APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING TIRE PLY MATERIAL

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To join a front end part and a back end part by recognizing positions of the front end part and the back end part and accurately positioning the front end part and the back end part even when there are curly deformations on the front end part and the back end part of a cut piece.SOLUTION: A lengthy tire ply material is formed accurately and efficiently by successively joining the front end part in the conveying direction of one cut piece conveyed by a belt conveyor and the back end part in the conveying direction of a preceding another cut piece. An apparatus for manufacturing the tire ply material includes: a photographing means for photographing the front end part of one cut piece and the back end piece of another cut piece, and obtaining image data; a position recognizing means for treating the image data and recognizing respective positions of the front end part and the back end part; and a front end part gripping and moving means for moving the front end part of one cut piece to a joining position with the back end part of another cut piece based on the data obtained by the position recognizing means.