A pneumatic tire is vulcanized by using a bladder provided with a coating layer formed by a release agent, and the release agent has a thickness, detected by an electron microscope, of 0.1 m to 100 m on an inner surface of a tread portion 1.

A curing mold (10) for a tire comprises: a plurality of circumferentially distributed sectors (18) that are intended to mold the tread of the tire, at least one sipe blade (40) intended to mold a void in the tread, the sipe blade extending over two adjacent sectors (18) such that the sipe blade comprises a part (40a, 40b) in each of the two sectors, the two parts of the sipe blade being separated, in the closed position of the mold, by a space (26) that creates flash during the curing of a tire, the parts of the sipe blade comprising cutting means (38) that are able to cut off the flash during the opening of the mold.

A method for automatically filling skived areas on a tire carcass is provided. The method including analyzing, by a computer system, a surface of a tire carcass with a sensor, identifying, by the computer system, a first skived area of the tire carcass, determining, by the computer system, whether to perform a filling operation to fill the first skived area, communicating, by the computer system, the location of the first skived area to a filling device responsive to a determination to perform the filling operation, and filling, by the filling device, the first skived area.

One or more embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus for applying a mixture of a first compound and a second compound, the apparatus comprising a first extruder for processing a first compound and a second extruder for processing a second compound, wherein the outlet from the first extruder is in fluid communication with a first channel of a housing, and the outlet from the second extruder is in fluid communication with a second channel of the housing, wherein a gear pump is positioned in each channel, wherein a nozzle is in fluid communication with an outlet of the first channel and an outlet of the second channel, and a coextruded continuous strip is produced. The ratio of the first compound to the second compound may be adjusted instantaneously.