Patent ID: 9630369
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: B29D

Claim:
1. A process for manufacturing tyres, the process comprising the steps of: applying at least one carcass ply according to an application diameter around at least one outer surface of a building drum, said at least one carcass ply having axially opposite end flaps; coaxially engaging around each of the end flaps, an annular anchoring structure defining a fitting diameter smaller than said application diameter so as to make a carcass sleeve; positioning an outer sleeve comprising at least one belt structure at a coaxially centered position around said carcass sleeve applied onto said building drum; shaping said carcass sleeve from the application diameter into a toroidal configuration to apply said carcass sleeve against a radially internal surface of said outer sleeve; and after coaxially engaging said annular anchoring structures and before shaping said carcass sleeve, axially approaching locking members towards said annular anchoring structures, removably fastening said locking members to the building drum, and then moving a circumferentially continuous annular thrust ring carried by each of said locking members in an axial direction into direct contact with an elastically deformable annular element carried by each of said locking members to deform the annular element from a rest condition to a radially expanded condition against each of the annular anchoring structures, wherein the locking members do not engage the annular anchoring structures when coaxially engaging the annular anchoring structures around the end flaps, wherein the annular anchoring structures are locked relative to the building drum during the shaping step by said locking members, wherein said locking members are disengaged from the building drum after shaping said carcass sleeve, and wherein the at least one outer surface of the building drum has a same diameter when the at least one carcass ply is applied, when the annular anchoring structures are coaxially engaged around the end flaps, and when the locking members are engaged to the building drum.