Tire vulcanizing machine and method

Abstract

A tire vulcanizing machine includes a bladder; an upper clamping ring for holding the upper end of the bladder; an upper clamping ring for holding the upper end of the bladder; a first lifting mechanism for vertically moving the lower clamping ring; a second lifting mechanism for vertically moving the upper clamping ring; a loader for holding a green tire so as to surround the bladder extended between the upper and lower clamping rings with the horizontal center plane of the green tire in coincidence with the middle point between the upper and lower ends of the bladder; a third lifting mechanism for vertically moving the loader; and a controller for controlling the operation of the first, second and third lifting mechanisms. When shaping the green tire, the strokes of the first and second lifting mechanisms and the vertical position of the loader are detected respectively by first, second and third position detectors, and the controller controls the operation of the first and second lifting mechanisms according to detection signals provided by the first and second position detectors so that the upper and lower clamping rings are moved synchronously toward each other respectively at equal moving speeds and the horizontal center plane of the green tire is kept in coincidence with the middle point between the upper and lower ends of the bladder.