Patent ID: 7138021
Filing Date: 2006-11-21
Classification: B29D

Abstract:
1. In a method of laying a tire belt ply on a generally cylindrical form, the ply comprising a front area, a rear area, and an intermediate area, the front and rear areas being bordered by respective front and rear edges, the improvement comprising the steps of: A. providing movable front and rear transporters, each transporter carrying a toe gripping assembly, a central sector gripping assembly and a heel gripping assembly of which only the toe gripping assemblies are provided with respective front and rear ply edge correctors; B. causing the gripping assemblies of the front transporter to grip respectively a toe, a central gripping sector, and a heel of the ply's front area, and causing the gripping assemblies of the rear transporter to grip respectively a toe, a central gripping sector, and a heel of the ply's rear area; C. moving the front and rear transporters so that the front and rear edges of the ply pass across a fixed detector line for measuring angular geometries of the front and rear edges and determining therefrom a correction value for the front and rear edges; and D. aligning the front and rear edges by activating the front ply edge corrector and the rear ply edge corrector to move the toes of the ply's front and rear edges, respectively, in accordance with the correction value, while keeping fixed the central sector and the heel of each of the front and rear edges.