Kabushiki Kaisha Kobe Seiko Sho

Shinko Electric Company, Ltd.

Kobelco Stewart Bolling, Inc.

Shimizu Kensetsu Kabushiki Kaisha

Kashiro Ureshino

Hisashi Mitamura

Katsumi Ichikawa

Yoshinori Kurokawa

Itaru Amano

Ko Takakura

Hiroyuki Takebayashi

Hisaaki Onishi

Yasuhiko Fujieda

Norifumi Yamada

Takumi Mizokawa

Shigeto Adachi

Yoichi Inoue

Masaki Naoi

Hirohiko Fukumoto

Shigeru Yuki

Kenji Kubo

Kazuhiko Sakiyama

Takayuki Sato

Kimio Inoue

Shogo Sarumaru

Shigeru Kaneko

Makoto Ichikawa

Kazuhiko Nakagawa

Katsuhiko Yoshida

Toshio Kurosaki

Koichi Nomura

Yasuo Morita

Masakatsu Kawahara

Kazunori Kooyama

Hironori Zaita

Mitsuo Tokomoto

Kaneo Takahashi

Kotaro Ozaki

Tadashi Tomita

Koji Ota

Kou Takakura

Mitsunori Asada

An unloader for a tire vulcanizer includes a linear motion guide rail fixed vertically to a main frame of a tire vulcanizer; a slider movably engaged with the linear motion guide rail; a movable carriage having the slider so as to elevate along the linear motion guide rail; a revolving suspension member which is attached to the movable carriage and has revolving rods vertically supported by bearings; and a chuck boom which is provided to the revolving rods so as to be turnable in the horizontal direction and supports the chuck mechanism.

Unloader for tire vulcanizer

An apparatus for heating a rubber-metal plate composite formed of a plurality of unvulcanized rubber layers and metal plates, each being overlaid alternately, by induction heating, includes an induction coil for applying a magnetic field to the composite and heating the metal plates due to eddy currents generated by the magnetic field, a power unit for applying an alternating current to the induction coil to generate the magnetic field, and a mold to confine the periphery of the composite. The mold is made of a nonmagnetic or weakly magnetic material with electrical conductivity, such as austenitic stainless steel. The mold generates enough heat to function as the heating unit by generating eddy currents in the conductive mold while magnetic flux permeates the mold substantially without loss and reaches the composite therein.

Apparatus for manufacturing a rubber-metal plate composite

A vulcanized rubber-metal plate composite is obtained by overlaying a plurality of unvulcanized rubber layers and metal plates alternately and heating thereof by magnetic induction heating. The vulcanized rubber-metal plate composite is obtained by placing a composite of a plurality of unvulcanized rubber layers and metal plates, each being overlaid alternately, into a place affected by an induction coil; heating the metal plates due to eddy currents formed in the metal plates by applying an alternating current to the induction coil; and vulcanizing the unvulcanized rubber layers due to heat conduction from the heated metal plates.

An enclosed kneading apparatus which can smoothly knead and disperse kneaded products of various kneading conditions without the maintenance of a rotor moving mechanism for a first and second rotors and the operation which sacrifices the handling capacity of the kneading apparatus and at the same time, prevent an excessive increase in the temperature of the kneaded products. In the apparatus, the kneaded product of a desired kneading state is obtained by flowing a kneading object in tip clearances between the inner wall of a chamber and a first and second rotors while rotating the first and second rotors in the chamber, and by imparting a shearing force to disperse the kneading object. The respective first and second rotors are provided with three long wings in helical fashion each having a plurality of tip portions for providing a plurality of three tip clearances in the axial direction.

Enclosed kneading apparatus

A vertical tire press has a lower mold fixed to a lower platen mounted on a base, and an upper mold facing the lower mold and fixed to an upper platen mounted on a top slide. The top slide is moved vertically by a crank mechanism, thereby closing together or opening apart the upper and lower molds. The lower or upper platen has a cylinder structure so as to squeeze together the upper and lower molds. This vertical tire press basically employs a crank mechanism, but is free from disadvantages peculiar to a tilt-back type tire press. The vertical tire press provides good economic performance as well as advantages of an oil-hydraulic type tire press, i.e. uniform application of a squeezing force and easy adjustment of the squeezing force, without using an oil-hydraulic cylinder.

Tire press

In a center mechanism of a tire press, which the tire size is changed, the lower limit position of an upper clamp ring is changed to a shaping height corresponding to the size of the exchanged tire only by changing a setting of a controller. Consequently, the work related to the tire size change is facilitated. A bladder is inflated and tightly comes into contact with the inner face of a green tire while lowering the upper periphery of the bladder to the shaping height corresponding to the tire size. The center mechanism includes: an upper clamp mechanism such as an upper clamp ring, that holds the upper periphery of the bladder; a first cylinder for vertically moving the upper clamp mechanism by the reciprocating movement of a piston; a linear sensor for sensing the travel amount of the piston of the first cylinder; and a controller for setting the shaping height as the lower limit position of the upper clamp mechanism and for controlling the reciprocating movement of the piston on the basis of the travel amount.

Center mechanism of tire press

Hermetically closed kneading apparatus

An internal mixer having a floating weight disposed in contiguous with an internal mixer main body and made elevatable in a hopper to which a material to be mixed is charged, wherein a hydraulic cylinder for elevating the floating weight is disposed in contiguous with the internal mixer main body, a pneumatic/hydraulic pressure conversion means for pressure conversion between a hydraulic side and a pneumatic side is disposed separately from the internal mixer main body, and the hydraulic side of the hydraulic cylinder for lowering the floating weight is connected with the hydraulic side of the pneumatic/hydraulic pressure conversion means. The reliability of the internal mixer can be improved while making the structure compact and facilitating the maintenance operation.

Internal mixer

A center mechanism for a tire vulcanizer having a first cylinder whose stroke can be detected with a simplified structure achieves reduction in cost and improvement in working efficiency upon maintenance. The center mechanism expands, while the first cylinder 1 moves downwardly, a bladder 5 into close contact with an inner face of a green tire. A downward stop position of the first cylinder 1 is set in advance by a linear sensor 14. The stroke amount of the first cylinder 1 is detected by a stroke bracket 12 having a stroke portion 12a extending downwardly in parallel to the first cylinder 1 from within a stem 8 and provided so as to advance into the stem 8 together with a cylinder rod 1a, and a linear sensor 14 for detecting the stroke amount of the first cylinder 1 from the stroke portion 12a of the stroke bracket 12 remaining outside the stem 8.

Center mechanism for tire vulcanizer

A post-cure inflator for inflating and cooling a vulcanized tire is disclosed. A lower rim mechanism is easily and certainly fixed, the whole apparatus is miniaturized, and the degree of freedom in designing when the lower rim mechanism is moved is made higher. The lower rim mechanism is lifted so that a locking shaft attached to an upper rim mechanism enters a fitting portion of the lower rim mechanism. After that, the locking shaft is rotated to be engaged with the lower rim mechanism, thereby connecting the lower rim mechanism via the locking shaft to the upper rim mechanism. A tire is inflated and cooled while being held by the upper and lower rim mechanisms. Guide plates are fixed to the upper rim mechanism so as to be along the locking shaft. Insertion grooves are formed in the lower rim mechanism. When the locking shaft enters the fitting portion, the guide plates are inserted into the insertion grooves.

Post-cure inflator

It is the object of the present invention to firstly provide a loading system and loading method of high working efficiency, and secondly, to provide a loading system and method in which a high precision of loading onto a center mold can be regularly assured without the need for repeated correction checks. The loading system includes a transport car 2 movable along a plurality of tire vulcanizing presses 1 arranged in a line; a robot arm 3 mounted on said transport car 2 for movement in three XYZ dimensions to a prescribed position in a desired stance; and a green tire chuck 6 fixed to the end of said robot arm 3. A load method essentially comprises the steps of picking-up, transportation, loading and chucking during shaping, of a green tire largely through movement of the robot arm of said system. Further, a position detection sensor such as a visual sensor is mounted on the end of the robot arm 3 together with the chuck 6, and said position detection sensor is used to monitor a prescribed datum such as a tally mark of said vulcanizing press and thereby effect the positioning of said robot arm in at least two dimensions XY.

Loading system and method for a tire vulcanizing machine

A tire vulcanizing system capable of performing high accuracy transportation of a green tire by a loader and of performing high accuracy transportation of a vulcanized tire by an unloader including a group of tire vulcanizing presses having many tire vulcanizing presses 1 arranged in a row and manipulators 2 arranged along the group of the tire vulcanizing presses in such a way that they may freely run. The tire vulcanizing presses 1 are constructed such that the upper and lower molds 80, 81 are stored between the engaging or disengaging upper and lower press members in such a manner that they may be fastened with the green tire mounting table 7 and the post-cure inflator 8 arranged around them. The manipulators 2 are provided with slides 31 which can be connected to the upper press member in such a way that they may be lifted up or descend, loader 32 for transporting the green tire from the center of the green tire mounting table 7 to the centers of the molds 80, 81, and unloader 33 for transporting the vulcanized tire from the centers of the molds 80, 81 to the center of the post-cure inflator 8 or its near center. The manipulators 2 are provided with the position setting element 34 for stopping in respect to the desired tire vulcanizing press 1. At least one of the loader 32 and the unloader 33 is provided with a centering corrector for accommodating for an error in stopping position by the position setting element 34.

Tire vulcanizing system

A tire vulcanizing system comprising (a) a tire vulcanizing press having a plurality of molding stations (b) a tire loader for loading tires onto the molding stations and (c) a tire unloader for unloading tires off of the molding stations, wherein the tire vulcanizing press comprises a fixed frame upon which the fixed molds of each molding station are mounted, a displaceable frame upon which the displaceable molds of each molding station are mounted, a tie-rod arranged between the molding stations and connecting the fixed frame to the displaceable frame, lifting cylinder for vertically displacing the displaceable frame along the tie-rod with respect to the fixed frame, half blocks for securing when necessary the displaceable frame to the tie-rod, thereby securing the displaceable frame to the fixed frame, and clamping means for forcibly clamping said displaceable molds to said fixed molds during tire vulcanization.

A conveyor system that performs a conveyance by using pallets for loading green tires and device for conveying these pallets, installs a storage area for storing pallets as they are on the way to convey, and uses robots for transferring the green tires from a pallet to a tire vulcanizer. Pallets being of such a type as to be able to load two or more green tires for planar placement and a conveyor devise is desired to be able to get under these pallets for lifting up. Furthermore, a visual sensor provided on a robot reads at least one of a mark concerning the specification of a green tire, a mark for its positioning on a pallet, and a mark for its positioning on a tire vulcanizer, identifies a green tire to be conveyed, and automatically performs a positioning in transferring the green tire from the relevant pallet and a positioning in transferring the green tire to a tire vulcanizer in the conveyor system. In addition, these tire vulcanizers, conveyor device, and robots are collectively controlled using computers.

Green tire conveyor system in a tire vulcanizer factory

Disclosed herein is a center mechanism of a tire vulcanizing press, including a press frame; a guide member provided on the press frame, the guide member having a central hole and a peripheral hole formed around the central hole; a cylindrical member slidably guided in the central hole of the guide member in a vertical direction; a hub fixed to an upper end of the cylindrical member for holding a lower portion of a bladder, the hub having a central hole; a center post slidably inserted through the central hole of the hub for holding an upper portion of the bladder; and a cylinder unit provided between the hub and the center post so as to extend in parallel relationship to the center post, for vertically moving the center post relative to the hub, the cylinder unit having a cylinder body and a rod adapted to be advanced upwardly from an upper end of the cylinder body, the rod being inserted through the peripheral hole of the guide member. Accordingly, downward projection of the center mechanism can be suppressed and the cylinder unit can be stored in the press frame in transporting the tire vulcanizing press.

Growing community of inventors

Takasago, Japan

Kashiro Ureshino