Bridgestone Corporation

Motoaki Hosono

Chiaki Ozawa

A ring-like band with both ends in which beads are wrapped is formed in the following procedure: A forming drum 11 mounted with a band 1 is expanded up to an intermediate diameter, and right and left bead lock segments 65 are positioned with specified intervals. Then, right and left fingers 54 are positioned outside edge portions 1a in the expanding state. Thus, right and left beads 2 are located at specified positions, and the fingers 54 are contracted to reduce the diameters of the edge portions 1a. Subsequently, the bead lock segments are expanded for supporting the beads 2 together with the edge portions 1a from the inner side. Finally, the bead lock segments 65 are brought close to the forming drum side while the forming drum 11 is expanded to the maximum diameter, and the edge portions 1a are folded by the swelling of folding bladders, to thus wrap the beads 2.

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Kodaira, Japan

Motoaki Hosono