Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Reshaping – resizing or vulcanizing means for tire – tire... – Interior holding means or curing bag inserter – releaser – or...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-17
2003-12-02
Mackey, James P. (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Reshaping, resizing or vulcanizing means for tire, tire...
Interior holding means or curing bag inserter, releaser, or...
C425S058000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06655941
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer, which uses a both-end open type bladder.
A conventional tire vulcanizer is described with reference to FIG.
6
. Reference numeral
50
denotes a bladder,
51
denotes a lower ring,
51
a
denotes an internally threaded portion provided on the lower inside peripheral surface of the lower ring
51
, and
52
denotes a lower bead ring fixed to the lower ring
51
. The lower part of the bladder
50
is held by the lower ring
51
and the lower bead ring
52
.
Reference numeral
53
denotes a housing,
53
a
denotes an externally threaded portion provided on the upper outside peripheral surface of the housing
53
, and
54
denotes O-ring grooves provided on the aforementioned outside peripheral surface of the housing
53
. The externally threaded portion
53
a
provided on the upper outside peripheral surface of the housing
53
is threadedly engaged with the internally threaded portion
51
a
provided on the lower inside peripheral surface of the lower ring
51
, so that the housing
53
is detachably fixed to the lower ring
51
.
A post
55
is provided in the housing
53
in such a manner as to be capable of moving vertically. At the upper part of the post
55
are provided an upper ring (not shown) for holding the upper part of the bladder
50
and an upper clamp ring (not shown). The upper ring and the post
55
are bolted to each other, and the lower end of the post
55
is connected to a piston of a fluid pressure cylinder, so that when the fluid pressure cylinder is operated in the extending direction, a bladder assembly (a bladder assembly consisting of the bladder
50
, the lower ring
51
, the lower bead ring
52
, the upper ring, and the upper clamp ring) is elevated.
At this time, the lower ring
51
is rotated about five to six turns together with the bladder
50
by man power so that the lower ring
51
is removed from the housing
53
, by which the bladder
50
and the O-rings in the O-ring grooves
54
, which are expendables, are replaced.
On the conventional tire vulcanizer shown in
FIG. 6
, when the bladder
50
and the O-rings are replaced, an operator must remove the housing
53
by rotating the lower ring
51
about five to six turns together with the bladder
50
in a high-temperature atmosphere. Therefore, not only the replacement of the bladder
50
and O-rings requires much time, but also hard work is forced upon the operator in a high-temperature atmosphere, which imposes an excessive burden on the operator.
Also, since the replacement of the bladder
50
and O-rings requires much time as described above, the productivity is decreased, and radiation loss is increased.
To overcome these problems, the applicant of this invention has already proposed a tire vulcanizer shown in
FIGS. 7 and 8
(Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 01-047511 (047511/1989)).
With this tire vulcanizer, after the vulcanization of a tire is completed, a piston rod
136
a
of a fluid pressure cylinder
136
is operated in the extending direction to turn a Y-shaped lever
133
clockwise around a rotation axis
132
, by which a lever
135
and a fluid pressure cylinder
123
, and a housing
115
, a piston rod
123
a
, a rod
116
, a bladder assembly
105
to
113
, and each vulcanizing medium inflow/outflow pipe
114
are elevated to separate a lower bead ring
110
of the bladder assembly
105
to
113
from a lower mold
104
.
Next, piston rod
139
a
of a fluid pressure cylinder
139
for each stopper
141
is operated in the extending direction to move each stopper
141
to a position just under each nut
127
.
Then, the piston rod
136
a
of the fluid pressure cylinder
136
is operated in the retracting direction to turn the Y-shaped lever
133
counterclockwise around the rotation axis
132
, by which the lever
135
and the fluid pressure cylinder
123
, and the housing
115
, the piston rod
123
a
, the rod
116
, the bladder assembly
105
to
113
, and each vulcanizing medium inflow/outflow pipe
114
are lowered to make each nut
127
abut against each stopper
141
.
At this time, the lowering of each vulcanizing medium inflow/outflow pipe
114
and the bladder assembly
105
to
113
ceases, but the lowering of other parts, that is, the lever
135
and the fluid pressure cylinder
123
, and the housing
115
and the bladder assembly
105
to
113
continues. Therefore, each belleville spring
128
is pressed by a flange
123
c
of the fluid pressure cylinder
123
, and a head
114
a
of the vulcanizing medium inflow/outflow pipe
114
is separated from an engagement hole
109
a
formed in a lower ring
109
of the bladder assembly
105
to
113
.
When this state is reached, a bolt
126
, which detachably fixes an upper ring
106
of the bladder assembly
105
to
113
to a rod
116
, is removed.
Then, the bladder assembly
105
to
113
is rotated in the direction of arrow (F) (counterclockwise) in
FIG. 8
in the range of the engagement hole
109
a
around the center axis of the tire vulcanizer by man power, so that the head
114
a
of each vulcanizing medium inflow/outflow pipe
114
is positioned at the large-diameter hole portion of the engagement hole
109
a
. Reference character L in
FIG. 8
denotes a lock position, and UL denotes an unlock position.
Next, the bladder assembly
105
to
113
is pulled out upward.
After the old bladder is replaced with a new one, the bladder assembly
105
is mounted by reversing the above procedure, by which the preparation for tire vulcanization is completed.
On this tire vulcanizer, although the amount of rotation is significantly reduced, the lower ring must be rotated together with the bladder. Therefore, the frictional resistance of O-ring, which is inserted between the lower ring and the housing, is high, so that there remains a problem of hard work being forced upon the operator in a high-temperature atmosphere.
OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention was made to solve the above problems. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer, which can significantly shorten the work time for replacing a bladder, which is an expendable.
To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer, which uses a both-end open type bladder, comprising: a plurality of clamp rods slidably inserted into a housing to the lower part of which a post cylinder for vertically expanding and contracting a bladder assembly is assembled; a claw mechanism for detachably engaging the upper end portion of the clamp rod with the lower ring of the bladder assembly; and driving means for vertically moving and turning the clamp rod.
The central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer in accordance with the present invention, which is constructed as described above, is operated as described below. After a tire has been vulcanized (a bladder is expanded), the clamp rod is elevated to elevate a lower ring and separate it from the housing. After that, the clamp rod is turned so that a claw of the claw mechanism between the lower ring and the clamp rod can pass through. Then, a pin fixing a post to an upper ring is pulled out, and the bladder assembly is hung and carried out of the vulcanizer to replace the bladder and O-rings. After the bladder and other parts have been replaced, the bladder assembly is hung and mounted to the vulcanizer so that the hole for the claw mechanism of the lower ring is aligned with the upper end of the clamp rod. At this time, when the claw of the claw mechanism passes through, the lower ring is supported by the elevated clamp rod, and the lower ring and a supply/discharge opening of the housing is aligned with each other. After the mounting of the bladder assembly is completed, the pin is inserted in the upper ring and the post by reversing the above procedure to connect them to each other. The clamp rod is turned in the reverse direction to engage the claw of the claw mechanism. Then, the
Birch & Stewart Kolasch & Birch, LLP
Mackey James P.
Mitsubishi Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
LandOfFree
Central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Central mechanism for a tire vulcanizer will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3184020