Patent ID: 7056110

Claim:
An apparatus for making reinforcement ply material comprising an elastomeric sheet and a plurality of reinforcement elements embedded therein; wherein the reinforcement elements are grouped in untwisted sets and each set contains a plurality of reinforcement elements; wherein adjacent reinforcement elements in the same set are spaced apart an intra-set distance and adjacent reinforcement elements in different sets are spaced apart an inter-set distance; and wherein the inter-set distance is greater than the intra-set distance; the apparatus comprising: an extruder and a die head into which the extruder extrudes an elastomeric material; wherein the die head defines, at least in part, a die throat and includes a guide insert which guides the reinforcement elements into the die throat; wherein the guide insert comprises passages through which the reinforcement elements pass and which are arranged in a pattern corresponding to the arrangement of the reinforcement elements in the reinforced ply material, such that one passage is provided for each set of reinforcement elements; wherein each passage is substantially rectangular in cross-sectional shape; and wherein each passage, alone, is configured to guide the reinforcement elements of one of the sets of reinforcement elements into the die throat and to define the position and spacing of the reinforcement elements of such set of reinforcement elements in the reinforcement ply material.