The Steelastic Company, LLC

The Goodyear & Tire Rubber Company

Jeffrey Ford Bull

Evan J Smith

Christopher David Dyrlund

Donald Chester Kubinski

Mark Marabito

Frank Alan Edwards

Thomas D Miller

Thomas D Cartwright

Ty Rager

Evan Smith

An apparatus for forming a continuous preparation ply of the type used to make vehicle tires from preparation ply sections having nonmetallic cords. An infeed conveyor successively feeds the preparation ply sections to a butt splicing machine that joins the ends of the two preparation ply sections to form a butt joint. A gum strip applier receives the continuous preparation ply from an outfeed conveyor and applies a gum strip over the butt joint. A method is provided for forming a continuous preparation ply by first automatically forming a butt joint, and thereafter automatically placing a gum strip on the butt joint.

Tire preparation ply manufacturing apparatus and method

A tire belt machine comprises an extruder, a cooling drum, and a cutting station, such that the cooling drum draws a strip from the extruder. The cutting station is adapted to cut the strip into a plurality of plies that are laid adjacent one another to form a splice therebetween. A strip width sensor, a strip tracking system, and a strip temperature sensor are coupled to a central control unit to monitor the characteristics of the strip as it is processed. Based upon the monitored characteristics, the central control unit adjusts the operation of one or more of the components of the tire belt machine to maintain uniform splices between the strips.

Tire belt machine

The assembly applies an apex filler to the outer circumferential surface of an annular bead ring. The apex filler applying assembly incorporates an apex filler applicator that is preferably operable in conjunction with a plurality of server mechanisms. One server mechanism is a conveyor that receives a bead ring. A locator operates in conjunction with the conveyor to position the annular bead ring precisely on the conveyor so that it may be engaged by a transfer mechanism. The transfer mechanism removes the bead ring from the conveyor and mounts it on a chuck turret assembly. A chuck head in the chuck turret assembly engages the bead ring and accurately positions the bead ring relative to applying rollers in the apex filler applicator, in which position the apex filler--which has been directed from an extruder through an orienting mechanism, into an in-feed mechanism and severed to length by an in-flight guillotine cutter--is applied to the annular bead ring. After the apex filler has been applied to the bead ring the transfer mechanism removes the finished tire bead sub-assembly from the chuck head and deposits the tire bead sub-assembly on the conveyor for removal from the assembly.

Method for applying an apex filler to a bead ring

Apparatus for applying an apex filler to a bead ring

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Tallmadge, OH, United States of America

Jeffrey Ford Bull