Patent ID: 7459117

Claim:
A method of curing a tire under heat and pressure, comprising: building an uncured tire assembly on a building drum core assembly; preheating a segmented mold, the mold including a plurality of radially movable tread forming segments and a top plate, the top plate having a sidewall forming ring and a tread shoulder forming ring, the tread shoulder forming ring being positioned for abutment with the tread forming segments so as to mold a shoulder portion of the tread; opening the mold by moving the sidewall forming ring and the tread shoulder forming ring away from the radially movable tread forming segments; expanding the radially movable segments; inserting the uncured tire assembly while mounted on the building drum core into the open mold; closing the mold by moving the sidewall forming ring and the tread shoulder forming ring toward the radially movable tread forming segments; contracting the radially movable segments; applying pressure to the building drum core forcing the uncured tire assembly against a tread belt and the tread forming segments; curing the tire assembly and tread belt to form the tire; opening the mold by moving the sidewall forming ring and the tread shoulder forming ring away from the radially movable, tread forming segments; radially expanding the tread forming segments; removing the cured tire from the mold.