Patent ID: 7575652

Claim:
A tire structural member manufacturing method comprising the steps of: cutting a continuous strip into successive cut strips of a length; supplying the cut strips one by one in a cut strip supplying direction onto a receiving surface of a strip support means; providing a rotatable drum positioned above and close to said receiving surface of the strip support means with a center axis of the drum disposed along in parallel with the cut strip supplying direction in which the cut strips are supplied onto the surface of the strip support means; individually applying a first one of the cut strips laid on the receiving surface of said strip support means onto an outer surface of the rotatable drum by pressing the first one of the cut strips between the drum and said strip support means; rotating said drum around said center axis thereof by a predetermined angle to press a second cut strip laid on the surface of the strip support means between said drum and said strip support means and to individually apply the second cut strip to the outer surface of the drum to join side edges of the first and second cut strips overlapped with each other on the drum; moving said strip support means at a speed equal to a circumferential speed of the rotating drum when the drum is rotated; and carrying out the above steps for a third and subsequent cut strips to produce a tire structural member.