The invention relates to a transfer wheel and a method for transferring a tire component to a tire building drum, wherein the transfer wheel defines a circumferential surface extending about a transfer wheel axis, wherein the transfer wheel comprises a pusher segment arranged at a first segment position along said circumferential surface, wherein the pusher segment comprises a segment body that is configured to be flush with the circumferential surface and at least one push-off member in said segment body movable relative to the segment body in a push-off direction facing radially outward relative to the transfer wheel axis.

In a process for building tyres for vehicle wheels, a carcass sleeve is arranged on a shaping drum including two half-drums and two supports. Each support is operatively associated with one of the half-drums and carries a plurality of turning-up levers having free ends positioned close to the respective half-drum. Two annular anchoring structures are disposed around the carcass sleeve and each of the two supports is locked to the respective half-drum by interposing only stiff mechanical elements in mutual contact between the support and the half-drum. The carcass sleeve is shaped in a toroidal conformation, by setting a threaded shaft in rotation and moving the half-drums close to each other. Subsequently, each of the two supports is unlocked from the respective half-drum and the threaded shaft is set in rotation to move each support close to the respective half-drum and lift up the free ends of the turning-up levers until the end flaps of the carcass sleeve are turned up around the annular anchoring structures.

An apparatus for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels wherein each tyre includes a carcass structure formed starting from at least one carcass ply laid on a forming support extended along a longitudinal axis. The apparatus includes at least one device for positioning at least one annular anchoring structure on at least one end edge of the carcass ply, the positioning device being circumferentially extended around the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable with respect to the forming support between an operating position distal from the forming support and at least one operating position close to the forming support. The apparatus further includes a device for turning up the end edge of the carcass ply around the annular anchoring structure, the turning up device being circumferentially extended about the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable for approaching/moving away to/from the forming support. The positioning device and the turning up device are radially expandable/contractible in a synchronous manner with respect to the longitudinal axis of the forming support and are settable in a plurality of different operating radial positions, each operating radial position being selected based on a respective radial dimension of the tyre to be manufactured.

A process for manufacturing a tire for vehicle wheels, includes building, on a forming support extending about an axis, a carcass structure including at least one carcass ply and, at at least one end edge of the at least one carcass ply, at least one annular anchoring structure. Building the carcass structure includes laying the carcass ply on the forming support, bringing the annular anchoring structure in contact position with the end edge of the carcass ply and turning up the end edge about the annular anchoring structure so as to form a turned up end portion of the carcass ply including the annular anchoring structure. A first part of turning up the end edge of the carcass ply is carried out while at least one positioning device retains the annular anchoring structure in contact position with the end edge of the carcass ply.

Disclosed is a power transmission device of a green tire forming drum apparatus. The green tire forming drum apparatus includes a carcass drum shaft, left and right forming drums mounted to the carcass drum shaft in a laterally symmetrical manner and being movable laterally in an axial direction of the carcass drum shaft, finger mounting supports for moving left and right turn-up fingers, respectively mounted to the left and right forming drums, up and down, and a driving unit for supplying power required for rotation& and later& movement of the forming drums and up/down movement of the turn-up fingers. Power generated by a lower servomotor of the driving unit is transmitted to the forming drums via pull/push plates connected to a ball screw, and power generated by an upper servomotor of the driving unit is transmitted to the turn-up fingers via pull/push plates connected to another bail screw.

A tyre carcass building drum (1) having a longitudinal axis (3) and two half-drums (6) movable along the longitudinal axis (3) in opposite directions away from and towards a centre plane (4) of the drum (1), each one comprising a bead carrying device (16) defining a saddle and a turn-up device (41) designed to turn up a annular side portion (42) of a carcass ply around, and on the outside of a respective bead ring; the turn-up device (43) having an end portion arranged, at rest, along a peripheral annular portion (18) of the saddle (17) and shaped so as to define an extension of the curvilinear profile of the saddle (17); and thrust means (50) being provided to directly and independently exert an axial thrust and a radial thrust on the turn-up device (43). The invention also relates to an operating method of said drum.

An apparatus for manufacturing tires for vehicle wheels wherein each tire includes a carcass structure formed starting from at least one carcass ply laid on a forming support extended along a longitudinal axis. The apparatus includes at least one device for positioning at least one annular anchoring structure on at least one end edge of the carcass ply, the positioning device being circumferentially extended around the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable with respect to the forming support between an operating position distal from the forming support and at least one operating position close to the forming support. The apparatus further includes a device for turning up the end edge of the carcass ply around the annular anchoring structure, the turning up device being circumferentially extended about the longitudinal axis of the forming support and axially movable for approaching/moving away to/from the forming support. The positioning device and the turning up device are radially expandable/contractible in a synchronous manner with respect to the longitudinal axis of the forming support and are settable in a plurality of different operating radial positions, each operating radial position being selected based on a respective radial dimension of the tire to be manufactured.

A bead-lock section for use in a first drum half between a crown-up section and a turn-up section, includes a bead-lock seal arranged to extend over and seal the bead-lock member in an air-tight or substantially air-tight manner. The bead-lock seal has a first end that is arranged to be mounted in an air-tight or substantially air-tight manner to the crown-up section and a second end that is arranged to be mounted in an air-tight or substantially air-tight manner between the bead-lock member and a mounting body directly adjacent to the bead-lock member. The bead-lock seal is arranged to slide along the mounting body when the bead-lock member is moved between the release position and the bead-lock position.

The present disclosure provides a tire building method and a mechanical drum. The tire building method includes: step S1: controlling an attaching mechanism to roll a bead filler to attach the bead filler to a tire carcass; step S2: while attaching the bead filler or during a process of attaching the bead filler, controlling a turn-up mechanism to roll a sidewall so as to attach the sidewall to the tire carcass. The tire building method according to the present disclosure solves problems of long time of building the tire and low efficiency of building the tire in the related art.