Claims
- 1. A method of assembling multiple tire components onto one or more tire building drums at a work station of a tire building system, comprising the steps of:
providing an first set of measuring drums at a first loading position and an second set of measuring drums at a second loading position where the second set of measuring drums is disposed laterally spaced apart from one another and on either side of the first set of measuring drums; loading a first set of tire components on the first set of measuring drums at the first loading position and loading a second set of tire components on the second set of measuring drums at the second loading position; moving the first set of measuring drums from the first loading position to a first ready position adjacent the one or more tire building drums; moving the first set of measuring drums back from the first ready position to the first loading position; and moving the second set of measuring drums towards the one or more tire building drums in manner so as to pass outside of and around the first set of measuring drums; positioning the second set of measuring drums laterally toward each other in a second ready position; and moving the second set of measuring drums back from the second ready position to the second loading position in a manner so as to pass outside of and around the first set of measuring drums.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
moving the first set of measuring drums from the first ready position towards the one or more tire building drum to a first transfer position where the first set of components are applied onto the one or more tire building drums.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
moving the second set of measuring drums from the second ready position towards the one or more tire building drum to a second transfer position where the second set of components are applied onto the one or more tire building drums.
- 4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:
applying a new first set of components to the first set of measuring drums when the first set of measuring drums moves back to the first loading position from the first ready position.
- 5. A method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of:
applying a new second set of components to the second set of measuring drums when the second set of measuring drums moves back to the second loading position from the second ready position.
- 6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:
moving one of the one or more tire building drums out of the work station; and positioning another of the one or more tire building drums into the work station prior to transferring either first or second set components thereto.
- 7. A method according to claim 6, further comprising the steps of:
moving the one or more tire building drums to a next work station after assembling both first and second set components thereto.
- 8. A method of assembling multiple components onto one or more tire building drums, comprising the steps of:
providing a work station for receiving one or more tire building drums, each of the one or more tire building drums having an axis of rotation; locating one of the one or more tire building drums in the work station; providing a first set of measuring drums with axes of rotation parallel to the axis of rotation of the one or more tire building drums located in the work station, each of the first set of measuring drums being independently movable both parallel to and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire building drum located in the work station; disposing a first set of components on the first set of measuring drums at a first loading position; providing a second set of measuring drums with axes of rotation parallel to the axis of rotation of the tire building drum located in the work station, each second set of measuring drums being independently movable both parallel to and perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the tire building drum located in the work station; disposing a second set of components on the second set of measuring drums at the second loading position; and controlling the first and second sets of measuring drums to move between first and second loading positions, respectively, and first and second ready positions, respectively, such that the first and second sets of measuring drums clear one another as they move between their respective first and loading positions and their first and second transfer positions; moving the first set of measuring drums from the first ready position to a first transfer position to transfer the first set of components from the first set of measuring drums to the tire building drum located in the work station; and moving the second set of measuring drums from the second ready position to a second transfer position to transfer the second set of components from the second set of measuring drums to the tire building drum located in the work station.
- 9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:
moving the first set of measuring drums towards the tire building drum in the work station from a position in the first loading position inside of the second set of measuring drums; and positioning said first set of measuring drums at the first ready position adjacent the tire building drum prior to transferring the first set of components thereto.
- 10. A method according to claim 9, further comprising the steps of:
moving the second set of measuring drums longitudinally towards the tire building drum in the work station from a position laterally outside of the first set of measuring drums; and positioning the second set of building drums laterally to the second ready position adjacent the tire building drum prior to transferring the second set of components thereto.
- 11. A method according to claim 8, wherein the step of locating one of the one or more tire building drums in the work station comprises the step of:
moving the one tire building drum from a previous work station to the work station.
- 12. A method according to claim 8, further comprising the steps of:
moving the second set of measuring drums back from the second transfer position to the second ready position; simultaneously moving the second set of measuring drums laterally apart from one another at the second ready position and the back to the second loading position while moving the first set of measuring drums from the first loading position while positioned laterally inside of the second set of measuring drums to the first ready position; and moving the first set of measuring drums back from the first transfer position to the first ready position; simultaneously moving the first set of measuring drums laterally together and back to the first loading position while moving the second set of measuring drums from the second loading position while positioned laterally outside of the first set of measuring drums to the second ready position.
- 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein:
the steps of providing the first set of components comprises the step of applying the first set of components to the first set of measuring drums while the first set of measuring drums are in the first loading position; and the step of providing the second set of components comprises applying the second set of components to the second set of measuring drums while the second set of measuring drums is in the second loading position.
- 14. A method according to claim 13, wherein the steps of:
the step of locating the building drum at the work station comprises moving a building drum from a previous work station to the work station prior to transferring the first and second set components thereto.
- 15. A work station for assembling multiple tire components onto a tire building drum having an axis of rotation;, comprising:
a first set of inner measuring drums; a second set of outer measuring drums; independently controllable, lateral motion means for moving the first and second set of inner and outer measuring drums, respectively, in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the building drum; independently controllable, longitudinal motion means for moving the first and second set of inner and outer measuring drums in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the building drum.
- 16. A work station according to claim 15, including:
a first set of measuring drum carriages, one for each of the first set of inner measuring drums; a second set of measuring drum carriages, one for each of the second set of outer measuring drums; and first and second sets of drum support bases for attaching each of the first and second sets of inner and outer measuring drums, respectively, to first and second sets of measuring drum carriages, respectively.
- 17. A work station according to claim 16, wherein:
the first set of measuring drum carriages associated with the first set of measuring drums are positioned laterally inside of the second set of measuring drum carriages associated with the second set of measuring drums.
- 18. A work station according to claim 15, wherein:
the lateral motion means comprise laterally oriented leadscrews and lateral leadscrew followers, with both the first and second measuring drum carriages connected to a lateral leadscrew follower.
- 19. A work station according to claim 15, wherein:
the longitudinal motion means comprise a longitudinally oriented leadscrew mounted to each of the first and second sets of measuring drum carriages and a longitudinal leadscrew follower associated with each longitudinally oriented leadscrew, each of the first and second sets of measuring drum support bases being connected to a longitudinal leadscrew follower.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a Divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/957,779 having a filing date of Sep. 21, 2001 and a common assignee with present application.
[0002] This application relates to U.S. Patent Application entitled METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING TIRES ON A FLEXIBLE MANUFACURING SYSTEM, Attorney's Docket No. DN2001166USA, and filed on even date herewith.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09957779 |
Sep 2001 |
US |
Child |
10755431 |
Jan 2004 |
US |