GB457845A - Improved method of making joints in woven wire fabric - Google Patents

Abstract

457,845. Making woven wire fabrics. TENNANT, W. J., 111, Hatton Garden, London.- (Buell, E. J.; Niagara Falls, New York, U.S.A.) April 14, 1936, No. 10736. [Classes 83 (ii) and 83 (iv)] Soldering; uniting by fusion.-The ends of woven wire fabrics such as Fourdrinier belts, are soldered or fusion - welded together by progressively moving a heat applicator such as a torch by power actuated means across the fabric. The fabric may be passed round rolls and is arranged with its ends over a bed 12, Fig. 3, of width equal to that of the fabric. Over the bed is arranged a guide beam 14 provided with a rack 36 for traversing a box-like carriage 30 by a motor 33, Fig. 1, through reduction gear 34 and pinion 35. The beam is transversely adjustable by hand-operated screws 24 on guides secured to columns 17. The carriage is provided with pressure adjusting screws 45 on which a vertically adjustable cradle 40, 41, 42 is mounted. The part 42 of the cradle is formed with T-shaped guideways 48 for receiving the blocks 46 for conducting heat away from the fabric. The blowpipe 50 is mounted in a member 51 secured to the blocks 46. When joining the ends in stages intermittently the carriage is traversed into desired position together with the blocks, and the blocks and blowpipe are then moved by hand in the cradle guides to effect the joining operation and the carriage then moved to the next stage. If the joining is to be effected continuously the blocks are clamped to the cradle by a screw 52 and the carriage traversed with uniform velocity along the seam. Weights 54 are applied to the fabric at each side of the joint to hold the fabric in position. A joint may be effected by an interposed fusible metal strip or by an unfused strip coated with fusible metal. In a modification, the blowpipe carriage may be provided with a shoe 70, Figs. 5 and 6, of shape similar to the inverted hull of a canoe, and is traversed in guides 71 in a block 62 so that the ends of the fabric are raised over the shoe and then lowered so as to separate the ends slightly and admit an interposed strip 75 which is passed from a reel 76 through a slot 99 in the plate 78. This plate which carries the blowpipe 89 is provided at one end with the heat-conducting portion 87 having a slot with inclined sides, and at the other end is provided with feet 79 cooperating with the shoe. The plate 78 is mounted on studs 80 screwed in the shoe, springs 82, 83 being provided between the plate and adjusting-nuts 84 and an interposed member 85 so as to press the tail end of the plate 78 into contact with the fabric after the strip 75 has been laid in position. The blowpipe carriage is traversed by an endless chain 91 through reduction gear 97 and motor 95, one run of the chain being secured to the shoe 70.