameter of at least 22.0 inches.

17. A method of manufacturing a tire carcass, comprising:

(a) placing an inner layer of a tire carcass about a band drum when the band drum is in a radially expanded position, the band drum including at least one carcass release member retracted into an outer surface of the band drum when the band drum is in its expanded position;

(b) radially contracting the band drum to release the tire carcass from the band drum; and

(c) during step (b), moving the carcass release member outward relative to the outer surface of the band drum to aid in removing the tire carcass from the band drum.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

prior to step (b), splicing two ends of the inner layer to form a splice overlying the carcass release member.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

prior to step (b), compressing the splice against the band drum with a jam pad.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein:

in step (a), the carcass release member is located closer to an axially outboard end of the band drum than to an axially inboard end of the band drum.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

after step (c), radially expanding the band drum to return the band drum to its radially expanded position for receiving another inner layer; and

during the expanding step, biasing the carcass release member back to its retracted position with a return spring.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein:

step (c) further comprises engaging an underside of the carcass release member in sliding engagement with a wear plate mounted on a drum segment adjacent to a drum segment on which the carcass release member is pivotally mounted.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein:

in step (a), the at least one carcass release member comprises a plurality of fingers.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein:

in step (a), each of the fingers is pivotally connected to the band drum; and

in step (c), the fingers pivot outward above the surface of the band drum.