Bridgestone Corporation

Bridgestone Tire Company Limited

Ryutaro Ishii

Yuichiro Ogawa

Yuzo Kumagai

Kichinosuke Nishimoto

A method of forming a cylindrical member includes the steps of: attaching an auxiliary bar having a shape of a substantially triangular prism to a forming drum; supplying a belt-shaped member cut to a predetermined length toward the forming drum and causing a leading end of the belt-shaped member to be attached to one of side surfaces of the auxiliary bar; supplying the belt-shaped member onto the forming drum while the forming drum is being rotated so as to wind the belt-shaped member around the forming drum, and attaching a trailing end of the belt-shaped member to another side surface of the auxiliary bar; separating the leading end and the trailing end of the belt-shaped member from the auxiliary bar; removing the auxiliary bar off the forming drum; and causing the leading and the trailing end of the belt-shaped member to butt against each other on the forming drum. Also provided is an apparatus for forming a cylindrical member.

Method and apparatus for forming a cylindrical member

A transfer apparatus for cylindrical members, including a trolley movable toward and away from a forming drum, a pair of movable members movably supported on the trolley, bead holding units mounted on inner ends of the movable members for holding beads, grasping units mounted on outer ends of the movable members for grasping axial ends of a cylindrical member on its outside, respectively, and toward and away driving units for moving the movable members equal distances toward and away from each other. With the arrangement, if sizes of tires to be produced are changed, bead set positions and grasping positions of the cylindrical member can be easily changed with high efficiency. Even if a cylindrical member has a low rigidity, it can be grasped and transferred with little deformation of the cylindrical member. A tire building machine includes such a transfer apparatus can make easy the labor of operators and improve the working efficiency and further achieves the saving energy and the improvement of formed accuracy.

Tire building machine having a cylindrical member transfer apparatus

A tire building apparatus includes a forming drum rotatably supported with its one end and having an outer circumference around which a tire constituting member is wound, and bead setters for setting beads in position on the tire constituting member. The apparatus further includes bead supply device having a holder fixed to a forward end of a main shaft of the forming drum and a plurality of grasping pawls supported by the holder and radially movable toward and away from an axis of the main shaft in synchronism with each other to be able to grasp the beads on inside thereof. With this arrangement, beads are brought into exact alignment with the forming drum to eliminate contact of the beads with the tire constituting member in setting the beads. As a result, damaging of the tire constituting member can be prevented to improve yield rate of tire building.

Tire building apparatus including bead supply means for bead setters

Disclosed herein is an apparatus for sticking a rubber sheet material to a building drum which comprises a presser to secure the forward end of the rubber sheet material, said presser being provided at both ends thereof with attracting means and being covered with a sponge material except end parts, and a means to move the presser to the forward end of the rubber sheet material and place the presser on the rubber sheet material while the rubber sheet material is being stuck to the building drum and finally separate the presser from the building drum after the sticking is completed.

Apparatus for sticking rubber sheet material

A system for manufacturing a ring-shaped body where linear material is fed to a curved constituent member for forming said ring-shaped body substantially along a normal line of the constituent member at a winding point where the linear material is wound around said constituent member. The linear material is helically wound with a predetermined tensile force around a periphery of said curved constituent member while rotating said constituent member.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing ring-shaped bodies

A process and an apparatus for joining both free ends of a rubber sheet member for use in tire to each other on a drum are disclosed, which comprises winding a hanging portion of the rubber sheet member delivered onto and hung down from a conveyor belt through a festoon around the outer circumferential surface of the drum through a pressure roll, cutting the rubber sheet member laid on the conveyor belt at a position equal to the circumferential length of the drum when the front end of the rubber sheet member crossing over the top of the drum is detected by a sensor, and joining the cut back end of the rubber sheet member to the front end thereof on the drum through the pressure roll.

Process and apparatus for joining a rubber sheet member on a drum

A rolled sheet paying out transfer apparatus comprises a support frame for supporting a rolled sheet having a liner interposed between turns of the rolled sheets so as to paying out the sheet by winding up the liner, an intermediate conveyor for holding the paid sheet separately from the liner with the aid of an attractive force and introducing the sheet toward a delivery conveyor, and a pushing-down roller for pushing down the sheet at a termination of the intermediate conveyor so as to transfer the sheet onto the delivery conveyor. The apparatus according to the invention automatically holding the sheet immediately below a starting end of the intermediate conveyor, introducing the sheet toward the delivery conveyor, and transferring the front end of the sheet onto the delivery conveyor, without requiring any trouble-some manual operation as required in the prior art.

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Higashimurayama, Japan

Ryutaro Ishii