Patent ID: 7172005

Claim:
An apparatus for manufacturing a belt structure of a vehicle tire, comprising: an extrusion apparatus for forming, in a substantially continuous manner, a sheet of rubber-coated fabric comprising a plurality of reinforcing cords substantially parallel to one another; means for conveying the sheet along a first conveying direction; a first cutting device for cutting the sheet in a cutting position along a cutting direction forming a first predetermined angle with respect to the first conveying direction to obtain a plurality of strips of predetermined length; a device for transferring the strips from the cutting position to a releasing position where the strips are arranged parallel to one another along edges of prevailing length of the strips; a device for splicing the strips at the edges of prevailing length of the strips to form a substantially continuous belt assembly comprising reinforcing cords parallel to one another and inclined at a second predetermined angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of the belt assembly; means for conveying the strips and the belt assembly along a second conveying direction; a second cutting device for cutting the belt assembly along the longitudinal axis into first and second belt strips, the first belt strip including first cord pieces of the reinforcing cords, and the second belt strip including second cord pieces of the reinforcing cords; a third cutting device for cutting each of the first and second belt strips into portions of predetermined length; means for conveying the first and second belt strips and the portions of the first and second belt strips along respective conveying directions; and at least one assembly drum, adapted to support the portions of the first and second belt strips, to form a belt structure comprising radially-superposed parts of the first and second belt strips by superposing the first and second belt strips, and wherein in the radially-superposed parts of the first and second belt strips, the first cord pieces of the reinforcing cords in the first belt strip are inclined in an opposite direction with respect to the second cord pieces of the reinforcing cords in the second belt strip.