In the building of a carcass structure for tyres of vehicle wheels, the step of reinforcing with a loop at least one annular anchoring structure (10) associated at the axially opposite end edges of a carcass ply is carried out. Said reinforcement step is carried out on at least one radially expandable/contractable service drum (107a, 107b) and comprises the steps of: setting the service drum (107a, 107b) to a predetermined radial dimension selected according to the fitting diameter of the tyre to be manufactured, depositing the loop (5) on the service drum (107a, 107b), loading the annular anchoring structure (10) onto the service drum (107a, 107b) in a radially outer position with respect to the loop (5), radially expanding the service drum (107a, 107b) up to lock in position the annular anchoring structure (10), rotating the service drum (107a, 107b) about a longitudinal axis (X-X) thereof and, during such a rotation, turning the loop (5) up about the annular anchoring structure (10).

In the building of a carcass structure for tyres of vehicle wheels, the step of reinforcing with a loop at least one annular anchoring structure (10) associated at the axially opposite end edges of a carcass ply is carried out. Said reinforcement step is carried out on at least one radially expandable/contractable service drum (107a, 107b) and comprises the steps of: setting the service drum (107a, 107b) to a predetermined radial dimension selected according to the fitting diameter of the tyre to be manufactured, depositing the loop (5) on the service drum (107a, 107b), loading the annular anchoring structure (10) onto the service drum (107a, 107b) in a radially outer position with respect to the loop (5), radially expanding the service drum (107a, 107b) up to lock in position the annular anchoring structure (10), rotating the service drum (107a, 107b) about a longitudinal axis (X-X) thereof and, during such a rotation, turning the loop (5) up about the annular anchoring structure (10).

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.

A cutting apparatus for an elongate wire is provided, and includes a housing that supports a first cutter that has a body, a recess, and a cutting blade. The cutting blade is disposed upon a wall of the body that defines the recess, the first cutter is fixed with respect to the housing. The housing additionally supports a second cutter that has a body, a recess, and a cutting blade, wherein the cutting blade is disposed upon a wall of the body that defines the recess. The second cutter is normally positioned with respect to the first cutter such that the recess of the first cutter is aligned with the recess of the second cutter, and is movable to a second position where the recess of the second cutter translates with respect to the recess of the first cutter, such that the respective cutting blades translate toward each other.

A cutting apparatus for an elongate wire is provided, and includes a housing that supports a first cutter that has a body, a recess, and a cutting blade. The cutting blade is disposed upon a wall of the body that defines the recess, the first cutter is fixed with respect to the housing. The housing additionally supports a second cutter that has a body, a recess, and a cutting blade, wherein the cutting blade is disposed upon a wall of the body that defines the recess. The second cutter is normally positioned with respect to the first cutter such that the recess of the first cutter is aligned with the recess of the second cutter, and is movable to a second position where the recess of the second cutter translates with respect to the recess of the first cutter, such that the respective cutting blades translate toward each other.

A tire 2 includes a pair of beads 12 and a carcass 14. A core 28 of each bead 12 includes a body 34 having a hexagonal cross-section, and a cover 36 covering the body 34. The cover 36 is wrapped around the body 34, and the number of turns the cover 36 is wrapped around the body 34 is greater than or equal to one and smaller than two. The cover 36 includes a plain weave fabric obtained by interlacing warp threads 72 and weft threads 74. The warp threads 72 and the weft threads 74 intersect. An angle of the intersection is greater than or equal to 45° and not greater than 125°. The warp threads 72 are inclined relative to a carcass cord 70. An angle of the inclination is greater than or equal to 22.5° and not greater than 67.5°.

A bead core covering method for covering an annular bead core with a belt-like rubber sheet includes winding the rubber sheet extruded by an extruding machine via a mouth piece around an outer peripheral surface of a rotary drum from a leading end portion, attaching a part in a width direction of the rubber sheet on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum to an outer surface of the bead core, which rotates, from the leading end portion before the rubber sheet is wound over an entire periphery of the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum, and wrapping a remaining portion in the width direction of the rubber sheet attached to the outer surface of the bead core along a cross-sectional shape of the bead core.

A bead core covering method for covering an annular bead core with a belt-like rubber sheet includes winding the rubber sheet extruded by an extruding machine via a mouth piece around an outer peripheral surface of a rotary drum from a leading end portion, attaching a part in a width direction of the rubber sheet on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum to an outer surface of the bead core, which rotates, from the leading end portion before the rubber sheet is wound over an entire periphery of the outer peripheral surface of the rotary drum, and wrapping a remaining portion in the width direction of the rubber sheet attached to the outer surface of the bead core along a cross-sectional shape of the bead core.

Provided is a pneumatic tire having laminated reinforcement layers with organic fiber over a polygonal cross-section bead core, and in the layer, a rubber-coated organic fiber cord is tilted to the center line of the bead core in a transverse section and is spirally coiled, in which each organic fiber cord in an inner and outer adjacent reinforcement layers over the bead core extends such that an organic fiber cord in the inner reinforcement layer and an organic fiber cord in the outer reinforcement layer intersect each other relative to the center line of the bead core in the transverse section, in which in the inner reinforcement layer, the cord is coiled with space at least partially in a tire circumferential direction such that the cord does not overlap in the tire circumferential direction, and the outer reinforcement layer is arranged to cover at least a part of the space.

Provided is a pneumatic tire having laminated reinforcement layers with organic fiber over a polygonal cross-section bead core, and in the layer, a rubber-coated organic fiber cord is tilted to the center line of the bead core in a transverse section and is spirally coiled, in which each organic fiber cord in an inner and outer adjacent reinforcement layers over the bead core extends such that an organic fiber cord in the inner reinforcement layer and an organic fiber cord in the outer reinforcement layer intersect each other relative to the center line of the bead core in the transverse section, in which in the inner reinforcement layer, the cord is coiled with space at least partially in a tire circumferential direction such that the cord does not overlap in the tire circumferential direction, and the outer reinforcement layer is arranged to cover at least a part of the space.