Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus – Reshaping – resizing or vulcanizing means for tire – tire... – Plural female molds for plural preforms
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-13
2003-03-11
Mackey, James P. (Department: 1722)
Plastic article or earthenware shaping or treating: apparatus
Reshaping, resizing or vulcanizing means for tire, tire...
Plural female molds for plural preforms
C425S038000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06530763
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tire vulcanizing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional fully automatic tire vulcanizing press, the work time for loading and shaping a green tire and for unloading a vulcanized tire is far shorter than the time over which vulcanization is performed by introducing a heating/pressurizing medium in a tire in a state in which a tire mold assembly is closed. Therefore, a tire mold opening/closing device for opening/closing the tire mold assembly to loading/unloading a tire after the completion of vulcanization and a tire loading/unloading device are law in operation efficiency.
To solve this problem, the applicant of this invention has already proposed a tire vulcanizing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 7-80846 (No. 80846/1995). This tire vulcanizing system comprises vulcanizing stations a
1
and a
2
, mold opening/closing stations b
1
and b
2
, tire mold transporters c
1
and c
2
, rails d for the tire mold transporters, mold beds e
1
to e
3
, tire mold opening/closing devices f
1
and f
2
, unloaders g
1
and g
2
, loaders h
1
and h
2
, conveyors i
1
and i
2
for conveying vulcanized tires, racks J
1
and J
2
for green tires, and a mold changing table (a mold changing table for changing a tread mold, side wall mold, etc. in a tire mold assembly to accommodate a change of specification of a tire to be vulcanized and for changing a bladder, which is an expendable) k.
The following is a description of a tire vulcanizing process using a tire vulcanizing system having the above-described configuration.
First, a tire mold assembly M for which vulcanization has been finished is received by the tire mold transporter c
1
from the vulcanizing station a
1
(or a
2
) at which a plurality of tire mold assemblies M being vulcanized are arranged, and is transported to the mold opening/closing station b
1
. Then, after the tire mold assembly M having transported to the mold opening/closing station b
1
is connected to the tire mold opening/closing device f
1
, the tire mold assembly M is opened by the tire mold opening/closing device f
1
, and a vulcanized tire is unloaded by the unloader g
1
attached to the tire mold opening/closing device f
1
. Next, a green tire is loaded, by using a loader h
1
attached to the tire mold opening/closing device f
1
, into the tire mold assembly M from which the vulcanized tire has been unloaded. Subsequently, after the loaded tire is shaped during a tire mold closing step and the tire mold assembly M is closed, a heating/pressurizing medium is introduced and sealed in the tire, by which a tire vulcanizing step is started. Then, the tire mold assembly M in which vulcanization has been started is disconnected from the tire mold opening/closing device f
1
, placed on the tire mold transporter c
1
again and transported, and returned to the vulcanizing station a
1
.
When the above-described tire vulcanizing system is applied to a tire production facility whose vulcanization time is as short as, for example, 8 to 10 minutes, the following requirements are encountered.
(1) The time over which the mold transporter receives a tire mold assembly at the vulcanizing station, the work at the mold opening/closing station is finished, and again, the closed tire mold assembly is transported and returned to the vulcanizing station must be made as short as possible. This is because the number of tire mold assemblies constituting the tire vulcanizing system cannot be increased from the economical viewpoint.
(2) From the viewpoint of operation control in which a tire mold assembly having been used out during the operation is carried out, or a new tire mold assembly is put in during system operation in place of the carried-out tire mold assembly, it is preferable that the transportation time for each of the tire mold assemblies arranged in several numbers be made equal. Specifically, it is preferable that the transportation time for a tire mold assembly close to the mold opening/closing station be approximately equal to that for a tire mold assembly distant from the mold opening/closing station.
(3) After the mold is closed at the mold opening/closing station, the heating/pressurizing medium introduced in the tire is temporarily sealed in the tire mold assembly during the transportation, and the heating/pressurizing medium is supplied again after the tire mold assembly arrives at the vulcanizing station. Here, considering the quality control of tire, the time of temporary sealing should preferably short.
(4) When tires are continuously produced by using the tire vulcanizing system, green tires must be supplied continuously. For this purpose, it is necessary to store the most possible green tires in the vicinity of the loader disposed at the mold opening/closing station, and to supply new green tires successively.
Therefore, it has been desired to provide a tire vulcanizing system having the following features: (1) The time taken for the tire mold assembly to be returned to the vulcanizing station can be shortened, and the transportation time for a tire mold assembly close to the mold opening/closing station and that for a tire mold assembly distant from the mold opening/closing station can be made approximately equal to each other. (2) The time for the heating/pressurizing medium to be sealed temporarily in the tire mold assembly can be shortened. (3) The most possible green tires can be stored in the vicinity of the loader disposed at the mold opening/closing station, and new green tires can be supplied successively, by which the installation area can be reduced significantly.
To solve the above problem, the applicant of this invention has proposed a tire vulcanizing system disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 8-164528 (No. 164528/1996). The operation of this tire vulcanization system is as described below. As shown in
FIG. 5
, first, at least two tire mold assemblies m (m
1,
m
4
, m
7
) are stacked on a storage rack at a vulcanizing station
800
, and a mold opening/closing device
910
at a mold opening/closing station
900
is moved along the storage rack at the vulcanizing station
800
. Next, the tire mold assembly m is removed from the vulcanizing station
800
, and after the opening/closing of the tire mold assembly m, the unloading of a vulcanized tire t, and the loading of a green tire gt are performed, the tire mold assembly m is returned to the vulcanizing station
800
.
However, in this tire vulcanizing system, since the vulcanizing station
800
is tall, a supply apparatus for green tires gt and a delivery apparatus for vulcanized tires t cannot be disposed over the vulcanizing station
800
, and these apparatuses must be disposed concentratedly on the opposite side of the vulcanizing station
800
at which the tire mold assemblies are stacked.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a tire vulcanizing system which can easily be arranged in an existing tire factory by arranging vulcanizing stations, the height of which is decreased, on a plane on the opposite sides of a movable tire mold opening/closing device, and by making spaces over the vulcanizing stations on both sides capable of being used for a green tire supply apparatus and a vulcanized tire delivery apparatus.
To achieve the above object, the tire vulcanizing system in accordance with one mode of the present invention has a vulcanizing station for mounting a plurality of sets of tire mold assemblies in parallel on a flat surface of a predetermined height and a tire mold opening/closing station formed along the vulcanizing station, and is characterized in that a tire mold opening/closing device, which is movable along the vulcanizing station, takes out the tire mold assembly from the vulcanizing station, and opens and closes the tire mold assembly, is provided at the tire mold opening/closing station, and the tire mold opening/closing device is provided with an upper movable plate capable of
Mackey James P.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
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