A green tire has a symmetric profile in radial section having a radially outer tread band, two radially inner beads and two sidewalls each extended from one edge of the tread band to one of the beads. During a molding and vulcanization treatment of the green tire, a movement is imposed to the tread band with respect to the beads along a direction parallel to a rotation axis of the tire, to obtain a molded and vulcanized tire having an asymmetric profile in radial section. A mold for vulcanizing tires for vehicle wheels is also described, having a tread wall axially asymmetric with respect to a middle line plane of the mold.

An apparatus is provided for making reinforced ply is described. The apparatus includes a cross-head die assembly for use with an extruder, the cross-head die assembly having: an inlet section having an inlet for receiving flow from the extruder; an upper support block removably connected to a first side of the interior section; and a lower block removably connected to a second side of the interior section. A first flow passage is located between the upper support block and the interior section and is in fluid communication with the inlet. A second flow passage is located between the interior section and the lower support block and is in fluid communication with the inlet. The cross-head die assembly further includes a removably mounted die located at an outlet end of the assembly. The first and second flow passage is in fluid communication with an inlet of the die; each flow passage has a raised center rib and an area that decreases from the inlet to the outlet.

Provided is an extruder and a method for extruding cord reinforced tire components, wherein the extruder has an extruder head with a die and a cord guide. The die is provided with a cross sectional profile that defines a first cross section of the extrusion material in the die, wherein the cross sectional profile has a profile height. The cord guide is arranged for guiding the cords into the die at a cord entry height. The extruder head is provided with first heating elements. The extruder has a control unit that is operationally connected to the first heating elements for generating an adjustable height temperature gradient in the extrusion material across the profile height to control swelling of the extrusion material relative to the cord entry height from the first cross section to a second cross section after the extrusion material leaves the die.

A cutting blade, which is useable for cutting a reinforcing strip into reinforcing plies, includes one or more notches disposed at given intervals. When a volume of rubber separating two reinforcing threads is cut by the cutting blade, bridges of rubber are left between a rear edge of a first reinforcing ply and a front edge of a second reinforcing ply.

A method and device for producing metal wire by sheathing a wire with an elastomer compound coming from an extruder is described herein. The aspects disclosed herein may include a feed canal for feeding a sheathing die, through which the wire is made to pass at a pre-established nominal speed. Various temperatures are controlled during the method based on a variety of parameters such as the measured speed at which the wire is moving is other than the nominal speed.

A method forms a butt joint between ends of first and second plies and splices the first and second plies together. The method includes the steps of: positioning a first splice edge of a first ply at a first location; positioning a second splice edge of a second ply at a second location, the second splice edge being left bare; wrapping a gum strip around the first splice edge such that the first gum strip forms a U-shaped structure in section that allows the first gum strip to extend from a first planar side of the first ply over the first splice edge to a second opposite planar side of the first ply; not wrapping a gum strip around the second splice edge; placing the first splice edge in abutting relationship to the second splice edge; and stitching the first splice edge to the second splice edge such that stitches each extend from the first planar side of the first ply, through the gum strip, to the first planar side of the second ply.

Method of calendering the continuous ply of reinforcing threads, during which: said ply of reinforcing threads is positioned between a continuous upper sheet of rubber and a continuous lower sheet of rubber, said sheets of rubber having a width greater than the width of the ply of reinforcing threads, so that the two lateral parts of said sheets of rubber which are not vertically aligned with the ply of reinforcing threads form selvedges. The assembly formed in the preceding step is introduced into the nip of a calendering comprising at least two rolls, so as to cause the rubber to penetrate the spaces between the reinforcing threads. Prior to the ply of reinforcing threads and the sheets of rubber being introduced into the nip of the calender, the two selvedges of one of the sheets of rubber are turned up on themselves.