Mould vents with valve

Abstract: A vent for a mould having a mould cavity characterised by a vent main body (2), a valve closure member (1) having an upper end face (12) for positioning at the surface of the mould cavity, the valve closure member (1) being moveable with respect to the vent main body (2) for opening and closing the vent, spring opening means (3) formed integrally with the vent main body (2) for opening the vent, and a valve seat between the valve closure member (1) and the main body (2) wherein the vent is closed by material in the mould cavity contacting the upper end face (12) of the valve closure member (1).

Description: The present invention relates to vents for moulds used in forming vulcanisable rubber or other such mouldable materials and particularly but not exclusively to vents for tyre moulds. In the moulding of rubber articles such as tyres, the initial heating of the tyre surface in contact with the hot mould reduces the viscosity of the surface rubber so that under the influence of internal moulding pressure local rubber flow occurs. Venting is required to allow pockets of air which may become trapped between the green tyre carcass and the hot mould surface to escape so that every part of the curing tyre surface contacts the mould and the tyre is thus vulcanised with a perfect impression of the mould detail. Tyre mould vents commonly take the form of small diameter holes drilled through the mould wall normal to the interior surface. Most commonly modern venting utilises so-called 'insert vents' which are small bore tubes introduced through the mould wall. Once any trapped air has vented through the hole rubber begins to flow through the vent. However the small diameter of the hole ensures that the rubber cures rapidly thus plugging the vent hole and sealing the mould. After completion of the tyre curing process these plugs of rubber which are still attached to the tyre surface are pulled out of the vent holes when the tyre is demoulded. Such plugs of rubber or, `spue-pips' as they are commonly known, detract from the visual appeal of the moulded tyre and are usually removed by trimming. This trimming operation is time consuming and thus adds to the cost of producing the tyre. Also a problem may occur when the cured spue-pip breaks off when the tyre is being demoulded and thus remains blocking the vent hole. Such a blocked vent may not be immediately apparent and can cause subsequent poor quality mouldings. To solve the above-mentioned problems so-called "spueless vents" have been proposed, which allow trapped air to escape but which close to prevent rubber flow. US 4 492 554 and US 4 347 212 disclose examples of such 'spueless' vents. These known vents comprise a valve held normally open by a coil spring to allow the passage of air. The valve is closed by flowing rubber which moves a valve head portion against the spring tension into seated engagement with a valve seat. However these vents comprise an assembly of at least four separate components and are thus relatively complicated and expensive and as such have not found wide utility. EP 0 842 749A shows another proposal in which a vent comprises a valve closure member and spring opening means for opening the valve wherein the spring opening means comprises a hinge for the closure member. Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a spueless vent which is simple in construction and therefore less expensive. Accordingly the present invention provides a vent for a mould as set out in claim 1. The vent is preferably formed of a mouldable plastics material. Further aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the following schematic drawings in which: Figures 1A, 1B and 1C show an insert vent according to the first embodiment of the invention; Figure 2 shows another insert vent according to the invention; Figures 3 and 4 show sectional details of the insert vent of Figure 2 taken along planes ,A-A' and B-B' respectively; and Figure 5 shows an insert vent according to the invention set in place in the sidewall region of a tyre mould. Shown in Figures 1A and 1B are a sectional side elevation and a plan view respectively of an insert vent according to the present invention. This vent 50 is shown in situ in the sideplate of a tyre mould 52 in Figure 5. Accordingly the vent comprises a vent main body 2 having the form of a hollow right cylindrical tube. The main body is open-ended having a coaxial cylindrical vent hole 7 connecting an upper end face 4, for fitting flush with the interior surface 53 of a cavity of a mould (52), with the bottom end face 8 which is open to atmosphere thus providing a pathway to facilitate removal of trapped air. Down the centre of the main body 2 extends a valve closure member 1 comprising in its upper part a valve head 10 and in its lower part a valve stem 11 in the form of a cylindrical rod both located coaxially with the vent main body 2. In the region of the upper end face 4 of the vent main body 2 the shape of the valve head 10 has the form of a truncated cone having a conical surface 5 which is a complementary shape to a conical valve seating surface 6 formed on the interior region of the vent main body upper end face 4. These complementary shaped surfaces 5 and 6 thus form a valve seat between the valve closure member 1 and the vent main body 2. The cross-sectional diameter of the valve stem is less than the diameter of the vent hole 7 in order to provide an air escape passage. In the region of the bottom end of the vent, the vent main body is provided in its interior with integral spring opening means 3 which projects radially inwardly into the hole 7 and engages with an annular slot 9 formed in the valve stem portion 11 of valve closure member 1. Thus the spring means serves both to locate centrally and hold the valve closure member 1 within the valve main body 2 and also to hold the vent in a normally open state shown in Figure 1A wherein the upper end face 12 of the valve closure member is held proud of the upper end face 4 of the valve main body 2 and the conical surface 5 of the valve closure member 1 and the valve seating surface 6 of the vent main body 1 are thus held apart. In this open state the vent thus provides an air escape path from the interior of the mould to atmosphere via the vent hole 7 connecting the vent upper face 4 to the vent lower face 8. When all the trapped air has vented to atmosphere the flowing rubber impinges on the upper end face 12 of the valve closure member 1 and pushes the valve closure member into the vent main body 2 against the spring force provided by the spring means 3 so that the conical surface 5 of the valve head 10 comes in seated engagement with the complementary valve seating surface 6. Accordingly with the vent now in the closed position, as shown in Figure 1C, the vent closure member 1 and the vent main body 2 together form a plane surface 13 on the interior surface of the mould and rubber flow into the vent hole 7 is prevented. The vent remains closed throughout the moulding cycle but opens again due to the integral spring opening means 3 as soon as the moulded article is removed. In this embodiment the spring opening means 3 is provided as a projection from the interior wall 13 of the vent main body 2. This projection may be continuous around the whole of the internal periphery of the vent main body 2 and may be provided with holes or perforations as necessary to allow the passage of air. Alternatively the spring opening means may be provided as spring "fingers" as will be described later. The spring opening means 3 is provided by the combination of design and material properties. In this embodiment the spring opening means is effectively an integrally formed spring washer. Any material having suitable heat resistance and resiliency may be used for the vent main body and integrally formed spring opening means. Such materials include metals such as spring steel or plastics materials such as engineering thermoplastics. Engineering thermoplastics such as reinforced nylons or glass-reinforced polyphenylene sulphide are preferred because they are readily formable by conventional injection moulding techniques. The valve closure member 1 may be formed in a different material to the vent main body 2 and spring opening means 3. However it is preferred to form the valve closure member 1 and the vent main body in the same material because of thermal expansion considerations. In another embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 2 to 4 the valve stem 11 is further centralised within the vent hole 7 by a collar 21 having longitudinally extending holes or flutes 22 to allow escaping air to pass through to atmosphere. These flutes 22 are shown in Figure 3 which is a sectional view taken in plane A-A' of Figure 2. Preferably this fluted collar 21 is tightly fitted to either the valve stem 11 or the interior of the vent main body 2 and is a sliding fit on the other. Further in this second embodiment the spring opening means 3 comprises a number, here four, of spring fingers 23, shown in Figure 4 which is a sectional view taken through B-B' in Figure 2, which similarly to the first embodiment locate into an annular groove in the valve stem. Mould insert vents as herein described have proved relatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture and effective in use in tyre moulding avoiding blocking by preventing rubber flow into the vent hole.

Claims: A vent for a mould having a mould cavity comprising a vent main body (2), having a vent hole (7), a valve closure member (1) having an upper end face (12) for positioning at the surface of the mould cavity, the valve closure member (1) being moveable with respect to the vent main body (2) for opening and closing the vent, spring opening means (3) for opening the vent, and a valve seat between the valve closure member (1) and the main body (2), characterised by spring opening means (3) being formed integrally with the vent main body (2) and projecting radially inward of the vent hole (7) to engage with the valve closure member (1). A vent according to claim 1, characterised in that when the vent is closed the vent main body (2) and the upper end face (12) of the valve closure member (1) together form a plane surface. A vent according to claim 1, wherein the vent main body (12) and integral spring opening means (3) are formed of a plastics material. A vent according to claim 1, wherein the valve closure member (1) is formed of the same material as the vent main body (2) and integral spring opening means (3).

Inventors: GREEN THOMAS BENJAMIN, GREEN, THOMAS BENJAMIN
Applicants: DUNLOP TYRES LTD
Application year: 1998
Main classification: B29C33
IPC codes: B29C33, B29K21, B29C35, B29L30, B29K105