Patent ID: 7445687

Claim:
A tire component fabricating method comprising the steps of: forming a narrow belt by arranging a plurality of cords and embedding the cords in a rubber layer; cutting the belt into strips of a predetermined length; and building a tire component by successively arranging and joining a necessary number of the strips such that edge parts of adjacent strips overlap each other with an outermost cord in one of the adjacent strips superposed on an outermost cord in the other strip, wherein: said step of forming a narrow belt further includes completely embedding each of the outermost cords in the adjacent strips in a rubber layer; said step of building a tire component is carried out with the outermost cord in one of the adjacent strips positioned directly above and aligned with the outermost cord in the other of the adjacent strips; at least a part of each of the edge parts of each strip is formed with a slope inclined such that thickness of the edge part decreases toward an edge of the strip; and said step of building a tire component further includes bonding the edge parts together by laying the edge parts of the adjacent strips so that the edge part of the upper strip comes into mutual contact with the edge part of the lower strip and compressing the mutually contacting edge parts of the upper and lower strips so that the slopes of the upper and lower strips are joined completely, with a tip portion of the compressed edge part of the upper strip joined to an upper surface of the lower strip, in a manner to prevent any air from being caught between the slopes.