Electrical Control Application Trends for the Manufacturing of Radial Tires

Tires, that amazing product so essential to the complicated transportation network in the United States, and rubber, the old-time plastic ingredient, its processes surrounded with an aura of black magic, are a fascinating field which is little known outside its own technological circles. Machine builders catering to the tire manufacturers are confronted with some unusual requirements dictated by economic and process factors peculiar to this particular industry. They are attempting to cope with these factors and with the added process complexities brought about by the changing technology¿including the radial tire. A large share of the responsibility for this effort falls on the control designer. He is the one who has the task of making the brain of the automated tire machines smart enough to do the job. Yet he must do this without losing sight of simplicity, economy, and reliability to match the requirements. This paper will cover, some techniques, more or less new, which have been tried and proven to be quite effective where applied to the task of controlling automatic tire assembly machinery in the 1970´s.