Methods of casting pneumatic tires

Claim 1

In a method of casting pneumatic tires by pouring a fluidized tire-forming material into a molding cavity defined between the outer peripheral surface of a separable hard core of a mold assembly and the inner peripheral surface of an outer separable hard mold member of said mold assembly, said outer peripheral surface of said separable core defining the inner peripheral surface of a pneumatic tire to be cast and said inner peripheral surface of said outer separable mold member defining the outer peripheral surface of the pneumatic tire to be cast, the improvement comprising the steps of: coaxially aligning said separable core within said outer separable mold member to define said molding cavity therebetween, said core having at least three segments circumferentially arranged and adjoining with each other through a junction surface to make said core toroidal in shape, said junction surface permitting alternate segments to be retracted in a radial direction in succession, and each of said segments being provided at its inner peripheral upper and lower edges with portions engageable with said separable mold members, pouring a fluidized tire-forming material into said molding cavity under pressure, soldifying the material thus poured, separating said outer separable mold member from said tire and said core, retracting alternate segments of said separable core in the radial direction and then moving said alternate segments into planes defined by said segments which are different than a plane defined by the remaining unretracted segments, retracting the remaining unretracted segments of said separable core in the radial direction, and removing the cast tire from said mold assembly.