Method of forming an air passageway in a tire

摘要

A tire comprising a tire carcass; a flexible tire component strip (70) forming a portion of the tire carcass, the tire component strip having a channel formed within an upper surface defined by opposed strip lip portions (82, 84) and a channel bottom wall; an air passageway within the flexible tire component strip (70) extending between an air inlet cavity and an air outlet cavity in the flexible tire component, the air passageway extending at least a partial circumferential path around the tire carcass; and an elongate passageway-shaping strip assembly (104) occupying and enclosed within the air passageway of the flexible tire component strip (70) is disclosed. The passageway shaping strip assembly (104) is operative to form and maintain the air passageway to a cross-sectional configuration replicating a cross-sectional configuration of the passageway-shaping strip assembly (104) . Furthermore, a method of forming an air passageway in a tire carcass is disclosed.