Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-08
2003-04-15
Knable, Geoffrey L. (Department: 1733)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S133000, C156S134000, C156S406400
Reexamination Certificate
active
06547906
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for transporting a belt construction strip, utilized for constructing a belt for a pneumatic vehicle tire having parallel reinforcing members, e.g., steel members, embedded in a belt construction material, e.g., rubber, and positioned diagonally to the feed direction, to a subsequent processing device, e.g., a belt construction drum. The belt construction strip is further processed for processing in the subsequent processing device. The belt construction strip, which may be defined by a side edge of its two lateral sides in a feed direction and by a front edge on a front end relative to the feed direction and a rear edge on a rear end relative to the feed direction The front and rear edges may extend diagonally and substantially parallel to the reinforcing members so that a front tip, formed by the front edge and an adjacent side edge, and a rear tip, formed by the rear edge and the other side edge, enclose an acute angle, e.g., between approximately 10° and 35°. The front tip and the rear tip may be fed to the processing device via at least two conveying devices, e.g., continuous conveying belts, successively positioned, i.e., one after the other, in the feed direction, and laterally aligned without a lateral stop.
The present invention also relates to a device for conveying and preparing a belt construction strip for constructing a belt of a pneumatic vehicle tire with parallel reinforcing members, e.g., steel members, positioned to extend diagonally to the feed direction, and embedded in the belt construction material, e.g., rubber, for processing in a subsequent processing device, e.g., a belt construction drum. Two continuous conveying devices may be successively positioned, i.e., one after the other, in a feed direction, and at least the conveying device disposed upstream relative to the feed direction may be laterally movable in a controlled manner.
2. Discussion of the Background Information
It is known to form belt construction strips for constructing a belt of a pneumatic vehicle tire out of parallel steel cords embedded in rubber, positioned to extend diagonally to a feed direction, and to transport them to a belt construction drum via continuous conveyor belts. The front end of the belt construction strip supplied to the belt construction drum may be placed on the drum, the belt construction drum is rotated around its axis, and the belt construction strip is wound once around the circumference of the belt construction drum so that the rear edge of the wound belt construction strip on the drum comes into contact with the front edge of the belt construction strip. The two ends of the belt construction strip are spliced to each other along their front and rear edges, respectively, without the steel cords overlapping. A second or additional belt layer is usually mounted onto the first belt layer in the same manner. In order for the steel cords, which are given the desired alignment in the pneumatic vehicle tire with an acute angle between 10° and 30° relative to an equatorial plane in radial pneumatic vehicle tires with radial casings, the belt construction strips are formed so that in the laying, the steel cords already assume an acute angle, for example of 10° to 30°, relative to the circumference direction.
In order not to jeopardize the functionality of a pneumatic vehicle tire, the steel cords are prevented, to the greatest extent possible, from being discontinuous in the axial span of the belt. Therefore, when being laid, the front end and the rear end of the belt construction strip must also be formed to be substantially parallel to the alignment of the steel cords and, consequently, must be formed to enclose the acute angle relative to the circumference direction. Therefore, the belt construction strips are formed with lateral and substantially parallel side edges, a diagonally extending front edge, and a diagonally extending rear edge, respectively, so that a substantially triangular front tip, formed between the front edge and one side edge, encloses an acute angle, adjoining an substantially rectangular main part laterally defined by the two side edges. The main part adjoins a substantially triangular rear tip, formed between the rear edge and the other side edge, enclosing an acute angle. This construction strip is normally conveyed to the belt construction drum with its front tip first.
For manufacturing reasons, as well as due to other force influences during the conveying, the side edges of the belt construction strip, which is comprised of rubber and steel cord, are generally not precisely straight in the course of their edges, but are curvilinear. Curvilinearity of the two side edges can be formed as different to each other so that a central symmetry line running in the feed direction, i.e., between the side edges, represents a curvilinear curve running between the two side edges.
Furthermore, generally the two tips are also frequently curved in an irregular fashion due to different external force effects and due to the plastic deformability of the material. The tips can be formed as curved both axially inward and axially outward, or even curved in a directionally changing manner.
The belt construction strips are usually manufactured from a continuous belt construction band by cutting, parallel to the diagonally extending steel cords, to form the rear edge of a previous belt construction strip and a front edge of a next (subsequent) belt construction strip. Through the cutting motion of the knife from the one side edge to the other side edge, rubber material is pulled along to the side with the knife so that the front and rear tips can be curved. This curvature, however, can also be produced by other external force effects during the production of the belt construction strip or during the conveying to the belt construction drum, e.g., due to mechanical contact, side edge stops or front edge stops are a danger source for the production of this kind of curvatures.
When laying a belt construction strip of this kind, irregularities in the contour course of the side edges, as well as the curvatures in the area of the front and rear tips, lead to the fact that the front ends to be spliced can be axially offset relative to each other, and that there is no parallel, touching contour course then between the front edge and rear edge, by which the production of a reliable splicing weld can be hindered and, in the extreme case, prevented.
The irregular, unevenly curved course of the two side edges relative to each other, and the symmetry axis produced by this, which is formed running in a curved fashion between the side edges, brings about the fact that, over the circumference of the tire, the belt construction strip is also given an irregular axial extension and positioning. This jeopardizes the driving properties, the uniformity, and the functionality of a pneumatic vehicle tire produced in this way.
DE 39 13 240 C2 has disclosed using lateral guide rolls, which are positioned on both sides of the metal cord strip and can be jointly adjusted in the axial direction, to straighten a metal cord strip in the course of its side edges. The metal cord strip is cut on a diagonal on the ends and is utilized for the manufacture of a pneumatic vehicle tire. The metal cord strip is conveyed past the lateral stops formed by the lateral guide rolls and is laterally pressed to a desired width. In this manner, the side edges are in fact straightened, but this causes them to be formed to be irregularly thick because only the rubber material in the strip edge region, which reaches axially outward beyond the limit edge formed by the lateral guide rolls, is pressed inward toward the strip. Thus, the rubber material moves out of the way either upward or downward. The previous uneven and mutually irregular contour courses of the two side edges lead to irregular thickness courses of the side edges. Thus, the thickness courses are unevenly irregular relative to each other. Consequently, no
Kölker Martin
Sergel Horst
Continental Aktiengesellschaft
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Knable Geoffrey L.
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