ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,330,387, issued on June 17, was assigned to The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (Akron, Ohio).
"Method and apparatus for forming an apex" was invented by Christopher David Dyrlund (Canton, Ohio) and Brian Richard Koch (Hartville, Ohio).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and apparatus for forming an apex or an apex in combination with a bead, the method comprising the steps of: winding a strip of rubber onto a rotatable platen to form an apex, wherein the rotatable platen may further include a radially expandable bead chuck for supporting a bead. The rotatable platen may optionally include a nonstick coating such as titanium nitride and op...