Folding system
AssigneeMiller Weldmaster Corporation
InventorBrian D. Henry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for welding edge seams at the edges of fabric is presented. A method begins by lowering a fabric pre-fold bar onto a piece of fabric. A pre-aligned portion of the fabric is pushed on top of the pre-fold bar so that the pre-fold bar is between the portion of fabric on top of the fabric pre-fold bar and other fabric below the pre-fold bar. The fabric on top of the fabric pre-fold bar is folded edge fabric and fabric not on top of the fabric pre-fold bar is not folded edge fabric. A folded edge is formed between these two sections of fabric. The method pinches some of the fabric at the folded end and then pulls the folded edge fabric off of the fabric pre-fold bar. After that, the method welds at least some of the folded edge fabric to the not folded edge fabric.
Claims15
An edge seam welding machine comprising:
- a housing;
- a lower weld bar fixedly secured to the housing;
- an upper weld bar secured to the housing a distance away from the lower weld bar, wherein the upper weld bar is vertically movable up and down relative to the lower weld bar;
- and
- a fabric fold base plate provided on the housing and being movable horizontally relative to the upper weld bar and the lower weld bar;
- a fabric clamp;
- and
- a fabric position stop provided on the housing and adapted to allow an operator to align an edge of a piece of fabric with the fabric position stop.
An edge seam
- welding machine comprising:
- a housing;
- a lower weld bar fixedly secured to the housing;
- an upper weld bar secured to the housing a distance away from the lower weld bar, wherein the upper weld bar is vertically movable up and down relative to the lower weld bar;
- a pre-fold bar secured to the housing proximate the upper weld bar, wherein the pre-fold bar is vertically movable up and down between raised and lowered positions;
- a fabric fold base plate provided on the housing and being movable horizontally relative to the upper weld bar, the lower weld bar, and the pre-fold bar;
- and
- a fabric clamp;
- wherein when the pre-fold bar is moved to the lowered position, the fabric fold base plate and the fabric clamp together are capable of moving a portion of a piece of fabric on top of the pre-fold bar to form a folded end of the piece of fabric.
An edge seam
- welding machine comprising:
- a housing;
- a lower weld bar fixedly secured to the housing;
- an upper weld bar secured to the housing a distance away from the lower weld bar, wherein the upper weld bar is vertically movable up and down relative to the lower weld bar;
- a fabric fold base plate provided on the housing and being movable horizontally relative to the upper weld bar and the lower weld bar;
- and
- a fabric clamp, wherein the fabric clamp and the fabric fold base plate act as pinchers and are adapted to push a fabric edge portion under the upper weld arm when at least some fabric that is under the fabric edge portion is positioned above the lower welding bar.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.