Patent ID: 7648668

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a pneumatic tire in which a green tire is formed on an outer face of a rigid core, the green tire is transported into a vulcanizing mold together with the rigid core, and the vulcanizing mold is closed to form a vulcanization space for sealing and storing the green tire between the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core so that the green tire is vulcanized in the vulcanization space, characterized by that an annular movable seal for preventing unvulcanized rubber from flowing past the seal, supported by either one of the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core, is urged toward the surface of the other so as to prevent generation of a gap between the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core when the vulcanizing mold is closed and to absorb change in the shape of the rigid core at vulcanization, wherein the one of the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core that supports the annular movable seal has an annular recess for storing the annular movable seal, and means for urging the one of the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core toward the surface of the other is arranged in the annular recess, the annular movable seal includes a narrow width portion located on a face side, a wide width portion located on an inner side, and a stepped surface at a boundary between the narrow width portion and the wide width portion, the annular recess includes a stepped surface that can be brought into contact with the stepped surface of the annular movable seal, and the stepped surface of the annular recess and the stepped surface of the annular movable seal are arranged so that when they are in contact with each other, an outer surface of the movable seal is flush with a surface of said one of the vulcanizing mold and the rigid core adjacent the annular recess.