Patent ID: 7048820

Claim:
A method for producing tire bead cores, comprising: providing a bead core winding drum that includes a plurality of arcuate segments aligned in a circumferential direction of the winding drum, said segments each being radially movable and having an outer periphery formed with at least one circumferential groove; and a chuck arranged between neighboring segments and having a pair of clamp jaws for clamping a leading end of at least one bead wire that extends in a tangential direction relative to said winding drum; guiding the at least one bead wire, which extends in a tangential direction of the winding drum, by a guide including at least one protrusion that extends radially relative to the winding drum, and moving the guide vertically toward the clamp jaws to cause a translation movement of the at least one bead wire to a position between the clamp jaws and then clamping a leading end of the at least one bead wire by the chuck; rotating the winding drum together with the chuck so that the at least one bead wire with its leading end clamped by the chuck is helically wound in the at least one circumferential groove as a plurality of layers, thereby forming a bead core having a predetermined cross-section; and synchronously moving the segments radially inwards, after formation of the bead core, so as to reduce an outer diameter of the drum to a value smaller than an inner diameter of the bead core.