A process and an apparatus for building tyres for vehicle wheels includes assembling at least one tyre component through laying of strip-like elements disposed circumferentially close to each other on a deposition surface radially external to the forming drum, wherein laying of each strip-like element includes: radially moving the strip-like element close to the deposition surface; locking a central portion of the strip-like element against the deposition surface; and pulling the strip-like element in opposite directions starting from the central portion toward the opposite ends thereof, while the central portion is maintained in a locked condition against the deposition surface, so as to progressively lay down the strip-like element against the deposition surface.

A method for manufacturing a tire includes forming a belt layer by bonding strip materials adjacent in the circumferential direction on the molding surface located on the outer circumferential side of the rigid core. Along the profile in the width direction of an outer circumferential surface of the rigid core, the rigid core is moved so that the molding surface is brought close to the strip material to be bonded, and the strip material is bonded to the molding surface extending in the longitudinal direction while rotating the rigid core in a direction in which the circumferential angle of the rigid core with respect to the longitudinal direction of the strip material changes, so that variation in the bonding margin, due to the position of the rigid core in the width direction, between strip materials that have been adjacently bonded to the molding surface in the circumferential direction is reduced.

A method for manufacturing a tire includes forming a belt layer by bonding strip materials adjacent in the circumferential direction on the molding surface located on the outer circumferential side of the rigid core. Along the profile in the width direction of an outer circumferential surface of the rigid core, the rigid core is moved so that the molding surface is brought close to the strip material to be bonded, and the strip material is bonded to the molding surfaceextending in the longitudinal direction while rotating the rigid core in a direction in which the circumferential angle of the rigid core with respect to the longitudinal direction of the strip material changes, so that variation in the bonding margin, due to the position of the rigid core in the width direction, between strip materials that have been adjacently bonded to the molding surface in the circumferential direction is reduced.

A process and an apparatus for building tyres for vehicle wheels includes assembling at least one tyre component through laying of strip-like elements disposed circumferentially close to each other on a deposition surface radially external to the forming drum, wherein laying of each strip-like element includes: radially moving the strip-like element close to the deposition surface; locking a central portion of the strip-like element against the deposition surface; and pulling the strip-like element in opposite directions starting from the central portion toward the opposite ends thereof, while the central portion is maintained in a locked condition against the deposition surface, so as to progressively lay down the strip-like element against the deposition surface.

A process for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels includes associating at least one reinforcing structure with at least one surface portion of at least one tyre component laid on a forming support, wherein associating the at least one reinforcing structure includes bringing, through a handling and deposition member, at least one reinforcing element to the forming support and depositing, through said handling and deposition member, the reinforcing element on a respective deposition part defined on a surface portion of the component. The depositing includes gradually laying the reinforcing element on the deposition part following the profile of the deposition part in a circumferential direction.

Provided are a tire manufacturing method and a tire forming device. One band-like strip material is sequentially supplied through one strip material supply line. By repeating a step of bonding the strip material placed in an arrangement unit by a holding machine to a forming surface on the outer circumferential side of the rigid core using a bonding mechanism, a belt layer in which the strip materials are arranged in the circumferential direction with reinforcing cords inclined at a predetermined inclination angle with respect to the circumferential direction of the rigid core. The strip material held by the holding machine is turned upside down and placed on the arrangement unit to construct a belt multilayer structure in which the inclination directions of the reinforcing cords of vertically adjacent belt layers are opposite to each other, thereby forming a green tire including the belt multilayer structure.

A carcass ply is built on a forming drum by application of a plurality of strip-like elements by the steps of: setting a width of these strip-like elements, setting a width of the overlapped part between two adjacent strip-like elements, setting a fitting diameter of the forming drum by calculating a corresponding extension of a radially external laying surface, and calculating a whole number of strip-like elements to be applied. The whole number of drip-like elements is applied by rotating the forming drum around a geometric rotation axis thereof, and applying pairs of strip-like elements by means of a first laying unit and a second laying unit located close to opposite portions of the forming drum relative to the geometric rotation axis. When the calculated whole number of strip-like elements is an odd number, before at least one application step, the first laying unit is shifted along an adjustment path orthogonal to the geometric rotation axis and substantially tangent to the radially external laying surface of the forming drum.

Building the carcass structure of tyres for vehicle wheels includes associating, at each end edge of a carcass ply, at least one respective annular reinforcement structure formed by depositing along a circumferential direction a plurality of reinforcement elements having a first length. Such elements are cut to size from a reinforced continuous band-like element fed to a cutting group arranged at a first operative position adapted to allow a barycentric grip of the reinforcement elements. The cutting group can translate along a feeding direction of the band-like element to a second operative position for cutting to size a plurality of second reinforcement elements having a second length different from the first length. The second operative position is defined on the basis of the second length, so as to have a barycentric grip of the second reinforcement elements too.

A process for manufacturing tyres for vehicle wheels includes associating at least one reinforcing structure with at least one surface portion of at least one tyre component laid on a forming support, wherein associating the at least one reinforcing structure includes bringing, through a handling and deposition member, at least one reinforcing element to the forming support and depositing, through said handling and deposition member, the reinforcing element on a respective deposition part defined on a surface portion of the component. The depositing includes gradually laying the reinforcing element on the deposition part following the profile of the deposition part in a circumferential direction.

A process for manufacturing tires for vehicle wheels includes associating at least one reinforcing structure with at least one surface portion of at least one tire component laid on a forming support, wherein associating the at least one reinforcing structure includes bringing, through a handling and deposition member, at least one reinforcing element to the forming support and depositing, through said handling and deposition member, the reinforcing element on a respective deposition part defined on a surface portion of the component. The depositing includes gradually laying the reinforcing element on the deposition part following the profile of the deposition part in a circumferential direction.