Wheelwright machines – Grooving – slitting and/or lacerating of rubber tires
Patent
1990-02-08
1991-12-24
Terrell, William E.
Wheelwright machines
Grooving, slitting and/or lacerating of rubber tires
82 12, B29D 3068, B23C 328
Patent
active
050743465
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tire grooving apparatus, and more particularly relates to a tire grooving apparatus, wherein a cutter support can be moved up and down independently, so as to carve tread grooves having various depths by means of a cutter of the same shape and size.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, the work of grooving a tire for trial manufacturing and limited scale production, namely carving the tread pattern grooves in plain cured tires without any tread pattern is generally performed by means of a hand cutter, and it requires skill and a lot of time.
Taking the above-mentioned problems into consideration, the present applicants have already proposed a tire grooving apparatus having, as main constructive features, a cutting device attached to a laterally movable carriage which is moved in parallel and perpendicular directions against the tire support shaft; a pivotable arm support shaft which is extended from the carriage; a pivotable arm attached to the support shaft; a cutter holder which is pivotably attached to the pivotable arm perpendicular to the axis thereof; a cutter which is held by the end portion of the cutter holder; and the cutting position of the cutter arranged to be on the extended axis of the support shaft (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 54240/1988 and 177232/1986).
In the present specification, the cutting position of cutter means a peculiar point of cutter which is a certain distance (M) (including zero) from the bottom end of the cutter holder (refer to FIG. 3).
The carving of tread pattern grooves for plain tires utilizing the tire grooving apparatus is carried out by setting the cutting position to the tangential line (Processing Standard Point for Tread) of plain tire. Thus, since the cutting position of the cutter is kept always on the extended axis of the pivotable arm support shaft, namely on the tangential line of the plain tire, calculation of quantity of movement of the movable carriage and the pivotable arm becomes simple, programming of computer programs becomes easy and accurate grooving becomes possible. However, when different depth of tread patterm grooves are carved by the tire grooving apparatus, for example, to carve deeper grooves, it is necessary for the cutter to be changed for a cutter of longer effective length. On the other hand, when shallow depth grooves are carved, it is necessary for the cutter to be changed for a cutter of shorter effective length. This produces a problem that the operation of the tire grooving apparatus is not easy. Moreover, if different depth of tread pattern grooves are carved without changing the cutter, displacement occurs between the cutting position and the processing standard point for the tread (refer to FIG. 8B). In such a condition, if a groove whose center line is parallel to the center vertical line of the tire tread is carved in zigzag on the tire plane, the zigzag pitches of the grooves become different from one another. When grooves whose vertical center line inclined to the center vertical line of tire tread are carved, it is not possible to maintain carving accuracy since the center of the groove does not coincide with the processing standard point of the tread. Accordingly, it is necessary to adjust the quantity of movement of the cutter in accordance with the degree of difference between the cutting position of cutter and the processing standard point of the tread. In this case, there is the problem that the control program for cutter movement becomes complicated.
It is thus an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a tire grooving apparatus, wherein the cutter support unit is moved up and down independently, so as to carve grooves having various depths by using a cutter of the same shape and size.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A tire grooving apparatus of the present invention comprises; direction, portion thereof, holds the pivotable arm, and manner which allows the block to move vertically and which can be at
Kinuhata Satoru
Shibata Eiji
Takami Masao
Tamura Tadahiko
Yamada Seiki
Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.
Terrell William E.
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