Patent ID: 7501033

Claim:
A method of manufacturing, storing and using a chipper and apex subassembly formed in a continuous length as an intermediate article of manufacture in the building of a pneumatic tire comprising the steps of: extruding a continuous elastomeric strip of unvulcanized material having a bottom base and two opposing sides extending from the bottom base toward a narrow outer tip to form an apex strip; attaching a continuous length chipper ply strip reinforced by parallel bias angled cords or wire cojoining the chipper ply strip to the apex strip while the apex strip is hot along the length of the strip to one side of the unvulcanized apex strip spaced outward from the base bottom of the apex strip by a distance at least 6 mm and extending widthwise toward the narrow outer tip to form a continuous length subassembly of a chipper ply and an apex as an intermediate article of manufacture, cooling the chipper apex subassembly; winding the cooled chipper apex subassembly onto spools; cutting the chipper apex subassembly after a sufficient length of material is wound to fill the spool; and moving the full spool to storage for subsequent use in building tires for better cutting into cut to length individual strips of the subassembly in building tires.