Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Patent
1990-08-22
1992-05-19
Knable, Geoffrey L.
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
156111, 156123, 156130, 156174, 156218, 1564051, 1564064, B29D 3030
Patent
active
051145111
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to a method of manufacture of a tubular article and in particular, although not exclusively, to the manufacture of a reinforced and flexible tubular article such as a pneumatic tire, suspension diaphragm or tubular component for such an article. The invention provides also a tubular article such as a pneumatic tire, suspension diaphragm or component for such an article manufactured by the method of the present invention.
A reinforced flexible article such as a pneumatic tire comprises a large number of component parts and the quality of the finished tire is related to the care and accuracy with which these parts are assembled and supported, for example as a tubular part-formed assembly, for subsequent processing such as by deformation, moulding and vulcanisation operations.
The present invention seeks to provide in accordance with one of its aspects an improved method for the manufacture of a tubular article such as a component of or for deformation to form at least a part of a pneumatic tire.
In a method for the manufacture of a tubular article comprising receiving flexible sheet material onto a flexible carrier at a first work station, feeding said sheet material from the first to a second work station whilst said material is supported on and retained by the flexible carrier, and causing said sheet material and flexible carrier to lie at the second work station in a tubular form substantially coaxially relative to a former with the sheet material disposed between the flexible carrier and former, the present invention provides that the flexible carrier is of non-tubular form at said first work station, that the flexible carrier and sheet material supported thereon are caused to adopt a peripherally continuous tubular from at the second work station and that said former and carrier are moved relatively one toward the other whereby said sheet material may be subject to pressure between the former and carrier.
Preferably the former is an expansible former and the flexible carrier is caused to adopt a tubular form in which it extends around the expansible former at the second work station.
The direction relative to the carrier in which the sheet material is received by the carrier at the first work station may be substantially perpendicular to the direction, relative to the carrier, in which sheet material is transferred to the second work station. In that case if the sheet material possesses a substantially tubular form at each work station an elemental strip of the sheet material which lies substantially in the longitudinal direction at the first work station will extend substantially circumferentially at the second work station.
Sheet material when in a substantially tubular form at the first work station preferably is cut or otherwise provided with a pair of transversely, e.g. substantially longitudinally extending, edge regions whereby said material may be unfolded and received by the flexible carrier. The sheet material can be cut or otherwise provided at the first work station with a pair of transverse edges which extend other than in the longitudinal direction between the axial ends of the tubular form. Thus when unfolded onto the carrier the sheet material may be of a parallelogram or other non-rectangular shape. By the method of the invention the sheet material may be transferred from the flexible carrier to the second work station in a direction substantially parallel with the direction of the length of said transverse edges when the sheet material is supported on the carrier.
Preferably use is made of a flexible carrier which is undersized in relation to the width or length of the sheet material to be transported whereby edge regions of the flexible sheet material overhang edge regions of the flexible carrier. It is envisaged that the sheet material will overhang those opposite edges of the carrier which constitute substantially tubular-shaped end regions of the carrier when flexed and disposed to extend substantially coaxially relative to the former at the second work stati
REFERENCES:
patent: 3057397 (1962-10-01), Riddle et al.
patent: 3236711 (1966-02-01), Adler
patent: 3674603 (1972-07-01), Leblond
patent: 4398988 (1983-08-01), Mullender
patent: 4783230 (1988-11-01), Perkins
patent: 4877468 (1989-10-01), Siegenthaler
Bridgestone/Firestone Inc.
Knable Geoffrey L.
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