US1753035A - Tire-casing spreader - Google Patents

Description

April 1930. G. E. WEAVER L TIRE GAS ING SPREADER Filed July 16, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet l G. E. WEAVER ET AL -Ap l, 1930.

' TIRE CASING SPREADER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 16, 1927 April '1, 1930. WEAVER ET AL 1,753,035

TIRE CASING SPREADER Filed July 16, 1927 I V 4 Shets-Sheet 3 a -J Z7 April 1, 1930. G, E WEAVER ET AL 1,753,035

TIRE GAS ING SPREADER Filed July 16, 1927 v lSheets-Sheet 4 2a ll, 27

Patented Apr. 1, 1930 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GAILARD E. WEAVER AND EDWARD W. KELLEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGN- ORS TO WEAVER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, A COR- PORATION OF ILLINOIS TIRE-GASING SPREADER Application filed July 16,1927. Serial No. 206,358.

Our invention concerns appliances, preferably, but not necessarily, of the power-operated type, for spreading or opening up pneumatic tire-casings for inspection and repair purposes without danger of injuring them, one aim of the invention being the provision of a simple structure of this character which upon, a further purpose of the invention constituting the production of an apparatus of this character in which the tire-casings are stretched open in a natural manner without subjecting the bead or tread portions to any undue strains.

To permit those acquainted with this art to fully understand the invention, in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, a present, preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented in detail, and, for ease in understanding the construction, like reference numerals have been employed to designate the same mechanical elements throughout the several views.

In these drawings,-

Fig. l is a perspective view of the new structure, showing .a tire-casing supported.

thereon and spread open by the operating hooks;

Fig. 2 is a broken, end elevation of the apparatus, a portion only of the tire-casing being shown in section and before the spreading hooks have engaged it;

Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating the parts in the positions which they occupy after the tire-casing has been at least partially opened up;

Fig. 4 is a broken, front elevation of the construction; and

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line 55 of Fig. 4.

Referring to these drawings, it will be ob served that the appliance includes a base 21 of appropriate shape adapted to be fastened to the floor by suitable screws and equipped at the rear with an upright standard 22 including an upper, statlonary, cylindrical shaft or post 23 on which spaced bearings 24 and 25 of a bracket 26 are slidable, such bracket carrying a forwardly-projecting, revoluble, anti-friction roller 27, with a thin, enlarged, end section 28, such roller being adapted to project into the central opening of a tire-casing 29, as shown in Fig. 1, the upper rear bead. portion of which casing is designed to bear on the roller, with the larger front part 28 of the latter accommodated between its margins.

A coiled, expansion spring 31 surrounds the post or shaft 23, bearlng at its lower end on the larger, lower part of the standard 22 and pressing at its upper end against the under surface of the lower bearing of the bracket, such spring being of suitable capac ity for supporting the tire-casing in substantial measure, whereby it may be readily turned around its own axis, while thus supported, to bring new sections into the field of action of the spreading means about to be described.

The smaller part of the roller assists in upholding the tire-casing and its larger part prevents the casing from falling forwardly, the absence of any roller beneath thefront bead section of the casing permitting the easy introduction of the inner tube Three vertical posts 32 and an associated,

similar, hollow or tubular post 33 (see Fig.

5) support an elevated cylinder 34 and a suitably-curved form-block or buffing-plate 35 over which the tire-casing is designed to be transversely spread, distended, or turned partly inside out, such cylinder accommodating a sliding piston or plunger 36 within it, the cylinder having its top portion in communication with the upper end of the tube 33, through which compressed air is adapted to be admitted into the cylinder above the piston to cause its descent, and through which the air may be discharged to permit the ascent of the piston, such inlet and exhaust of the air being controlled by valves of common form actuated by suitable pedals 37 and 38 at the front of the base.

The piston-rod 39 is adapted to slide through a bearing or stuffing box in the bot.-

tom oylinder-hea and its lower end carries a cross-head 41 pulled upwardly by a pair of coiled, contractile springs 42, 42 connected at their lower ends to the terminal portions of the cross-head and at their upper ends to extensions on the top cylinder-head, so that when the exhaust-valve is opened by depression'of its pedal 38, the springs will automatically cause the ascent or rise of the piston-rod and piston and force out the air in the cylinder above the piston.

The cross-head, near its ends, has two, long, upright screws 43, 43 with heads 44,

threaded at their lower ends into it.

The unthreaded shank of each such screw has upper and lower blocks 45 and 46, respectively, slidably mounted thereon, with a coiled spring 47 encasing the shank, bearing at its opposite ends on the two blocks, tending'to separate them lengthwise the screw, as will readily be understood, element 45 being limited as to its position by its bearing against the screw-head44. Each member 46 has a pair of upwardlyextended, oppositely arranged or facing, rigid hooks 48 and 49 hinged thereon at 51 and 52, respectively, whereby they are capable of swinging outwardly in opposite directions during the tire-casing spreading action, and each such pair of hooks is connected to the corresponding block 45 by the associated, oppositely, upwardly, inclined links 53 and 54.

It may be noted that, if either pairv of hooks, 48, 48 01'49, 49 on the same side of the machine are swung outwardly by hand, the other pair will recede in the opposite direction in equal degree, the upper parts of both front hooks and both rear hooks being connected together by threaded rods 50 and companion nuts.

The novel appliance is operated practically as follows:

While the hooks are spread apart by hand, or lowered out of the way by the mechanism described, the tire-casing to be inspected is placed on or rolled up on to the rounded plate 35 and with its upper part over the roller 27 with its larger, end sect-ion 28 in the gap between the margins of the casing, the latter in effect being hung on such roller, the spring 31 in large measure supporting the casing in this relation so that it will not fall over and so that it may be readily turned on the roller to bring the-part which is sus pected of being damaged, and which requires spreadin for examination as to the extent and precise location of the injury, over the curved place 35.

The manually-separated hooks having thereafter been released, permitting them to automatically come together above the gap or space between the margins of that section of the tire-casing on the plate, the operator the tire-casing and engage the bead or marginal portions thereof, whereupon, due to the resistance to the deformation or distortion which the casing offers to the further travel of such hooks, the springs 47 become compressed upwardly, thereby rocking the links 53 and 54 in the same direction relatively to their blocks 45, hence causing the .hooks to separate as they continue their descent and thus spread open that part of the tire-casing over which they hook and sections adjacent thereto.

In other words, the opposition which the tire-casing offers to the vertically descending or lowering hooks gives rise to the separation of the latter and effects the opening of the tire-casing.

Obviously, therefore, the appliance can be used with a large range of sizes of tire-v casings, because the hooks or spreading fingers will not begin to move apart until they have properly and adequately grasped the margins of the casing, and, the more such resistance is, the greater the force or power of the spreading action.

As has been explained, the movements of the blocks 46 .on the shanks of the screws 43 depend upon the resistance that the tirecasing opposes to the downward travel of the hooks 48, so that as the tire begins to open, due to the downward pressure of the hooks, the tire-casin itself controls the amount of travel of the locks 46 on the screws.

A small tire-casing will not open as wide as a large one, because it does not ofi'er as much resistance, and, consequently, there will not be as much movement or travel of the blocks 46 on their screws as there will membered that the invention is capable of incorporation in a variety of physical forms all having the fundamental principles of structure of the invention, the latter being defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a pair of oppositely-facing tire-casing spreader-hooks, a first means to support a tire-casing with the gap between its margins in substantial register with the ends of said hooks, a second means to cause said casing and hooks to approach one another relatively and to cause such hooks to enter said gap and engage the margins ofthe tire-casing, and a third means tending to hold said hooks in register with said gap and controlled by the deformation resistance ofiered by the casing to cause said hooks to separate and spread the casing on further action of said second means.

2. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a pair of oppositely-facing tire-casing spreader-hooks, a first means to support a tire-casing with the gap between its margins in substantial register with the ends of sald hooks, a second means to cause said casing and hooks to approach one another relatively and to cause such hooks to enter such gap and engage. the margins of the casing, and a third spring-cushioned means tending to hold said hooks in re star with said gap and controlled by the de ormation resistance offered by the casing to cause said hooks to separate and spread the casing on further action of said second means.

3. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a pair of oppositely-facing tire-casing spreader-hooks, a first means to support a tire-casing with the gap between its margins in substantial register with the ends of said hooks, a second means to cause said casing and hooks to approach one another relatively and to cause such hooks to enter such gap and engage the margins of the casing, and a third spring-cushioned link means tending to hold said hooks in register with said gap and controlled by the deformation resistance offered by the casing to cause said hooks to se arate and spread the casing on further action of said second means.

4:. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a pair of oppositely-facing tire-casing spreader-hooks, means to support a tire" casing with the gap between its margins in substantial register with said hooks, a support, means to move said support, a block movably mounted on said support and on which said hooks are hinged, spring means opposing movement of said block, and links pivoted to said hook and to stationary means on said support, whereby upon the initial movement of said support said hooks enter said gap and engage the margins of the tire-casin and thereafter due to the deformation resistance offered by the tire-cas ing said hooks move said block against the action of said spring causing the rockin of said links thereby efiecting the sprea ing action of said hooks.

guide on said cross-head, a block slidable on said guide, means ieldin l o osin the sliding of said block on sfiiil giiide, iiieans hinging said hooks on said block, and links pivotally mounted on said cross-head and pivotally connected to said hooks, whereby upon the initial movement of said cross-head said hooks enter said gap and engage the margins of tire-casing and thereafter diie to the deformation resistance offered by the tirecasing said hooks move said block against the action of said yielding means causing the rocking of said links thereby efiecting the spreadmg action of said hooks. I

6. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a block on Which the tire-casing is adapted to rest, an upper roller on which the under side of one bead portion only of the tire-casing is adapted to bear, and means designed to occupy the gap between the upper portions of the tire-casing margins to prevent the tire-casing from falling over, said block, roller and gas-occupying means constituting the sole support for the tire-casing and I permitting the ready introduction of an inner tube into the casing while the latter is thus supported.

7 In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a block on which the tire-casing is adapted to rest, and an upper roller having a smaller diameter portion on which the under side of one bead portion only of the tire-casing is adapted to bear and having a larger diameter section designed to occupy the gap between the upper portions of the tire-casing margins to prevent the tire-casing from falling over, said block and roller constituting the sole support for the tire-casing and permitting the ready introduction of an inner-tube into the casing while the latter is thus supported.

8. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a support for a tire-casing, oppositelyfacing spreader-hooks hinged below said support and adapted to engage the opposite bead portions of the tire-casing, means to produce relative movement between such casing and spreader-hooks, and a separate means to cause said spreader-hooks to follow the deformation of the tire-casing during its spreading action.

9. In a tire-casing spreader, the combination of a support for the tire-casing, a carriage movable toward and from said support, means to operate said carriage, a block movable on said carriage, arms hinged on said block and having hooks adapted to engage over the opposite marginal portions of a tire-casing mounted on said support, links hingedly connected to said carriage and to'said arms, and 8 yielding means acting on said block tending to rock both arms inwardly toward one another, whereby upon yielding of said yielding means durin movement of the carriage, said arms and lin s rock to spread the former apart and thereby effect the spreading of the tire-casing by means of the hooks.

10. In a tire-casing reader, the combination of a sup ort for t e tire-casing, a carriage slidable elow and toward and from said support, means to slide said carriage a block slidable on said carriage, arms hinged on said block and havinghooks adapted to engage over the opposite marginal portions of a tire-casing mounted on said support, links hingedly con- 20 nected to said carriage and to said arms, and

yielding means acting on said block tending to rock both arms inwardly toward one another, whereby upon yielding of said yield- Y ing means due to the resistance of the tirecasing to deformation during descent of the carriage, said arms and links rock to spread the former apart and thereby efiect the spreading of the tire-casing by means of the hooks.

In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

GAILARD E. WEAVER. EDWARD W. KELLEY.

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