Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29D—PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE
  • B29D30/00—Producing pneumatic or solid tyres or parts thereof
  • B29D30/06—Pneumatic tyres or parts thereof (e.g. produced by casting, moulding, compression moulding, injection moulding, centrifugal casting)
  • B29D30/08—Building tyres
  • B29D30/20—Building tyres by the flat-tyre method, i.e. building on cylindrical drums
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
  • B29D—PRODUCING PARTICULAR ARTICLES FROM PLASTICS OR FROM SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE
  • B29D30/00—Producing pneumatic or solid tyres or parts thereof
  • B29D30/0016—Handling tyres or parts thereof, e.g. supplying, storing, conveying

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device for suspending tire carcasses; more specifically, the invention relates to a suspension device for holding raw carcasses during the manufacture of tires while retaining their substantially vertical axis.
• this type of suspension will be designated by the expression "vertical suspension”.
• the invention also relates to a method of making tires using said device.
• first stage or also called “manufacturing”
• second stage or also called “finishing”
• a cylindrical crown reinforcement, or belt and a tread are applied to this carcass; finally, the assembly is vulcanized in a mold.
• the raw carcass must be stored or possibly transported from the making machine to the finishing machine, in a state where it is very deformable, since the rubber is plastic, unvulcanized.
• the carcasses were hung on gallows, the axis of the carcasses being horizontal, but, under the effect of their own weight, they deformed into an oval; then the carcasses were placed flat, their axis being vertical.
• the upper sidewall sagged.
• US Pat. No. 4,452,655 describes a means for supporting a carcass of a raw tire comprising two beads, with its vertical axis.
• This elliptical support means comprises four vertical plates capable of accepting a certain elastic bending allowing them to engage under the upper bead to maintain the carcass, the plates being distributed over the two small arcs of the ellipse.
• Maintaining the carcass on the support is thus achieved by pressing the plates on said carcass below the upper bead, the carcass opposing a radial extension of the plates.
• the support means in order to accept carcasses of different dimensions, makes use of the flexibility of the plates, which means that the carcasses of smaller dimensions undergo greater efforts and therefore greater risks of deformation. To avoid this phenomenon, each dimension of tire requires a corresponding size of the device which is therefore no longer multidimensional.
• the “rough carcass” designates the raw blank as it results from the operations carried out according to the first step.
• the present invention aims to overcome all of these drawbacks.
• the invention proposes a device for substantially vertical suspension of tire carcasses, comprising a plurality of supports distributed around a lift axis XX ′, mounted on a handling platform and capable of bearing inside of a carcass of pneumatic, the supports being movable radially with respect to the suspension axis between at least one retracted carcass loading / unloading position and at least one spaced apart carcass holding position, said device comprising a system with at least one spring exerting a radial expansion force on the supports, this expansion being capable of being limited by a stop limiting the radial stroke of the supports.
• Such a device makes it possible to limit the radial force exerted on the carcasses. This optimizes the uniformity of the tire.
• the carcass loading and unloading stages are particularly easy to carry out and lend themselves well to automation.
• the stop is arranged on an actuating lever.
• This actuating lever is capable of being actuated, for the purposes of disengaging said abutment, by the positioning of the carcass to be suspended on the device.
• This arrangement with the lever greatly facilitates the positioning of the carcass since the passage of the supports to the separated position for holding the carcass is automatically controlled by the sole positioning of the carcass.
• the radial stroke of the supports allowed by said stopper is preferably adjustable, the adjustment of the stroke being effected by modifying the distance of the stopper with respect to the lift axis XX '.
• This feature allows carcasses of different sizes to be hung on the same device. The operator only has to adjust the distance between the supports as a function of the diameter of the carcass to be suspended.
• the tension of the spring is advantageously adjustable.
• the force undergone by the carcass is adjusted, according to the type of product in manufacture and its dimensions, so as to ensure the integrity of the carcass.
• the supports are distributed regularly with respect to the vertical axis and respectively comprise a support surface intended to be in contact with the carcass to be suspended, the envelope of these support surfaces constituting a substantially cylindrical surface.
• the forces exerted by the supports on the carcass to be suspended are distributed substantially uniformly over the circumference of the latter.
• the radial displacements of the supports are controlled by at least one connecting rod articulated on the one hand on the supports and, on the other hand, on a ring sliding along the suspension axis XX '. It is then possible to provide a jack allowing the supports to be brought closer to the suspension axis XX 'by moving the ring.
• a device for substantially vertical suspension of tire carcasses comprising an assembly provided with at least two supports, distributed around an axis of lift X-X ', mounted on a handling plate and capable of bearing inside a tire carcass, the supports being movable radially with respect to the lift axis between at least one retracted position for loading / unloading the carcass and at least one open position for holding the carcass, each of the supports being associated with a sliding rack arm cooperating with a toothed wheel carried by the handling plate, said wheel coordinating the translational movements of said arms so as to separate them or bring them closer to the lift axis XX 'simultaneously.
• Such an arrangement makes it possible, for example, to use a single spring capable of acting on two, four, or even more, supports. Although it is advantageous to arrange the supports in pairs, it is also possible to use an odd number of supports. These are then preferably distributed uniformly around the suspension axis.
• the invention also provides a method of making a tire consisting in:
• This process is particularly advantageous since it makes it possible to optimize the uniformity of the tire.
• the radial mobility of the supports makes it possible to place and remove the carcass in a very simple, inexpensive and ergonomic manner.
• the simultaneous bringing together of the arms in fact makes it possible to reach a retracted position of the arms in which the latter are no longer in contact with the carcass, which allows easy and simple loading and / or unloading of said carcass.
• the radial distance from the stop of the lever to the vertical axis is adjustable according to the size of the carcass to be suspended.
• FIG. 1 is a horizontal sectional view of the device in its rack variant
• FIG. 1 is an elevation-sectional view of the device of Figure 1;
• FIG. 3 is a side view in partial section of the same device
• FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the device in its variant with links
• FIG. 6 is a top view in partial section of the device of Figure 5.
• the suspension device comprises four supports in the form of rigid pads 1, 2, 3 and 4 whose outer surface is cylindrical with a vertical axis; intended to serve as supports for a carcass of a raw tire (not shown) arranged with its vertical axis.
• each shoe has a protruding rim, such as 5 (fig. 2), which is positioned under a bead of the carcass to be suspended, which will be called the upper bead, the carcass being presented with its vertical axis.
• the envelope of the outer surfaces of the pads 1, 2, 3, 4 constitute a substantially cylindrical surface.
• the vertical suspension axis is designated by XX '.
• each shoe is secured to an arm 6, 7, 8 and 9, which can move in a slide, only the slides 10 and 11 cooperating with the arms 6 and 7 are shown, practiced in a handling tray rigid 14.
• This plate is fixed horizontally under a bracket 15.
• This bracket is part of a known type of conveyor, not shown.
• each arm comprises a rack 16, 17, 18 and 19 which meshes with an axial toothed wheel 20.
• a spring 21 mounted compressed in the bracket 15 exerts an expansion force on the shoe 1 by means of an extension 22 of the latter; this force transmitted by the arm 6 to the toothed wheel 20 is thus exerted on all of the arms 6, 7, 8, 9 and tends to move them apart radially.
• This expansion is stopped by a stop formed by a shoulder 23 of a movable lever 24 which blocks the radial movement of the pad 2, and therefore of the set of pads.
• the invention makes it possible to easily adapt the device to different dimensions of carcasses; for this, the radial distance from the stop 23 to the vertical axis XX 'can be modified by moving the point of articulation of the lever 24; for this purpose, grooves 25, 26, 27, etc. provided in the end of the bracket 15 make it possible to receive a stud 28 integral with the lever 24 which constitutes the axis of rotation of the lever 24.
• This stud 28 is engaged in that of the grooves which provides the radial distance between the stop 23 and the axis XX 'corresponding to the desired extension of the set of pads.
• the position of the spring 21 can be adjusted according to the size of the carcass; for this, an end plug 30 carries a pin 31 which can be engaged in grooves 32, 33 of the bracket 15, and thus allow the elongation of the spring 21 to be exerted correctly.
• the force exerted on the spring 21 can be adjusted by means of the pads 1, 2, 3, 4.
• the mechanical means for coordinating the movements of the arms in their slides consist of connecting rods 40, 41, 42 and 43, the upper ends of which are articulated on the pads for supporting the carcass 44, 45, 46 and 47, while their lower ends are articulated on a ring 48 which can slide along the vertical axis XX '.
• a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 59 supplied by a flexible tube 60 makes it possible to return all of the pads and connecting rods to their retracted positions, by lowering the ring 48, and by compressing the four springs which control the expansion of the pads. The carcass can therefore be easily unloaded from the suspension device.
• this retracting position can be carried out by hand in a simplified version of the invention: it suffices to pull the ring 48 down until the shoe 44 comes into abutment under the shoulder 52 of lever 53.

Landscapes

• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Tyre Moulding (AREA)
• Moulds For Moulding Plastics Or The Like (AREA)
• Tires In General (AREA)

Priority Applications (5)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Related Child Applications (1)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=9530424

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (7)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (2)

Citations (8)

Family Cites Families (2)

• 1999
  • 1999-09-13 JP JP2000569993A patent/JP4416327B2/ja not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1999-09-13 DE DE69913171T patent/DE69913171T2/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-09-13 WO PCT/EP1999/006750 patent/WO2000015422A1/fr not_active Ceased
  • 1999-09-13 ES ES99969061T patent/ES2211229T3/es not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1999-09-13 BR BR9913677-5A patent/BR9913677A/pt not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 1999-09-13 EP EP99969061A patent/EP1113919B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 2001
  • 2001-03-09 US US09/803,183 patent/US6558495B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime

Patent Citations (8)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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