JP4759969B2 - Tire vulcanization mold - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a tire vulcanization mold, and more particularly to a sectional type tire vulcanization mold that can cope with the production of a pneumatic tire with a changed pitch arrangement without producing a new mold.

Generally, tire vulcanizing mold sectioner le type has an annular side mold for molding a tread pattern of a tire between the upper and lower molds, a plurality of sectors divided along the side mold in the circumferential direction It is composed. A pattern element molding part for molding a tread pattern is provided on the tread molding surface of each sector (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, in order to suppress the noise (pattern noise) resulting from a tread pattern, a pneumatic tire provided with a tread pattern composed of a plurality of pattern elements having different pitch lengths on a tread surface is well known. Such a pneumatic tire is vulcanized and molded by a tire vulcanization mold having a pattern element molding portion that molds a plurality of pattern elements having different pitch lengths on the tread molding surface of each sector. Since pattern elements with different pitch lengths are formed on the surface of the tread part of a green tire with a uniform wall thickness, it is inevitable that the thickness of the tread part after the molding will vary, which deteriorates the uniformity. It is one of the causes.

  Therefore, when designing the pneumatic tire described above, the tire is designed so as to obtain a high pattern noise reduction effect while minimizing the negative effects on uniformity. May not be obtained, and there may be a case where the effect predicted by compatibility with the vehicle to be mounted cannot be obtained.

In order to solve this, when trying to make a prototype of a pneumatic tire with rearranged pattern elements and changing the pitch arrangement, it is necessary to re-create a new mold (side mold) accordingly, resulting in mold costs and There was a problem that the tire development period increased.
JP-A-9-309114

  The present invention can be applied to the production of pneumatic tires having a changed pitch arrangement without producing a new mold, and can be used for tire vulcanization, which can reduce the mold cost and the tire development period. It is to provide a mold.

A mold for tire vulcanization according to the present invention that achieves the above object has a plurality of land portions divided into a plurality of lateral grooves extending along the tire axis, and a plurality of different pitch lengths including the lateral grooves and the land portions. An annular side mold for forming a tread pattern of the pattern elements on the tread surface is composed of a plurality of pieces divided along the circumferential direction, and the plurality of pieces includes the lateral groove without including the land portion. And a plurality of second pieces for forming the region including the land portion without including the lateral grooves, and forming the regions including the horizontal grooves arranged in the tire circumferential direction. A plurality of first pieces bears, and a plurality of second pieces arranged in the tire circumferential direction bear the molding of a region including each land portion .

Region including a plurality of pieces divided form along a side type in the circumferential direction as described above, a plurality of first piece of molding a region including the lateral groove without the land portion, the land portion without the transverse grooves And a plurality of first pieces arranged in the tire circumferential direction, and forming the regions including the land portions in the tire circumferential direction. Since the plurality of second pieces thus taken up are carried out, the pattern elements are rearranged, and when it is necessary to produce a pneumatic tire with a changed pitch arrangement, it is easily handled by simply rearranging the pieces. Therefore, it is possible to produce a pneumatic tire with a changed pitch arrangement without producing a new mold. Therefore, the mold cost can be reduced and the tire development period can be shortened.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a tire vulcanization mold according to the present invention. Reference numerals 1 and 2 denote an upper mold and a lower mold for molding a side portion of a pneumatic tire, and 3 denotes an upper mold 1 and a lower mold 2. Is an annular side mold disposed in

  As shown in FIG. 2, the side mold 3 is disposed on the tread surface 4 of the pneumatic tire with different pitch lengths La, Lb, Lc, Ld, Le along the tire circumferential direction T, and the tire shaft (tire width direction). And a plurality of pattern elements having different pitch lengths La, Lb, Lc, Ld, and Le including a plurality of land portions 6 divided by a plurality of horizontal grooves 5 extending along the horizontal grooves 5). A tread pattern 7 composed of A, B, C, D, and E is formed.

  In the illustrated example, the tread pattern 7 further includes a main groove 8 and a circumferential narrow groove 9 that extend in the tire circumferential direction T, and the lateral groove 5 extends between the main groove 8 and the circumferential narrow groove 9. ing. The land portion 6 made of a block is sectioned by the lateral groove 5, the main groove 8 and the circumferential narrow groove 9, and further provided with ribs 10 partitioned by the main groove 8 and the circumferential narrow groove 9, and each pattern element A , B, C, D, E are composed of these parts.

  The side mold 3 is composed of sectors 11 divided into a plurality along the circumferential direction, and each sector 11 has a plurality of pattern elements A, B, C, D, and treads on a tread molding surface 12 as shown in FIG. A pattern element forming portion 13 for forming E is provided. The pattern element forming portion 13 includes a main groove forming blade 14 for forming the main groove 8, a circumferential narrow groove forming blade 15 for forming the circumferential narrow groove 9, and a lateral groove forming blade 16 for forming the lateral groove 5 on the tread molding surface 12. It has a protruding configuration.

  Each sector 11 is further composed of a plurality of pieces 17 divided along the circumferential direction. The plurality of pieces 17 includes a plurality of first pieces 17A that form the region X including each lateral groove 5 and each land portion 6. It is comprised from the some 2nd piece 17B which shape | molds the area | region Y to include.

  Each first piece 17A includes a pattern element forming portion 13A having a main groove forming blade portion 14a, a circumferential narrow groove forming blade portion 15a, and a lateral groove forming blade portion 16a on the tread forming surface 12 side. Each second piece 17B has a pattern element forming portion 13B provided with a main groove forming blade portion 14a and a circumferential narrow groove forming blade portion 15a on the tread forming surface 12 side.

  As described above, in the present invention, the plurality of pieces 17 divided and formed along the circumferential direction are constituted by the plurality of first pieces 17A and the plurality of second pieces 17B described above, whereby the pattern elements A, B, C, When it is necessary to rearrange D and E and to produce a pneumatic tire with a changed pitch arrangement, FIG. 4 shows an example (pattern elements C, A, E, B, and D in this order). As shown in the example), it is only necessary to rearrange the first piece 17A and the second piece 17B, so that it corresponds to the production of a pneumatic tire with a changed pitch arrangement without producing a new mold. Can do. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the mold cost and the tire development period.

  In addition, by configuring the sector 11 from the plurality of pieces 17, the sector 11 can be easily attached to an existing vulcanizer attached to each sector 11.

It is a half sectional view showing one embodiment of a mold for tire vulcanization of the present invention. It is a principal part expanded view of the left half of the tread surface which shows an example of a tread pattern. FIG. 3 is a development view of a lower half of a tread forming surface of a sector for forming the tread pattern of FIG. 2. It is an expanded view equivalent to FIG. 3 which shows an example of the sector which rearranged the piece.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper mold | type 2 Lower mold | type 3 Side type | mold 4 Tread surface 5 Horizontal groove 6 Land part 7 Tread pattern 11 Sector 12 Tread molding surface 13 Pattern element molding part 17 Piece 17A 1st piece 17B 2nd piece A, B, C, D, E Pattern elements
La, Lb, Lc, Ld, Le Pitch length T Tire circumferential direction
X, Y area

Claims (2)

An annular shape having a plurality of land portions divided into a plurality of transverse grooves extending along the tire axis, and forming a tread pattern including a plurality of pattern elements having different pitch lengths including the transverse grooves and the land portions on the tread surface. The side mold is composed of a plurality of pieces divided along the circumferential direction, and the plurality of pieces includes a plurality of first pieces for forming a region including the lateral groove without including the land portion, and does not include the lateral groove. A plurality of second pieces that form the region including the land portion, and the plurality of first pieces arranged in the tire circumferential direction bear the molding of the region including each lateral groove, and the region including each land portion A tire vulcanization mold in which molding is performed by a plurality of second pieces arranged in the tire circumferential direction . 2. The tire vulcanization mold according to claim 1, wherein the side mold is constituted by a plurality of sectors divided along the circumferential direction, and the sector is constituted by the plurality of pieces obtained by dividing each sector along the circumferential direction.

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