Drum for tire assembly
First Claim
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1. Drum for building a tire, having a central shaft mountable on a mandrel holder, comprised of:
- two plates mounted at axially spaced positions and slidable on the central shaft relative to each other;
on each plate, a group of rods, each rod having on one side an axis of articulation and on the other side a head, the axis of articulation of each rod of a group being mounted on the respective plate in such a way that said axes of articulation are all included in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of said central shaft, and equidistant from said central shaft;
means for controlling the pivoting of said rods around their axis of articulation, between a retracted position and a building position, said building position of the rods in each of the plates being symmetrical from one plate to the other;
in each group, a sleeve covering all of the rods of said group, each sleeve being anchored on a respective plate so that the rods are enclosed in the sleeve and in such a way as to define, for said group, an airtight enclosure; and
means to selectively connect each enclosure to a vacuum source.
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Abstract
A drum is provided for building of a tire. The drum includes a central sh supporting two plates mounted axially and sliding thereon and a plurality of rods are articulably mounted on each plate. The rods of each plate are covered by a sleeve and a membrane is connected to each of the sleeves. A mantle covers the assembly to provide a surface on which the tire is progressively constructed. A process for assembling a tire with the drum is also disclosed.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. Drum for building a tire, having a central shaft mountable on a mandrel holder, comprised of:
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two plates mounted at axially spaced positions and slidable on the central shaft relative to each other; on each plate, a group of rods, each rod having on one side an axis of articulation and on the other side a head, the axis of articulation of each rod of a group being mounted on the respective plate in such a way that said axes of articulation are all included in the same plane perpendicular to the axis of said central shaft, and equidistant from said central shaft; means for controlling the pivoting of said rods around their axis of articulation, between a retracted position and a building position, said building position of the rods in each of the plates being symmetrical from one plate to the other; in each group, a sleeve covering all of the rods of said group, each sleeve being anchored on a respective plate so that the rods are enclosed in the sleeve and in such a way as to define, for said group, an airtight enclosure; and means to selectively connect each enclosure to a vacuum source. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A drum assembly for building components of a tire thereon comprising:
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a mandrel having an axis; first and second plates each axially slidable relative to and on the mandrel; a first plurality of rods, each rod having a proximate end movably mounted on the first plate for movement about an individual rod axis and having a distal end spaced from its proximate end, the rods being distributed around the first plate such that the individual rod axes are at substantially the same radial spacing from the mandrel and lie in a first rod axis plane which is substantially perpendicular to the mandrel axis; a second plurality of rods, each rod having a proximate end movably mounted on the second plate for movement about an individual rod axis and having a distal end spaced from its proximate end, the rods being distributed around the second plate such that the individual rod axes are at substantially the same radial spacing from the mandrel and lie in a second rod axis plane which is perpendicular to the mandrel axis; and means, operatively connected to the first and second pluralities of rods, for moving each rod about its individual rod axis between a retracted position in which the distal end of the rod is at a retracted radial spacing from the mandrel axis and a deployed position in which the distal end of the rod is at a deployed radial spacing from the mandrel axis greater than in the retracted position of the rod, whereby the drum assembly can be disposed in a smaller diameter disposition in which the first and second plates are in an axial adjacent position relative to one another and in which the rods are in their retracted positions and a larger diameter disposition in which the first and second plates are more axially spaced from one another than in their axial adjacent position and in which the rods are in their deployed positions; sleeves covering the rods of each plate to thereby form a substantially airtight enclosure about each plurality of rods; and means for creating a vacuum in said enclosures. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification