The installation for manufacturing a bead wire intended to reinforce a pneumatic tire, said installation comprising a receiving table which is adapted to receive a braided torus which comprises a braid wire which extends longitudinally from a first end section to a second end section, a cutting tool, a crimping tool adapted to crimp a sleeve around said first and second end sections, and a configuration unit which is adapted automatically to switch the installation from a cutting configuration in which the receiving table cooperates with the cutting tool so as to position the braided torus and the first and second end sections so that said first and second end sections are sectioned by the cutting tool to a crimping configuration in which the receiving table cooperates with the crimping tool.

A plurality of rollers each having a rotary shaft parallel to a rotary shaft of a rotary support body are moved toward a tire member in a synchronized manner so that the tire member is disposed between the plurality of rollers and the rotary support body while the rollers are brought into contact with at least one of the rotary support body and the tire member supported by the rotating rotary support body and the rotary support body is contracted in a state where the tire member is disposed between the plurality of rollers and the rotary support body so that the tire member is delivered from the rotary support body to the plurality of rollers.

A bead ring winding device forms a bead ring by winding a wire fed to the circumference of a former, which is coupled to, in a removable manner, and supported by a rotation shaft. The bead ring winding device includes a guide and a driving member. The guide guides a bearing so that the bearing can be lifted and lowered. The bearing supports the rotation shaft. The driving member lifts and lowers the bearing along the guide. When the former is replaced with another former of a different diameter, the bearing is lifted or lowered with the driving member so that the upper end of the former is arranged at a fixed position.

The present invention forms bead apex rubber with good precision on the outer circumferential surface of the bead core. A molding process, in which unvulcanized rubber is made to flow into a bead apex molding chamber that is surrounded by surfaces that include the outer circumferential surface of a circular bead core and the bead apex rubber is formed directly on the outer circumferential surface of the bead core that is rotating around the core axis, is provided. The molding process comprises: a tip forming step that forms the leading end of the bead apex rubber; a middle section forming step that sequentially forms the bead apex rubber to be continuous with the leading end; and a joining step to join the back end and the leading end of the bead apex rubber by inflowing the unvulcanized rubber therebetween.

A bead wire payoff system is provided having a first coil mount configured to receive a first coil of bead wire and a second coil mount configured to receive a second coil of bead wire. The first and second coil mounts are configured to continuously pay-off a bead wire, first from the first coil of bead wire, and then from the second coil of bead wire upon exhaustion of the first coil of bead wire.

The bead ring winder winds a cord around the circumference of a former by rotating a rotation shaft to form a bead ring. The former includes a fixed segment, which is fixed to the rotation shaft, and a separated segment, which is coupled to the fixed segment to be movable toward and away from the fixed segment, so that the former is configured to be able to increase and decrease the circumference length of the former. The bead ring winder includes a setting member, which can be replaced to set a separated distance of the separated segment from the fixed segment when changing the winding diameter of a bead ring to be formed, and a fastening plate and a fastening bolt, which fasten the separated segment to the fixed segment.

A bead core manufacturing apparatus (1) comprises an annular former (4) having an outer peripheral surface (40) on which a bead wire (w) is woundable into a bead core. The former (4) comprises a set of segments (41), which are divided circumferentially of the former, and which have radially outer surfaces collectively forming the outer peripheral surface (40). The segments (41) are movable in respective radial directions of the former so that the outer peripheral surface (40) has plural outside diameters, and a bead wire can be wound into plural kinds of bead cores having different inside diameters.

A winding machine includes a first rotary body to be rotated by a rotary shaft, and a second rotary body to rotate on the same axis as the first rotary body and at the same speed as the first rotary body. The winding machine further includes a cylinder to open and close the first and second rotary bodies relative to each other. An outer circumferential surface of at least one of the first and second rotary bodies in a part where the first and second rotary bodies join is provided with a groove in which a bead ring is to be formed by winding a wire.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for molding an annular member capable of accurately molding an annular member into a predetermined cross-sectional shape even if the annular member has a thick-walled inner peripheral part and a thin-walled outer peripheral part. The method for molding a bead filler (11) including a thick-walled inner peripheral part (11a) and a thin-walled outer peripheral part (11b), the method comprising the steps of extruding, into an annular shape, rubber (R1) by a first extruder (30) onto a molding table (20) through a first die (31) provided with an opening having the same cross-sectional shape as that of the inner peripheral part (11a) while the molding table (20) is rotated, and molding the inner peripheral part (11a); and extruding, into an annular shape, rubber by a second extruder (40) onto the molding table (20) through a second die (41) provided with an opening having the same cross-sectional shape as that of the outer peripheral part (11b) while the molding table (20) is rotated, and molding the outer peripheral part (11b).

A process and a drum for looping annular anchoring structures in a process for building tyres for vehicle wheels includes: depositing a loop on a drum including a radially expandable/contractible intermediate annular portion and, in a position axially adjacent to the opposite axial ends of said intermediate annular portion, a pair of radially expandable/contractible lateral annular portions; associating an annular anchoring structure with a radially outer annular surface portion of the loop defined at the intermediate annular portion; and turning up each of opposite end edges of the loop on the annular anchoring structure through the lateral annular portions as a result of a thrusting stress imparted by a respective lateral annular portion of said pair of lateral annular portions because of a synchronous radial movement and a synchronous axial displacement of a respective plurality of circumferentially adjacent first angular sectors.