Uniroyal Inc.

The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company

Leonard S Stokes

Arnold J Fabris

Valdis L Pareizs

An apparatus for building a tire having an inner liner to which a sealant strip is to be laminated, comprises a rotary drum having a surface in which a trough or 'groove' is provided. The depth of the groove corresponds approximately to the thickness of a layer of an elastomeric sealant which is to be placed in the groove. If the walls of the groove are contoured so as to confine the sealant layer in a specified manner while accommodating the thermo-viscous properties of the laminate, the completed first stage carcass may be removed without damaging the sealant layer which is adhered to the inner liner. The rotary drum is provided with fingers movable to a position to support the tire bead by means of an annular piston and cylinder surrounding the shaft of the drum and connected to the fingers by bell cranks which are pivotally mounted in the drum and operatively interconnected with means to move the fingers radially between an inactive position and a bead engaging position in response to appropriate axial movement of the drum mechanism.

Grooved drum for tire building machine

A toroidal insert for an inflated, tubeless, pneumatic tire. The insert comprises a preformed torus-like core, tire cord radially wound around the torus-like core, and at least one load bearing member having tire cord therein, said member being circumferentially wound around substantially the middle one third of the radially outer surface of the radially wound tire cord. The insert, when situated within the inflated tire, includes a cross-section having a thick, substantially oval, central portion extending between the beads of the inflated tire and a pair of thin end portions each extending from its respective side of the thick, oval, central portion along the adjacent sidewall of said inflated tire to about the midpoint of said adjacent sidewall, whereby, when the tire is deflated, the thick, oval, central portion of the insert supports the tread portion of the deflated tire and each of the thin end portions of the insert lies between and supports the adjacent, collapsed sidewall of the deflated tire.

Growing community of inventors

Mt. Clemens, MI, United States of America

Leonard S Stokes