An apparatus for building a tire for a vehicle wheel includes at least one forming support and at least one assembly device for assembling components of elastomeric material on the forming support. The at least one assembly device includes at least one dispensing device for dispensing a continuous elongated element of elastomeric material and at least one application device for applying the continuous elongated element in a form of coils disposed in side by side relationship or at least partly superposed, wound on the forming support and forming the at least one component of elastomeric material of the tire. The apparatus also includes at least one pressure device operatively acting on an applied portion of the continuous elongated element, wherein the pressure device includes a central roller and two side rollers, each laterally offset relative to the central roller and on the opposite side relative to the other side roller.

A method of manufacturing a pneumatic tire including forming a green case by cylindrically winding a tire component member which includes at least one layer of a carcass ply. A green tire is shaped by expanding the green case into a toroidal shape with the supply of a fluid into the green case so that the green case adheres to a tread ring arranged radially outside the green case. The green tire is subjected to vulcanization molding within a mold die. During the shaping of the green tire, the fluid is supplied in accordance with a pressure profile which changes in a stepwise manner. The pressure profile is set such that a former stage expansion rate in a former stage is set to slower than a final stage expansion rate in a final stage.

The strip-winding method, includes: a first step of supplying a strip to a wound body including an inclined part; and a second step of moving a winding roller along an outer circumferential surface of the wound body within one plane, the winding roller being capable of pressing the strip on the wound body, and of winding the strip on the outer circumferential surface of the wound body. In the second step, the roller inclination angle of the rotational axis line of the winding roller with respect to the one plane is changed, and the roller inclination angle at the time the strip is wound around the inclined part is set to be greater than the roller inclination angle at the time the strip is wound around a maximum diameter position of the wound body.

The sheet-like rubber forming device has a die body which has an opening having a predetermined cross sectional shape, and a variable die lip which is arranged in a front side of the die body and can change the height of the opening. The variable die lip is constructed by a first movable body and a second movable body. The die lip control unit controls the variable die lip so as to drive the first movable body in an opening direction from a state in which the first movable body and the second movable body are closed when the forming is started, hold the positions of the first movable body and the second movable body after reaching a predetermined height, and drive the second movable body in a closing direction when the forming is finished.

To increase a restraining force to a belt layer and to improve the durability of the tire. A band layer of a spirally wound band-like ply includes: a first ply portion extending from a starting end located between the tire equator and one end in the tire axial direction of a belt layer to the one end in the tire axial direction of the belt layer; a second ply portion extending from the one end in the tire axial direction of the first ply portion to the other end in the tire axial direction of the belt layer; and a third ply portion extending from the other end in the tire axial direction of the second ply portion to a terminal end located between the tire equator and the other end in the tire axial direction of the second ply portion. The band-like ply is continuous from the starting end to the terminal end without interruption.

A strip of a thermoplastic elastomer to be wound spirally on a cylindrical drum for forming an inner liner for a tire having a shape close to a finished sectional shape is provided. The strip is formed of composite layers of (A) a first layer made of a styrene-isobutylene-styrene triblock copolymer and (B) a second layer containing at least one of a styrene-isoprene-styrene triblock copolymer and a styrene-isobutylene diblock copolymer. The strip further has a strip main body and ear portions arranged on opposite sides thereof. The strip main body has a thickness (T1) of 0.05 mm to 1.0 mm. The ear portions have a thickness (T2) thinner than the thickness (T1) of the strip main body and a width (W2) of 0.5 mm to 5.0 mm. This ribbon-shaped strip reduces unevenness of the surface of a sheet formed by the opposite ends of the strip when manufacturing an inner liner.

The invention relates to an applicator unit, a tire building device and a method for applying a strip to a drum, wherein the applicator unit comprises an applicator roller and a cutter, wherein the applicator roller comprises a roller body that is rotatable about a roller axis for applying the strip to the drum in an application direction perpendicular to said roller axis, wherein the applicator roller and the cutter are configured to cooperate for cutting the strip on the applicator roller along a helical cutting path about the roller axis.

The invention relates to a method for picking up and placing a tire components, wherein the method includes the steps of picking up a supplied first tire component with a transfer drum, rotating the transfer drum in a first direction for winding a predetermined length of the continuous length of the first tire component, rotating the transfer drum in the opposite second direction, while at the same time moving the transfer drum downstream into a cutting position, wherein a part of the predetermined length of the first tire component is unwound from the transfer drum, cutting the unwound part, thereby obtaining a cut-to-length first tire component, and rotating the transfer drum again in the first direction for winding up the unwound part of the cut-to-length first tire component up to the trailing end.

A method for managing the continuous feeding of an elongate element wound on reels to a station for building a tire, wherein the elongate element is continuously supplied from an unwinding device of successive reels. When the terminal end of the elongate element wound on a first reel leaves said first reel, the method provides for: the first reel to be moved away from the unwinding device on a first movable carriage; a second reel, successive to the first reel, and mounted on a second movable carriage, to be positioned in place of the first reel; and the terminal end of the elongate element previously wound on the first reel, to be joined to the starting end of the elongate element wound on the second reel.

A tire manufacturing method to obtain a base tire superior in uniformity when the base tire has a cushion gum applied thereon. In this process of tire manufacture, the thickness from a belt, which is located in the outermost layer of the base tire having an application surface for the cushion gum, to the application surface is measured along the circumference of the base tire so as to detect a maximum thickness position. Then the circumferential winding of the cushion gum extruded from an extrusion molding unit is started from the maximum thickness position.