CA1189780A - Method and apparatus for the production of fibrous insulation - Google Patents

Method and apparatus for the production of fibrous insulation

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Publication number
CA1189780A
CA1189780A CA000388345A CA388345A CA1189780A CA 1189780 A CA1189780 A CA 1189780A CA 000388345 A CA000388345 A CA 000388345A CA 388345 A CA388345 A CA 388345A CA 1189780 A CA1189780 A CA 1189780A
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
fibrous
insulation
batts
cutting
adhesive
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
CA000388345A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Rene R. Lachance
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Johns Manville Corp
Original Assignee
Johns Manville Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Johns Manville Corp filed Critical Johns Manville Corp
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of CA1189780A publication Critical patent/CA1189780A/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the production of fibrous insulation, especially relatively thick fibrous insulation. Previously some relatively thick insulation has been produced through lamination techniques using a plurality of insulation layers, which possibly included the use of a continuous fibrous hinge as an alignment aid during lamination. However, proper alignment using a continuous hinge is difficult and leaves an objectionable bulge of fibrous material. The present invention eliminates the fibrous bulge of the prior art and provided a more accurate means by which to substantially accurately align the layers of fibrous insulation. A fibrous blanket of insulation is slit by means of a notched cutting blade to provide a plurality of fibrous hinges or fibrous pillars connecting a plurality of fibrous batts whereby upon the application of an adhesive to one or more of the fibrous batts, another of the batts may be folded about the hinges onto the adhesive covered batt and laminated to form the relatively thick insulation product.

Description

-7~

ME~OD AND ~PP1~RATUS Er~R TEIE PRODUCTION OF FIBRO[~ INS~IATICN

Technical Field . .
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for -the production of fibrous insuLation and more particularly is related to a method and apparatus for the production of relatively thick fibrous insulation batts t~rough the lamination of t~o relatively thin insuLation batts.
Background of Prior ~r Recently, due to urgen-t needs for energy conservation, there 'nas been an increasing need for insulation of greater thickness which generally -provides a greater insuLating value or an R value, e.g., R
vaLues on the order of ~-38 or more. It has been a common practice to laminate or glue together -two relatively thin insulation batts in order to for~l a relatively thick insulating batt. H~wever, la~ila-t1On of insulating batts is some~hat cumberscme because of problems associated ~i~h ensuring a oomplete alignmen-t of the exterior edges of the individual batts forming t~e final relatively thick insulation batt.
I~ore recently, a manufacturer of insulating material has taken an insulating blanket and has partially cut through the insulating material in order to form a continuous fibrous hinge between the ~rmed insulating batts. Proxi~ate the terminal Fortion of the insulation prcduction line, a worker uses the ~inge to ~elp in ali~ning the two insulating batts to be joined. Unfortunately, because of the nature of fibrous insulations, this continuous hinge is unsatisfactorily unwieldly and does not allow for a substantially perfect alignment of the exterior edges of the insulation bat~s.
Furthermore, the final laminated batt or product has an ob~ectionable bulge on the side of the laminated ba-tt where the ori~inal continuous fibrous ~nge was formed.
In another process of th2 manufact~re of fibrous insulation, an insul~tion blanket is slitted along the machine direction into a p~urality of insulaticn batts separated by 2 plurali-t~ of fibro~s '37~
pi 1 lars. NotchecL slit-ter blades are used to form -the d:iscontirluo~ls slits het~een -the batts :in orAer to insure that -the batts are aligned as they are conveyed towards -the packaging area of the fibrous :insulation manufac-turing line.
If the batts were completely separated, -they could become misaligned making packaging difEicult. However, the relatively thin batts in this process have never been laminated to form a relatively thick insulation produc-t.
According to one aspect of the present invention -there is provided a process for the manufacture of fibrous material, the process including the steps of forming fibrous ma-terial, cutting the material to form a plurality of individual pieces of fibrous material connected by discrete pillars of fibrous material, applying an adhesive to one of the fibrous pieces, and folding another of the fibrous pieces onto -the one fibrous piece.
According to another aspect of the invention, the apparatus of the present invention includes means for forming fibrous material, means for cutting the material into a plurality of individual pieces of fibrous material connected by discrete pillars of fibrous material, means for applyins an adhesive to one of the fibrous pieces and means for folding another of the fibrous pieces onto the one fibrous piece.
More specifically, the invention resides in the forming of a laminated relatively thick insulation product in which a cured insulation blanket is conducted past a notched slitter blade which is disposed, e.g., in the mi~dle of the blanket, in order to form a series of fibrous pillars or hinges along the length of the insula-tion blanket. The series of fibrous hinges are formed by at least one slitter blade having a series of substantially non-cutting notches removed from its exterior cutting surface. The material vf the insulation blanket will therefore not be cut at t~e portion of the slitter blade where the notches are forme~
whereby in use a series of discrete fibrous hinges are formed.
In a section downstream of the slitter blade an adhesive sb/, ,~1, ~ 3~ ~

material may be applied -to one or more surEaces of the indi-vidual insula-tion batts formed by -the slitter blade.
The adhesive ~aterial may be a water base~ or a hot melt adhesive. Downs-tream of the adheslve applying section a worker ro-ta-tes or flips one insulation batt onto the other using the discrete fibrous hinges as an alignmen-t guide means in order to form the final laminated relatively thick insulation product of the present inven-tion.
Brief Description of the Drawings FIG. 1 is a schematic side view illustrating the process steps and apparatus of the presen-t inven-tion.
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the present invention.
FIG. 3 illustrates the final laminated relatively thick insulation product of the present invention.
Descrip-tion of the Preferred Embodiment FIG. 1 is a side view schema-tically illustrating a production line 10 utilizing the method and apparatus of the present invention. The method and apparatus of ~he present invention are primarily intended for use in a fiber glass manufactuing operation wherein mats, - 2a -sb/~

7~

batts or blankets of insulating material are produced. ~wever, the method and apparatus of the present invention can be used in any manufacturing operation wherein fLe~ible pro~ucts in strip, ribbon, mat or blanket form are being manufactured in a relatively thick configuration.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cured blanket 12 of insulating material ccming from a conventional felting operation or other source (not shown) wherein glass fibers or other filaments are felted into a blanket. The blanket 12 is carried by a conveyor 14 to a slitter blade 15 rotatable about an axis and modified in order to perform -the ~rocess s-teps and form the product of the present invention. As can be seen frcm FIG. 1, the slitter blade 16 is of fairly conventional design wherein a slitting or a cutting surface 18 is defined on the entire periphery or circumference of the blade 16. A plurality of substantially non-cutting notches 20 are provided at convenient locations about the periphery of the blade. These notches 20 ~o nct substantially cut the blanket 12 and therefore form a pLurality of fibrous pillars or hinges 22 along the length of the blanXet 12. The width of each notch 20 is selected to ensure that the width of the fibrous hinge 22 produced is not -too large, as will be better explained hereinafter. me slitter blade 16 cooperates with an anvil roll 24 in order to Ferform the cutting function ar.d subdivide the blanket 12 into two equally sized insulation batts 26 and 28.
The insulation batts 26 and 28 are joined mereLy by the discrete fibrous Qlnses 22 and are conveyed ,o a convey~r 30 where an adhesive material such as a water based adhesive or a hot melt a~hesive is applied (fully or partially) to the upper surfacss of ei-ther ~he batt 26 and/or the batt 28. For purposes of illus~rltion c~nly, an 2dhesive 32 is shown being applied by means of a spray no~zle ~ ~see FIG. 1). If a hot melt adhesive is used, it mQy be conveniently ~oame~.
After the adhesive material 32 is applied to ei~her the batt 26 and/or the ba~t 28 the p~rtially joined batts are conveysd to a conveyor 36 which ~ransports the batts to a w~rk tabls 38 where a worker grabs either the batt 26 or the batt 28 and rotates or ~lips the selected batt onto the o~her ba-~t using the fibrous hinges 22 as a guide or an alignment aid. ay ~eans of ~his man~al operation a final relatively thick laminated product 40 is fo~med as s~own in ~he right hand Fortion of FIGS. 1, 2 and in FIG. ~.
~ ote that as a result of, e.g., batt 26 being flippe~ or folded over onto batt 28, the fibers of the original fibrous pillars or hinges 22 tear as at 42 allowing alignment of the batts to readily ta}ce place. A unique feature of the fibrous hinges 22 is that they work either way, i.e., rotation of one b~tt versus another ~ay talce pLace either in a clockwise or o~unter-clockwise direction. This is due to the fact that the non-cutting notches 20 do not cut the fibrous bla~cet and because the hinges 22 are relatively narrGw. If t~e notches 20 cut too deeply into the material at 22, the hinges will break too readily thereby greatly increasing the liXlihood of misalignment of the batts 26, 28 as they are being folded and laminated together. If the hinges are too wide, the tears at 42 may not take place. If t'ne tears 42 do not occur, the irsulation may be objectionably crimped or ocmpressed at the location of the hinges 22 kecause of the strength of the fibers. .~s an illustration, at least a ~ inch deep, 3/4 inch wide notch should be used for fibrous insulation inches to 7~2 inches thick. T~ h this configuration, the fibrous insulation will merely be crus'ned within the notches and not cut.
By this method and apparatus, a lamina-ted relatively thick product 40 may be formed whose exterior edges are substantially alig~led and which does not have an objectionable continuous hinge along one surface (due to the small number of narrow hinges 22). The nl~nber of discrete fibrous hinges 22 T~hich are fonmed in the original cured insulation blanket is dependent u~on -the length of the blanket and upon choice.
Furthermore, while the process has been described ~s ~n in-line process, the process step of laminating the tw~ insulation batts may ke done off the production line. .~lso, while a generally contir.uous type of slitter described in the present invention may be used, it is quite possible that a reclprocating type of cutter may be used in order to ~rm discontinuous cuts thereby forming t~e discrete fibrous pillars or hinges 22. Lastly, while the flipping of t~e katts has keen disclosed as a ~anual operation, it is clear that this operation may be perfor~ed by a suitable mechanism.

'~hile the slitter blade 16 has been shown as being disposed above the anvil roll 24, it is quite possible to position the slitter blade on the bottom and generate the f.ibrous hinges in the insulation blanket 12. Again, this is due to the fact that the r.on-cutting 5 notches 20 do not cut the fibrous blanket.
It is also possible to use a plurality of slitter bl~des 16 in order to form a plurality of batts which may be rotated, c~unter rotated or flip-flopped one onto the other to form a multiple layer laminated relatively thick blanket. In this way the orlginal blanket would be slit thereby forming an accordian-like insulating material. The wGrker at the end of the production line would simply alternately flip and ~hen flop one batt on-to another. It is clear therefore, that the present me~hod and apparatus can provide for extremely thick insulation.
The present method and apparatus does not produce an objectionable bulge of material or a hinge because ~ost oE -the fibers at the discrete fibrous hinges or pillars actually separate and ~ull apart, leaving only a small portion of the heiqhts of the pillar intact when the batts are ~olded over (The direction of rotation is unimp~rtant, as explained earlier). The size and number of pilLars can be vari.ed to suit the requirements of the product and the producti.on line.
~ hat is claimed is:

Claims (8)

Claims
1. A process for the manufacture of fibrous material, comprising:
forming fibrous material, cutting said material to form a plurality of individual pieces of fibrous material connected by discrete pillars of fibrous material, applying an adhesive to one of said fibrous pieces, and folding another of said fibrous pieces onto said one fibrous pieces.
2. An apparatus for manufacturing fibrous material, comprising:
means for forming fibrous material, means for cutting said material into a plurality of individual pieces of fibrous material connected by discrete pillars of fibrous material, means for applying an adhesive to one of said fibrous pieces, and means for folding another of said fibrous pieces onto said one fibrous piece.
3. The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein said cutting means comprises a cutting blade, said blade having a discontinuous cutting edge.
4. The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein said cutting means comprises a cutting blade, said blade being rotatable about an axis and comprising a circumferential slitting edge, said edge having a plurality of substantially non-cutting notches formed therein.
5. The apparatus of Claim 4, wherein said blade abuttingly contacts an anvil roll.
6. The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein said adhesive applying means comprises a hot melt applicator.
7. The apparatus of Claim 2, wherein said adhesive applying means comprises an adhesive sprayer.
8. The apparatus of Claims 6 or 7, comprising means for conveying said pieces downstream of said cutting blade past said adhesive applying means.
CA000388345A 1980-10-20 1981-10-20 Method and apparatus for the production of fibrous insulation Expired CA1189780A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US19841080A 1980-10-20 1980-10-20
US06/198,410 1980-10-20

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA1189780A true CA1189780A (en) 1985-07-02

Family

ID=22733268

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA000388345A Expired CA1189780A (en) 1980-10-20 1981-10-20 Method and apparatus for the production of fibrous insulation

Country Status (1)

Country Link
CA (1) CA1189780A (en)

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