CLIAMS:1. A tire holding apparatus for positioning and/or holding one or more uncured tire, said tire holding apparatus comprising:
at least three tire holding means, to position said uncured tire, wherein said tire holding means fastened to a top frame using plurality of fastening means;
at least one shaft mounted on at least one flange bearing and rotatably engaged with said top frame, to provide at least one rotation to said tire holding means;
at least one motor operably coupled to said flange bearing, to rotate said shaft, wherein said motor is actuated using at least one locking cylinder;
said locking cylinder receive at least one control input and thereby adapted to actuate and/or cease said motor based on said control input;
at least one sensing means to sense at least one position of said tire holding means subsequent to said rotation, to restrict said rotation of said tire holding means and thereby enable holding of said uncured tire in said tire holding means to said position.
2. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tire holding means is a threestepped holder, adapted to hold said uncured tires of varied size.
3. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said threestepped holder having a stepped configuration to position said uncured tire in at least one step of said threestepped holder.
4. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein each step of said threestepped holder corresponds to a bead diameter of said uncured tire.
5. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locking cylinder is preferably a pneumatic cylinder, adapted to enable and/or arrest said rotation of said tire holding means.
6. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim1, wherein said shaft rotates freely over said flanged bearing and said flanged bearing mounted on at least one top plate.
7. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motor is a servo motor, fixed preferably below said top plate and servo motor keyed shaft is coupled directly with main shaft which rotated freely over said flange bearing.
8. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 7, comprises at least four spacer means to adjust height of said motor, wherein said spacer is coupled to said top plate at one end and at least one bottom plate at other end.
9. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said sensing means is mounted to said top frame, to sense said position of said tire holding means using at least one proximity sensor.
10. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said tire holding means is fastened to said top frame using at least two fastening means, preferably hexagonal bolt and washer.
11. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprises at least four fastening means, preferably hexagonal head bolt with full thread and nut, to maintain parallelism and concentricity in said tire holding means.
12. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said locking cylinder receive said control input from at least one Programmable logic controller (PLC).
13. The tire holding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said motor comprises at least one encoder to generate said rotation of said tire holding means, preferably upto 120°, to reach said position.
14. A method for positioning and/or holding one or more uncured tire using an tire holding apparatus, said method comprising:
positioning, using at least three tire holding means having a stepped configuration, said uncured tire on at least one step of said tire holding means mounted on a top frame;
anti-rotation locking, using at least one locking cylinder, at least one control input from at least one Programmable logic controller (PLC);
releasing, using said control input, at least one locking cylinder shaft from at least one positioning flange and thereby actuating at least one motor;
rotating, using said motor, at least one shaft rotatably engaged with said top frame;
inducing, using said rotation of said shaft, a torque to said top frame and thereby enabling at least one rotation of said tire holding means;
sensing, using at least one sensing means, at least one position of said tire holding means subsequent to said rotation, and thereby ceasing said control input, terminating operation of said motor and arresting said locking cylinder shaft to said positioning flange;
restricting said rotation of said tire holding means and thereby holding said uncured tire in said tire holding means to said position for a period of time.
15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein said uncured tire is held to said position until next curing cycle is obtained.
,TagSPECI:TECHNIAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[001] The present subject matter described herein, in general, relates to machinery for holding and positioning green tires of nearly all sizes and more particularly to an apparatus and method thereof for storing one or more green tires during a pre-curing wait cycle.

BACKGROUND

[002] A green tire refers to the uncured state of tire which is placed in special molds where all patterns and side wall branding of the tire occurs during its curing inside a tire curing press. The mold is contained in a press, which permits the application of pressure to these green tires. The green tire is accordingly shaped and cured in a vulcanization process, so as to obtain a finished tire/cured tire. The two types of tires currently available are classified based on the composition of the green tire, namely radial and bias ply tires.

[003] The green tire is fabricated using a tire building machine having a toroidal shape with open ends and is symmetric about its axis. The green tire is comprised of several parts namely the open ends of the green tire called the bead, the tread which forms the middle part of the tire and the side walls which is the part between the tread and beads on each side.

[004] The green tire after being fabricated is transported near a tire curing press when a requirement arises. Until then, there is almost always a waiting period between the doping of the green tire and its subsequent curing. This time period can be referred to as the pre-curing wait cycle and can extend anywhere from a few hours to several days. During this time period, these green tires are typically stored in open spaces in a disorganized manner.

[005] During storage of the green tire, due to the arbitrary placement a plastic flow is constituted resulting in distortions in shape of the green tire making it asymmetrical or out-of-round. In addition, the green tires are placed on the floor or on a raised platform in front of the tire curing press before curing. Due to human error or uncontrolled placement, the already distorted green tire is picked up and place into the mold during the vulcanization process, without concentricity resulting in poorly cured tires.

[006] Reference is made to US 6656301 B2, wherein a green tire holding device including a frame, a rod extending horizontally from the frame, and a bladder mounted on the rod. The bladder is inflatable to an inflated shape so that it contacts a substantial portion of an inner circumference of a green tire (T) to support the green tire during a pre-curing wait cycle. The green tire holding device can comprise a plurality of rods, a plurality of bladders, and/or a plurality of bladders on each rod. The bladders can be inflated at substantially the same time and/or certain bladders can be deflated independently of other bladders. In a tire manufacturing method, the loaded green tire storage device is transported to a doping/curing area with the bladders deflated. At the doping/curing area, the tires (T) are removed from the rods, doped, and re-hung on the rods. The bladders are then inflated so that the tires (T) are stored on inflated bladders during the pre-curing wait cycle. The above invention is for offline storing of green tires. The green tires to be unloaded manually to another green tire holder in machine. Whereas our invention is about a Green tire holding and indexing device which is connected online to machine where the tires held in the stepped holder are picked up by a loading device and loaded onto the curing press.

[007] Reference is made to US 4768764 A, wherein a green tire holder comprising a plurality of arms extending outwardly from a common center; a slidable bead centering shoe mounted on each of said arms; means for causing said shoes to slide equal distances simultaneously toward or away from the center, so that the shoes are always equidistant from the center; a slidable tread support mechanism mounted on each of said arms, said mechanism being more remote from the center than said shoes; and means for slidably adjusting the position of each of the tread support mechanisms independently of the positions of the centering shoes. The above invention is a single station green tire holder. The tire holder needs to be adjusted for change in tire size or bead diameter.

[008] Reference is further made to US 3824048 A, wherein a holder for a radial or partially shaped tire having a support member or post which carries a plate for receiving the lower bead of the uncured tire. An expansible member is carried by the post in a manner such that the tire may be placed over the expansible member and onto the lower bead supporting plate. The expansible member is then inserted into the tire so that substantially the entire inner portion of the tire is contacted by the member. Means can be provided at each tire curing press to hold the post and actuate the expansible member and/or such can be provided at the location where the tire is built so as to immediately hold the tire in the desired shape prior to transfer to the tire curing press. The above invention is a single station green tire holder. The tire holder can hold only one particular bead size and used with preformed or shaped tires, which are not in practice or are obsolete.

[009] In the existing green tire holding devices as mentioned above, the need to hold a different green tire sizes involved a complex arrangement. Further, most of such devices are limited to hold only a single size of green tire or additional adjustment mechanism are needed to hold different tire sizes.

[0010] Thus, in view the drawbacks of the existing tire holding devices, there exists a dire need to provide an improved and simple arrangement for positioning and/or holding one or more green tires of different sizes during a pre-curing wait cycle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

[0012] The main object of the present invention is to provide a simple arrangement for holding one or more green tires/uncured tires of different sizes without any additional alteration and adjustments required in the arrangement.

[0013] Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method thereof to position and thereby hold green tires/uncured tires.

[0014] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a method to maintain concentricity and parallelism of the green tires which is subsequently loaded into the molds of the tire curing press.

[0015] Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for holding green tires and thereby reducing the set up time and improving accuracy by using plurality of fastening means.

[0016] Still another object of the present invention is to provide simple servo drive mechanism for indexing and positioning one or more green tires.

[0017] Accordingly, in one aspect of the present invention there is provided a tire holding apparatus for positioning and/or holding one or more uncured tire, said tire holding apparatus comprising:
at least three tire holding means, to position said uncured tire, wherein said tire holding means fastened to a top frame using plurality of fastening means;
at least one shaft mounted on at least one flange bearing and rotatably engaged with said top frame, to provide at least one rotation to said tire holding means; at least one motor operably coupled to said flange bearing, to rotate said shaft, wherein said motor is actuated using at least one locking cylinder;
said locking cylinder receive at least one control input and thereby adapted to actuate and/or cease said motor based on said control input;
at least one sensing means to sense at least one position of said tire holding means subsequent to said rotation, to restrict said rotation of said tire holding means and thereby enable holding of said uncured tire in said tire holding means to said position.

[0018] In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for positioning and/or holding one or more uncured tire, said method comprising:
· positioning, using at least three tire holding means having a stepped configuration, said uncured tire on at least one step of said tire holding means mounted on a top frame;
· anti-rotation locking, using at least one locking cylinder, at least one control input from at least one Programmable logic controller (PLC);
· releasing, using said control input, at least one locking cylinder shaft from at least one positioning flange and thereby actuating at least one motor;
· rotating, using said motor, at least one shaft rotatably engaged with said top frame;
· inducing, using said rotation of said shaft, a torque to said top frame and thereby enabling at least one rotation of said tire holding means;
· sensing, using at least one sensing means, at least one position of said tire holding means subsequent to said rotation, and thereby ceasing said control input, terminating operation of said motor and arresting said locking cylinder shaft to said positioning flange;
· restricting said rotation of said tire holding means and thereby holding said uncured tire in said tire holding means to said position for a period of time.

[0019] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0020] Figure 1 illustrates a left side view of the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject invention.
[0021] Figure 2 illustrates a front view of the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject invention.
[0022] Figure 3illustrates a top view of the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject invention.
[0023] Figure 4illustrates an isometric view of the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0024] Figure 5 illustrates the arrangement for fastening and maintaining Parallelism and Concentricity of the green tires in the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025] Figure 6 illustrates the cross-sectional view of the locking arrangement for positioning the green tire in the green tire holder apparatus, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
[0026] Figure 7 illustrates the cross-sectional view of the square block of the green tire holder apparatus and pipe of the top frame used for parallelism and concentricity adjustment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

[0028] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary.

[0029] Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0030] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0031] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0032] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic was intended to provide.

[0033] Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

[0034] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof.

[0035] In one implementation, the present invention provides an apparatus and a method thereof that assists with the precise placement of a green tire/uncured tires with respect to the loader in terms of concentricity and in turn to the molds of a tire curing press. The tire holding apparatus is adapted to hold one or more green tire different sizes with no alteration or adjustment. The present apparatus additionally has in its capacity to hold a plurality of green tire. The current invention has in its arrangement a method to position itself with respect to the tire curing press to maintain the concentricity and parallelism of the green tire being loaded into the molds of the tire curing press. The tire holding means furthermore involves a simple drive and lock mechanism to index and locate between the positions.

[0036] In one implementation, the components involved in the tire holding apparatus as shown in figure 1-7, is as follows:
1. Stepped Holder/Tire holding means (1)
2. Top Frame (2)
3. Shaft (3)
4. Top Plate (4)
5. Spacer (5)
6. Bottom Plate (6)
7. Fixed Castor Wheels (7)
8. Foundation Plate (8)
9. Servo Motor (9)
10. Swivel Castor Wheel (10)
11. Wheel Mounting Plate (11)
12. Locking Knob (18)
13. Locking Pneumatic Cylinder (13)
14. Uncured Tire/green tire (14)
15. Positioning Flange (15)
16. Sensing Pin (16)
17. Flange Bearing (17)
18. Locking Hub (18)
19. Wheel Track (19)
21. Locking Pneumatic Cylinder Shaft (21)
22. Proximity Sensor (22)
23. Fasteners for bolting Stepped Holder to Top Frame (23)
24. Fasteners for maintaining Parallelism of Stepped Holder (24)
25. Fasteners for maintaining Concentricity of Stepped Holder (25)

[0037] Referring now to figure 1 and figure 2, a left view and a front view of the tire holding apparatus is illustrated. In one implementation the tire holding apparatus is a threestepped holder (1), adapted to hold said uncured tires (14) of varied size. The threestepped holder (1) may include a stepped configuration to position said uncured tire (14) in at least one step of said threestepped holder (1).

[0038] Referring now to figure 3, a top view of the tire holding apparatus is illustrated.

[0039] Referring now to figure 4, an isometric view of the tire holding apparatus is illustrated.

[0040] Referring now to figure 5, the arrangement for fastening and maintaining parallelism and concentricity of the green tires in the tire holding apparatus is illustrated.

[0041] Referring now to figure 6, the cross-sectional view of the locking arrangement for positioning the green tire in the tire holding apparatus is illustrated.

[0042] Referring now to figure 7 the cross-sectional view of the square block of the tire holding apparatus and pipe of the top frame used for parallelism and concentricity adjustment is illustrated.

[0043] In one implementation, three position tire holding apparatus comprises:
· at least threestepped holders (1) which are fastened to the top frame (2).
· at least one shaft (3) which rotates freely over one flanged bearing (17) coupled to a motor (9) over which the top frame (2) is mounted.
· at least one top plate (4) on which the flange bearing (17) and the servo motor (9) are mounted.
· at least four spacers (5) which help in accommodate the height of the motor.
· at least one bottom plate (6) which is connected to the bottom end of the spacer (5).
· at least two fixed castor wheels (7) which are secured to the wheel mounting plate (11) which in turn is fixed to the bottom plate (6).
· at least two swivel castor wheels (10) connected to the wheel mounting plate (11).
· at least one foundation plate (8) which is planted on the floor containing a wheel track (19) between which the fixed castor wheels (7) and swivel castor wheels (10) move about.
· at least one locking knob (12) which is located and placed inside the locking hub (18) which is mounted to the foundation plate (8) which arrests movement of the castor wheels (7) (10).
· at least one locking pneumatic cylinder (13) which is bolted to the top plate (4) which helps lock the position of stepped holder (1).
· at least three positioning flanges (15) which are engaged by locking pneumatic cylinder shaft (21).
· at least three sensing pins (16) mounted to the top frame used for locating the positions of the stepped holder (1) with the use of a proximity sensor (22).
· at least two sets of fasteners, preferably a hexagonal bolt and washer, for fastening each stepped holder to the top frame (2).
· at least four sets of fasteners, preferably a hexagonal head bolt with full thread and Nut (24), for maintaining parallelism of each stepped holder.
· at least four sets of fasteners, preferably a hexagonal head Bolt with full thread and nut (25), for maintaining concentricity of each stepped holder.

[0044] In one implementation, the foundation plate (8) is fixed to the floor to the top surface of which the locking hub (18) is mounted and the wheel tracks (19) are welded. When a mold change takes place for the need to cure a differently sized green tire (14) from the previous one, the three position tire holder as shown in figure 1, has in its arrangement a wheel mounted plate (11) to which a set of fixed castor wheels (7) and a set of swivel castor wheels (10) are mounted which aids in towing away the entire assembly in turn providing space for other auxiliary equipment like mobile cranes required for replacing the mold. After mold change completion, the tire holder assembly is pushed into position and is secured to the foundation plate with the locking knob (12) which engages with the locking hub (18).

[0045] At this moment, the required sizes of green tires (14) may be loaded or placed on every stepped holder (1). A loader moves into position to pick and place the green tire (14) into the mold of the tire curing press. Once the green tire is picked up from one of the stepped holder (1), the next stepped holder must take up the position for the next curing cycle will require a new green tire. This is carried out but giving a control input first to the locking pneumatic cylinder (13) which unlocks the locking pneumatic cylinder shaft (21) from the positioning flange (15) as shown in figure 6, and then to the servo motor (9). The control input drives the servo motor (9) which in turn drives the shaft (3) mounted to it. Accurate positioning and indexing of the stepped holder (1) for every 120 degree rotation is executed with the help of servo motor (9) with an inbuilt encoder.

[0046] In one implementation a flange bearing (17) may ensure a smooth rotation of the shaft (3) thus inducing a torque to the top frame. This rotation of the top frame (2) may be arrested when the proximity sensor (22) detects the bottom face of the sensing pin (16). Now, the proximity sensor (22) ends a control signal, which cut the signal to the servo motor (9). Now the locking pneumatic cylinder shaft (21) is given a linear displacement in order to lock with the positioning flange (15). This places the stepped holder (1) with green tire (14) at the required position.

[0047] The stepped holder (1) provides a simpler arrangement than the ones available at present to hold a green tire (14) without any adjustment required for different tire sizes. An innovative and simple concentricity and parallelism adjustment of each stepped holder (1) is shown in figure 5. The current apparatus has a provision for the same within its arrangement thereby reducing the setup time and improving accuracy with the help of fastener sets (24) (25). And the tire holder provides simple servo drive mechanism for indexing and positioning green tires.

[0048] Some of the important features of the present invention, considered to be noteworthy are mentioned below:
1) The apparatus and method of the present is used for holding, locating, positioning and indexing tire holder with servo motor drive and locking cylinder.
2) The apparatus and method of the present is used for holding tire without any adjustment for different tire bead sizes and tire diameters with stepped holder.
3) The apparatus and method of the present is used for concentricity and parallelism adjustment.
4) The apparatus and method of the present involves reduced number of components with respect to convention mechanism, thereby reducing cost.
5) The apparatus and method of the present is easy and simple to install and function.
6) The apparatus and method of the present involves precise and smooth operation with the help of a servo motor and locking arrangement for positioning.

[0049] It may be understood by the person skilled in that art that, the coupling, joining, fitting, fastening, of the two components mentioned the present invention may be achieved by any of the existing coupling techniques that may include but not limited to nuts and screws, stepper bolt, hexagonal bolt with or without full thread or any combination thereof.

[0050] Although a green tire holding apparatus and a method thereof have been described in language specific to structural features, it is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed in the above section are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods or devices described. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as examples of implementations of a green tire holding apparatus and a method thereof.