Pirelli Tyre S.p.a.

Pirelli Pneumatici S.p.a.

Pirelli & C. S. P. A.

Pier Giuseppe Piantanida

Gianni Mancini

Renato Caretta

Gaetano Lo Presti

Giorgia Sgalari

Andrea Casali

Ezio Musitelli

Maurizio Marchini

Maurizio Boiocchi

Cristiano Puppi

Ivan Gildo Boscaino

Fiorenzo Mariani

Stefano Sangiovanni

Riccardo Azzaretto

Massimo Filippi

Marco Cantu′

Mauro Paolo Soatto

Mario Secchi

Thomas Mattia Mauro Ponta

Equipment for molding and curing a green tire includes a curing mold including a first bead molding ring including a first surface for contacting a radially inner and axially inner surface portion of an annular fixing structure of the green tyre and a first sidewall plate including a second surface for contacting a radially inner and axially outer surface portion of the annular fixing structure. The first bead molding ring is radially extendable from a contracted operating position to an expanded operating position so as to delimit a portion of the annular fixing structure between the first sidewall plate and the first bead molding ring, and the first bead molding ring is translatable towards the first sidewall plate for generating a first squeezing pressure on the annular fixing structure. The equipment further includes an inflatable bladder associated for operation with the curing mold.

Equipment for moulding and curing a green tyre

An apparatus for molding and curing a green tire includes a curing mold that includes a first sidewall plate and a second sidewall plate, with a ring of circumferential sectors circumscribing a mold cavity. The first sidewall plate is capable of coming into contact with a first annular fixing structure of the green tire when the green tire is inserted into the mold. The apparatus also includes at least a first bead molding ring movable from a first contracted operating position to a second extended operating position, a second bead molding ring movable from a first contracted operating position to a second extended operating position, and an expandable bladder delimited by a membrane associated for operation with the mold to exert a pre-molding pressure which is lower than a molding pressure to bring the first annular fixing structure into contact with the first sidewall plate.

Process and apparatus for moulding and curing tyres

A method for controlling a phase of molding an annular fixing structure of a green tire includes: introducing the green tire into a curing mold including an inflatable bladder; delimiting at least one portion of the annular fixing structure by using a first and a second surface opposed to each other; bringing the first surface and the second surface so as to bring a portion of the first surface and a portion of the second surface into contact with a corresponding radially inner and axially inner surface portion and a corresponding radially inner and axially outer surface portion, respectively, the annular fixing structure generating a first squeezing pressure; inflating the inflatable bladder of the curing mould so as to bring the first and the second surfaces closer together, thus generating a second squeezing pressure in such a way as to shape the radially inner and axially inner surface portions and the radially inner and axially outer surface portions of the annular fixing structure.

Method of controlling a phase of moulding an annular fixing structure and a tyre including an annular fixing structure

A process for molding and curing tires, includes introducing a green tire into a curing mold, the mold including a first sidewall plate and a second sidewall plate, a ring of circumferential sectors circumscribing a mold cavity, an expandable bladder delimited by a membrane, and at least one bead molding ring which is movable between a first contracted operating position and a second extended operating position; and molding and curing the green tire in the curing mold; and between introducing the green tire and molding and curing it, the process includes extending the at least one bead molding ring from the first contracted operating position to the second extended operating position; forming a circumferential bearing surface which bears against a first axially inner surface portion of a first annular fixing structure of the green tire; pressing a second axially inner surface portion of the first annular fixing structure by expanding the membrane at a pre-molding pressure which is lower than a molding pressure, so as to bring the first annular fixing structure into contact with the first sidewall plate thus shaping an axially outer surface portion of the first annular fixing structure by means of the first sidewall plate and shaping the first axially inner surface portion of the first annular fixing structure by means of the circumferential surface of the at least one bead molding ring.

In a process of manufacturing pneumatic tires, a carcass sleeve is made which includes at least one carcass ply provided with axially opposite flaps turned up around annular anchoring structures, so as to form respective loops. An outer sleeve is positioned around the carcass sleeve and the latter is radially expanded in order to cause application of same against a radially internal surface of the outer sleeve. After each of the end flaps has been turned up and before radial expansion, only a portion belonging to each of the loops and extending substantially parallel to the respective annular anchoring structure is submitted to a step of carrying out heating under pressure, to make each loop integral with the annular anchoring structure and prevent the turned-up ply/plies from even partly slipping off, during the subsequent radial-expansion step of the carcass sleeve and vulcanization step of the tire.

Process and apparatus for manufacturing pneumatic tyres

A wheel having a controlled and compensated pressure includes a rim associated with a tank adapted to be filled with a fluid to a first pressure; a tyre mounted on the rim and having an inner volume inflated to an operating pressure, the operating pressure being lower than the first pressure; at least one valve adapted to regulate a communication between the tank and the inner volume of the tyre, the valve having at least one elastic element operatively associated with a closure member designed to open and close a port of the valve to bring the tank into communication with the tyre when the pressure of the tyre is lower than the operating pressure, the elastic element having an elastic constant showing a variation of 10% to 40% within a temperature range of about &#x2212;50&#xb0; C. to about 50&#xb0; C.

Wheel having temperature compensated and controlled pressure

A method of molding and curing a tire for a vehicle wheel includes building an unvulcanized tire on a toroidal support; heating the support; pressing an inner surface of the tire against an outer surface of the support; and pressing an outer surface of the tire against walls of a molding cavity defined in a vulcanization mold. The inner surface of the tire is pressed against the outer surface by at least one secondary working fluid. The outer surface of the tire is pressed against the walls by at least one primary working fluid. The at least one primary working fluid is heated, causing vulcanization of the tire. An apparatus for molding and curing a tire for a vehicle wheel includes the vulcanization mold, at least one passage device, a feeding device, and first and second heating devices. It may also include an airtight device arranged to receive the support.

Method and apparatus for molding and curing a tyre for a vehicle wheel

An apparatus for molding and vulcanization of tyres for vehicle wheels includes a vulcanization press and a vulcanization mold associated with the press. The apparatus includes a pair of plates and a plurality of mold sectors that are mutually movable between an open condition and a closed condition; at least one plurality of sector carriers designed to support the mold sectors and movable together with the sectors; and a plurality of guide means on which the plurality of sector carriers slide for movement of the mold sectors from the closed condition to the open condition and vice versa, at least part of the sector carriers having at least one spring device designed to exert a thrust action adapted to ensure sliding of the sector carrier on the guide element in a substantially parallel direction.

Apparatus for vulcanization and moulding of vehicle tyres

A wheel having a controlled pressure includes a rim associated with a tank adapted to be filled with a fluid to a first pressure; a tire mounted on the rim and having an inner volume inflated to an operating pressure at a reference temperature, the operating pressure being lower than the first pressure; and at least one valve assembly adapted to establish a communication between the tank, the inner volume of the tire and the external environment. The valve assembly includes a command valve, an exhaust valve and a compensation valve operatively associated with each other. The command valve controls communication between the tank and the inner volume of the tire. The exhaust valve is connected to the external environment, to the inner volume, to the command valve and to the compensation valve. The compensation valve is connected to the exhaust valve and the command valve. The command valve includes an inner chamber connected with the exhaust valve and the compensation valve in such a manner that the command valve is operated by the exhaust valve and the compensation valve through a pressure variation of the inner chamber in response to a variation of the inner pressure of the tire.

Wheel having a controlled pressure and a pressure reservoir

A method for controlling the deformation of a surface of a sail of a sailing boat during a direction change maneuver, includes arranging at least one inflatable batten into a respective seat formed on a side surface of the sail, the at least one batten being inflated at a predetermined working pressure as to impart to said at least one inflatable batten a bending stiffness having, with no bending load, a predetermined value, carrying out a maneuver for changing the direction of the sailing boat, wherein in a first part of maneuver, the at least one batten is subjected to the action of an increasing bending load, and in a second part of the maneuver, the bending load ends its action on the at least one batten, during the maneuver the mechanical properties of the at least one batten being changed so that as the bending load increases in the first part of the maneuver, the value of the bending stiffness of the at least one batten decreases considerably, and as the action of the bending load ends in the second part of the maneuver, the bending stiffness of the at least one batten returns to the predetermined value.

Method for controlling the deformation of a surface of a sail of a sailing boat during a direction change maneuver

An apparatus for manufacturing a vehicle tire includes means for preparing and toroidally shaping a carcass structure, preparing and arranging a belt structure as a crown around the carcass structure, and wrapping a tread around the belt structure. The means for preparing the belt structure includes an extrusion apparatus for forming a sheet of rubber-coated fabric including a plurality of reinforcing cords substantially parallel to one another, means for conveying the sheet, a first cutting device for cutting the sheet to obtain a plurality of strips, a device for transferring the strips, a device for splicing the strips to form a substantially continuous belt assembly, means for conveying the strips and the belt assembly, second and third cutting devices, means for conveying the belt strips and portions of the belt strips, and at least one assembly drum adapted to support the portions of the belt strips.

Apparatus for manufacturing a vehicle tire and a belt structure, belt package and crown structure of the tire

A method for manufacturing a belt structure of a vehicle tire includes the steps of preparing a belt assembly, cutting the belt assembly to obtain first and second substantially-continuous belt strips, supplying the first and second belt strips to at least one assembly drum, and superposing on the at least one assembly drum portions of the first and second belt strips to obtain a belt structure comprising radially-superposed portions of the first and second belt strips.

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Milan, Italy

Pier Giuseppe Piantanida