A method for manufacturing pneumatic tire of the present disclosure, the method comprising: a first step of pressure-bonding a bead filler to an outer peripheral portion of an annular bead core, the bead filler being thinned outward of the bead core in a radial direction, and fabricating an annular bead member; a second step of causing a separator to support the bead filler, and mounting the bead member so that the radial direction of the bead core goes along a horizontal direction; and a third step of cooling the bead member.

Disclosed is a cutting device for cutting a continuous length of a strip, in particular an apex for tire building, wherein the cutting device has a conveyor for conveying the strip in a transport direction in a support plane and a knife for cutting through the strip along a cutting line transverse to the transport direction. The cutting device further includes a positioning device for pushing the strip in a positioning direction up to a longitudinal reference line at or near the cutting line.

An object is to improve the durability of the stiffener having a hard rubber member and a soft rubber member formed on the radially inner side and the radially outer side by laminating rubber strips. A tire includes bead cores, stiffeners provided on the outer circumferences of the bead cores, and a carcass ply. Ends of the carcass ply are disposed on the stiffeners. Each stiffener includes an inner rubber portion on the radially inner side, an outer rubber portion on the radially outer side, and a cover tape. The inner rubber portion is formed by laminating a first rubber strip. The outer rubber portion is formed by laminating a second rubber strip. The second rubber strip is composed of rubber having a lower rigidity than the inner rubber portion. The cover tape covers a part of the stiffener that comes into contact with the end of the carcass ply.

A method and apparatus for forming an apex or an apex in combination with a bead, the method comprising the steps of: winding a strip of rubber onto a rotatable platen to form an apex, wherein the rotatable platen may further include a radially expandable bead chuck for supporting a bead. The rotatable platen may optionally include a nonstick coating such as titanium nitride and optionally include one or more radially oriented bars. The optional one or more radially oriented bars may be movable into a first position flush with the outer surface of the platen, and movable into a second position that preferably is nonflush and protrudes from the outer surface of the platen. The rotatable platen is further optionally retractable from the bead chuck to facilitate removal of the apex from the apparatus.

A method is provided for switching over a tire manufacturing line from a first manufacturing mode to a second manufacturing mode, the tire manufacturing line including a plurality of modules arranged in-line between an input side and an output side of the tire manufacturing line. The method comprises the steps of operating the plurality of modules in the first manufacturing mode, progressively switching over modules from the first to the second manufacturing mode, operating the modules that have been switched while simultaneously operating modules that have not been switched. The method further comprises the steps of providing a joint in a strip, and switching over at least one module from the first manufacturing mode to the second manufacturing mode at arrival of the joint.

A method for manufacturing a continuous strip in a tire manufacturing line includes the steps of:

a) operating the tire manufacturing line in a tire manufacturing mode;

b) conveying the continuous strip in a conveyance direction along a conveyance path in the tire manufacturing mode;

c) switching over the tire manufacturing line from the tire manufacturing mode to an interruption mode; and

d) controlling conveying the continuous strip back-and-forth in the conveyance direction and a retraction direction opposite to the conveyance direction along the conveyance path.