A process and an apparatus for building tyres, wherein, in the process, a carcass sleeve including at least one carcass ply and a pair of annular anchoring structures is transferred to a shaping drum including flange elements that are each engageable with one of said annular anchoring structures. The carcass sleeve is shaped according to a toroidal configuration. Before shaping, annular grip elements respectively carried by the flange elements are radially expanded, each inside one of the annular anchoring structures, in order to engage the carcass sleeve. The annular anchoring structures are moved axially apart from each other before engaging the carcass sleeve by the annular grip elements.

A tire is formed by disposing a cylindrical band member on a forming drum and outer circumferential sides of side portions disposed on both sides of the forming drum in a drum axial direction; expanding in diameter the forming drum and moving the side portions closer together in the drum axial direction; making step portions formed in the band member conform to side surfaces of the forming drum; moving bead members toward the step portions and compression-bonding the bead members to the band member on the side surfaces of the forming drum; and using a turn-up mechanism to wrap the bead members by turning up both end portions of the band member in the drum axial direction to form an intermediate green tire.

A turn-up device, comprising a building machine main shaft, an outer sleeve device, a ply down finger assembly, a bladder device, a bead setting device, and a bead locking device. The outer sleeve device, the ply down finger assembly and the bladder device are all sleeved on the building machine main shaft. The outer sleeve device is located on the outer sides of the ply down finger assembly and the bladder device along the radial direction of the building machine main shaft. The bead setting device is located on the outer sleeve device. A tire building method using the turn-up device can improve the building quality of tire beads, improve the service life of capsule, and provide promising precision of carcass.

An apparatus for looping anchoring annular structures of a tyre for vehicle wheels, includes at least three looping drums. Each looping drum has a longitudinal axis thereof, with respect to which it is radially expandable/contractible in a manner so as to turn up the loop around an anchoring annular structure. The apparatus also includes a loop deposit station, a loading station configured for loading the anchoring annular structures on the looping drum and an unloading station configured for unloading the looped anchoring annular structures from the looping drum. The loop deposit station, loading station and unloading station are angularly offset from each other. A turret transfer apparatus supports the looping drums in positions angularly offset with respect to each other and is configured for transferring the looping drums between the loop deposit station, the loading station and the unloading station rotating around a vertically-arranged transfer axis.

An apparatus for manufacturing a pneumatic tire, comprises: a cylindrical former for forming a tire base from rubber members, a carcass and bead cores; and bead lock devices arranged at both ends of the former in its axial direction. Each bead lock device is expandable and contractable in diameter, and comprises a holding portion for supporting the bead core from the inside in the radial direction when expanded. The holding portion comprises an axially inner flange, an axially outer flange, and a bottom surface connecting therebetween. The height of the axially inner flange is greater than the height of the outer flange by 5 mm or more.

A method for assembling a green tire blank includes, in succession, laying rubber plies on a drum having segments that are radially moveable, with respect to a main axis, between expanded and collapsed positions; laying bead wires; lifting up edges of the plies that extend axially beyond the bead wires towards ends of the drum using wings that extend axially and that are arranged circumferentially around the main axis; and folding the edges of the plies using rollers. The segments form an external circumferential face of the drum. The rollers are independent of the drum and move in an axial direction on the circumferential face of the drum in order to turn the edges of the plies around the bead wire. The wings move in longitudinal cuts that run parallel to the main axis at ends of the segments in order to lift up the edges of the plies.

Drum (10) for manufacturing a tire blank, comprising a shaft, two flanges (14) movable in translation along the shaft, and means for supplying compressed air, each flange comprising at least one pneumatic effector (36). At least one flange comprises a first, radially internal ring (46) and a second, radially external ring (48) movable in rotation around the first ring by means of at least two airtight pivot connections (50), the rings and the pivot connections delimiting at least one sealed chamber (52), said flange comprising at least one first compressed-air circulation channel (54), a first section (56) of the first channel belonging to the first ring being connected at one of its ends to the sealed chamber, and a second section (58) of the first channel belonging to the second ring being connected at one of its ends to the sealed chamber.

Disclosed is a tire building drum and a method for shaping tire components on the tire building drum, wherein the tire building drum has cover plates extending in the circumferential direction between each pair of directly adjacent turn-up arms to close gaps between the turn-up arms in the circumferential direction. The cover plates are arranged to remain at the first radius when the turn-up arms are moved from the level orientation towards the turned-up orientation.

A process for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels, comprising the step of building on a forming support a carcass structure comprising at least one carcass ply and, at least one end edge of the carcass ply, at least one annular anchoring structure comprising at least one substantially circumferential annular insert and at least one filling insert associated to said at least one substantially circumferential annular insert. The step of building the carcass structure comprises the steps of positioning the annular anchoring structure on the carcass ply by moving the annular substantially circumferential insert into contact with an end edge of the carcass ply by means of a special positioning member, pulling down the filling insert on the end edge of the carcass ply and turning up a free end portion of the end edge of the carcass ply so as to form a turned up end portion of the carcass ply including said annular anchoring structure. The pulling down of the filling insert on the end edge of the carcass ply is carried out by a special pulling down member while the substantially circumferential annular insert is retained into a contact position with the end edge of the carcass ply by said positioning member.

A turn-up section for a tire building drum, includes a plurality of turn-up arms distributed circumferentially about a central axis and an arm support for supporting the turn-up arms with respect to a base, wherein the turn-up arms are rotatable with respect to the arm support from an arms-down position towards an arms-up position in response to the movement of the arm support in an arm drive direction. Each turn-up arm comprises a hinge pin for rotatably coupling the respective turn-up arm to the arm support. The arm support includes a hinge seat for removably receiving the hinge pin of the respective turn-up arm. The hinge pin is retained in the hinge seat by one or more biasing members. The hinge pin of the turn-up arm is removable from the hinge seat in a radial direction with respect to the central axis by counteracting the bias of the one or more biasing members.